It was recently announced that the NFL had won an appeal over the whole deflategate controversy, which meant that Tom Brady would finally have to serve the original four game suspension he was hit with last summer. As you know, he played this past season after winning his own appeal last summer but we knew the league wasn’t going to let it go. They finally got their wish when they won their own appeal but the fight was still long from over as we expected Brady to bring it to the Supreme court. A short time ago however, he announced he was no longer going to pursue having his suspension overturned, which officially ends this stupid, unnecessary drama that saw millions of dollars wasted in expenses.

@IamJoeSports

Brady made the following announcement on his Facebook page today.

I’m very grateful for the overwhelming support I’ve received from Mr. Kraft, the Kraft family, coach Belichick, my coaches and teammates, the NFLPA, my agents, my loving family and most of all, our fans. It has been a challenging 18 months and I have made the difficult decision to no longer proceed with the legal process. I’m going to work hard to be the best player I can be for the New England Patriots and I look forward to having the opportunity to return to the field this fall.

This clears the way for the Patriots to focus on getting backup quarterback, Jimmy Garoppolo, ready for week one.

The Patriots should still be just fine even with Brady missing the first four games, thanks in part to the division they play in and their schedule to start the year. It is very likely they will go 2-2 and possibly even 3-1 in the games Brady will miss.