Patriots owner Robert Kraft accepted the NFL's punishment Tuesday and decided not to appeal. Boston Herald sportswriter Ron Borges said he believes Kraft's decision came after a conversation with Bill Belichick.
According to Borges, Belichick and Kraft came to the conclusion that Tom Brady wasn't being completely honest with them. His comments came after CBS Boston's Michael Felger suggested it could be a possibility.
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"Belichick never believed [Brady's] story, from what I was told," Borges said on Sports Tonight. "Because they all know. Why do you think all those retired quarterbacks, the Troy Aikmans of the world -- Troy Aikman is about as nice a guy as I've ever met in football -- nobody's backed [Brady]. Nobody, not a single guy. Why do you think that is? Because they hate Brady? No. Because they're not stupid. They know nothing's done with those balls that the quarterback doesn't want done."
It's worth noting that Borges' comments are still somewhat speculative. Felger threw out what he called a conspiracy theory and Borges said he has been hearing the same thing. His story makes sense, though.
If Kraft was told by Belichick that he didn't believe Brady's story then that would be a good reason not to appeal their punishment. Instead, Kraft made a surprising decision to not challenge the ruling.