Are the New England Patriots cheaters? I like to think that they are not cheaters, but it seems like that is what they are. I am a huge fan of the team and with the latest penalty handed down to them, I have to think that maybe there is more to this deflated football thing.

Think back to the morning after the Patriots soundly defeated the Colts in the AFC Championship Game, the news broke about ‘Deflate Gate’, we all thought it’s just sour apples and that there was nothing to the charge. Then for the next two weeks leading up to the Superbowl it was all we heard about! There was no talk about how the game was going to be played, it was all about the under inflated footballs. The Patriots went on to beat Seattle and we all thought that would quiet the critics, it didn’t.

Fast forward to now and the report is out that Brady ‘most likely knew’ that the footballs were under inflated. For a fan that is hard to swallow, then the penalty came out and it’s costing Brady four games next season, a million dollar fine for the team and a couple of draft picks, a pretty hefty penalty. As that fan I like to think that it is not a really big deal that the pressure in the football was less than it should have been. Apparently it is, and the NFL let us all know that it messes with the integrity, with that penalty.

The Patriots have always followed the rules of the NFL, but they push those rules right to the edge and this time they went over the edge and were caught. Does this make them cheaters? It sure does, just ask anyone who is not a Patriots fan. Will this change the way you think about Tom Brady’s career? Some it will others it won’t.

Bottom line the penalty wouldn’t be so harsh if the NFL felt it wasn’t a big deal, there will be an appeal and the penalty may be changed, but in the end it looks like the team was caught cheating.