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Judge's deflate-gate ruling could ultimately empower Roger Goodell

In the end, the NFL's fatal cracks in the deflate-gate case against New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady weren't new developments. They didn't develop days or weeks ago. Not months ago. Indeed, this case ultimately was undone years ago, when the league allowed guys like quarterback Brett Favre and kicker Jay Feely to coast on previous infractions.

Roger Goodell and the NFL have to regroup after Thursday's decision. (AP)
Roger Goodell and the NFL have to regroup after Thursday's decision. (AP)

Years ago, terms like "obstruction" and "general awareness" literally were not a federal case. So Favre obstructed an investigation and got a fine. Feely used illegal kicking balls in 2009 and in his own words, "had no culpability" whatsoever. Neither of those realities sat well with Judge Richard Berman. His decision Thursday to overturn the NFL's four-game suspension of Brady made it sound like what many had accused the league of all along: That it was pulling new player-related penalties from thin air as it went along. That's what played a monumental part in the U.S. District judge striking down Brady's punishment Thursday. And that's what will shape the NFL's brand of justice from this moment forward. The league office was significantly embarrassed in this Brady case, and it won't react to that lightly.

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So what now? Here's what now: First order of business, the NFL is moving to have Berman's decision overturned in the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. This could take months … or with the typical appeals drag possibly far longer. The second? When the Brady case is 100-percent resolved in the courts, you can bet the NFL's lawyers will take saws and blowtorches to the personal conduct policy. Berman exposed significant shortfalls in the language and reach of the league's power in a few key areas. Among them:

In this case, the NFL argued that obstructing justice is a suspension-worthy offense. But Berman determined that the league acted improperly on two fronts. First, the league had never suspended a player for previously obstructing justice, and most notably only fined Favre for it. Second, the league never notified anyone that there was a change in the penalties for obstruction. Judge Berman determined that the NFL acted improperly when it failed to tell Brady or anyone else that this was the new norm.

The NFL also determined that Brady's "general awareness" implicated him in the deflation of footballs. But Berman pointed out that this also appeared to be a completely new – and totally unannounced – standard as it related to players. He cited a 2009 incident in which a New York Jets employee was suspended for the use of improper kicking balls in a game against the Patriots. But in that same investigation, Feely was left completely unscathed despite being the player who used the footballs in question. In his own words, Feely told Judge Berman that he had "no culpability" whatsoever when it came to league actions.

Both of those points were huge stepping-stones to what Judge Berman ultimately determined: That the NFL was creating new standards despite lesser past precedent, and never telling anyone that the new standard existed.

And so did Judge Richard Berman. (AP)
And so did Judge Richard Berman. (AP)

This is a huge deal, and it has ramifications for all NFL players. It's also where you can expect the NFL to go to work once the Brady case is totally resolved. If the league wants to retain the ability to level harsh penalties for players who obstruct investigations (and it surely does), the NFL will have to put a stated addition into the personal conduct policy to address it. And the same applies for the idea of "general awareness" – what it means, who can be held responsible for it, etc.

If the NFL has learned anything from this, it's that the great failure here was to have hit Brady harder in spite of actions it had taken in similar cases in the past. While the decision stomps on the league and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell right now, it could actually make him stronger in the long-term. How? By unilaterally adding a new wrinkle to personal conduct. One that says, "If we determine you have obstructed an investigation, we can suspend you," and, "If we determine you are generally aware of rule-breaking, we can suspend you."

Will the NFL do this? Maybe the better question is, why wouldn't it? In response to being utterly humiliated in the Ray Rice case, the league unilaterally beefed up the personal conduct policy in December 2014 to get tougher on domestic violence. And it did it despite foot-stomping objections from the NFL Players Association. After this latest shameful failure, why would Goodell not move to take the same steps with obstruction and "general awareness"?

Of course, none of that can happen until the NFL's appeal has been resolved. To make changes now would be essentially admitting that Judge Berman was correct in his decision. No, the NFL will wait. It will let the Brady case run its course. And eventually, it will move to make sure this embarrassment never happens again.

The cracks have been exposed in the NFL's judicial foundation. You can bet the league will do everything it can to make sure Tom Brady is the last player to slip between them.

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