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New England Patriots in 2015: Bill Belichick, Tom Brady last hurrah

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The New England Patriots have been driven by the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady train for more than a decade, with several Super Bowl wins to show for it. Now they enter the 2015 season as defending champions once again, and while they have a strong shot at repeating, there are a number of reasons why this could be the dynasty’s last hurrah for awhile.

Let’s forget DeflateGate for the moment, which will cost the Patriots a draft pick at most. The more vital concern in 2015 is whether Tom Brady can have another career year, which was a necessity in 2014 to lift the team above its own various roster deficiencies. That was most evident in the first few weeks of the season, when Brady wasn’t at his best, and the team stunk because of it. Once he was able to turn it on, New England instantly became the AFC favorite.

But Tom Brady isn’t getting any younger, and while he’s heard that and shrugged it off before, he’ll enter the 2016 season at the age of thirty-nine. Even if he continues playing, his body will have begun breaking down significantly, as all quarterbacks do by that age. That means 2015 could be his last hurrah; if he wins a second consecutive Super Bowl, he might well retire and go out on top. In such case Bill Belichick will be left to rebuild around young Jimmy Garoppolo, and while he may end up being the real thing, the championship window will close for at least a little bit while he finds his footing. That makes 2015 a particularly crucial season for the New England Patriots all around.

New England Patriots DeflateGate 2015: inflated ball story takes turn

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For the New England Patriots, 2015 keeps getting weirder. The Pats have already faced allegations of cheating in DeflateGate, immediately followed by a Super Bowl victory. And now comes a new twist in the story which may point to the team being exonerated, or at least toward any wrongdoing being unprovable. Could Tom Brady and the gang be headed toward an all-clear from the NFL?

Last week the investigation narrowed its focus toward a Patriots ball boy who allegedly either introduced an unapproved ball into play or disappeared with approved balls into a back room before the game, depending on the source. But now Adam Schefter of ESPN has the ball in question being supplied by a league official or two, one of whom was subsequently fired for selling footballs that had been designated for charity. At this point the storyline is getting difficult to follow. But there appear to be only two possible scenarios.

The first is that the NFL is now attempting to cover up on behalf of the New England Patriots, since they’re the Super Bowl winners, and is leaking all these confusing and salacious details to try to bury the story. The former league official who got fired for cheating anyway would make an ideal scapegoat. But the details are so surreal that it doesn’t feel like the kind of story the league could simply manufacture. So the second scenario is that, whether that Pats are guilty of anything or not, the NFL has bungled the entire thing in so many ways that proving anything or punishing anyone may end up being impossible. And while that won’t exonerate the team in the eyes of those who are convinced cheating occurred, it’ll mean Tom Brady and the Patriots can head into the 2015 without any penalties or impedences going forward.

New England Patriots & DeflateGate: suspensions, Tom Brady, 2015 Draft

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Remember when the New England Patriots were cheaters heading into the Super Bowl, and then they won and suddenly they weren’t cheaters anymore? That’s been the shift in perception among the national NFL fan base, with the league now wishing the scandal surrounding its newly minted champions would simply go away. But it’ll have to be squared away before the 2015 football season starts, or it’ll once again become the dominant storyline. Here’s how the DelfateGate fallout impacts Tom Brady, possible suspensions, and the Patriots plans for the 2015 Draft.

Because it’s the offseason, and because it wants a grace period between the New England Patriots winning the Super Bowl and potentially being confirmed as cheaters, the NFL will take its time before releasing any findings. But because the most likely form of punishment would be forfeiture of draft picks, the league will end up making its rulings before the 2015 Draft in late April.

If it is determined that the footballs were illegally and purposely deflated ahead of the AFC Championship game, expect either Tom Brady or head coach Bill Belichick to be fingered for the blame. It’s difficult to see the NFL suspending the reigning Super Bowl champion quarterback. So Belichick, who has already been caught cheating once in SpyGate, would take the fall. He could be tossed for the first half of the season, allowing him to come back and attempt to repeat as champion.

But the more likely move for the league would be to simply take away the New England Patriots first round draft pick. That would mean the punishment has been fully meted out before the 2015 season begins, none of the Pats stars will be kept away from the field, and the NFL can claim the matter to be closed before the new season even so much as kicks off.