Caleb Bailey, Sports Editor

The 2015 AFC Championship Game brought about one of the biggest controversies in the sports world today when New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady when he was accused of letting out the air in his team’s footballs to allow for better grip and control.

The league found the accusations to be all but true and ended up slapping the team with a $1 million fine and took away their 2016 first-round draft pick. The biggest thing that happened to the Patriots was that Brady was hit with a four-game suspension to open the 2015 season.

However, Brady never served that suspension and Jimmy Garoppolo never got the chance to play for the team. This was because his suspension was overturned by Judge Richard Berman just a month before the start of the season.

Everything seemed to be going well for Brady as his team looked to go into the 2016 season as a favorite to make Super Bowl LI. However, they might have a rough time of that after the US appeals court overturned Berman’s decision from last August.

The NFL had filed a legal appeal to overturned Berman’s decision and on Monday, April 25, it was announced that the league won the appeal and Brady’s four-game suspension is back on just a year later.

So where does this leave the Patriots? Of course, four games might not make that much of a difference for this team, but it certainly does not help that four-time Super Bowl champion quarterback won’t be on the field for the the first quarter of the season.

Brady has not missed a game for the Patriots since missing 15 in the 2008 season due to a torn ACL. It is now time for Garoppolo, the third-year player out of Eastern Illinois, where Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo grew his roots, to get his shot in the NFL.

After the NFL’s nearly nine-month battle to win the Appeal, they have won and Commissioner Roger Goodell can find solace in knowing that he has gained some of his power and control back over his own league.