May 07, 2015
New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said Thursday the team's Super Bowl victory over the Seattle Seahawks was not tainted by the "Deflategate" investigation, but he declined to directly respond to the report's conclusions.
"No, absolutely not," Brady said during a speaking engagement at Salem State University when asked if the scandal over deflated footballs tainted the team's 28-24 victory over the Seahawks in February.
RELATED STORY: 243-page Deflategate report confirms what we already knew: Patriots are cheaters
Ted Wells, an attorney hired by the NFL to investigate the scandal that has been widely referred to as "Deflategate," said in his report released Wednesday that the Patriots probably deliberately deflated footballs in their 45-7 win over the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC championship game that put them in the 2015 Super Bowl.
The report also said Brady, 37, a future Hall of Famer, was probably "at least generally aware" of the violations.
A four-time Super Bowl winner and three-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player, Brady will likely face a punishment in the coming days by the NFL.
Brady, who had scheduled the speaking engagement long before the Wells report was released, said "hopefully soon" when asked when he would discuss the matter publicly.
"There is still a process that is going forth right now and I am involved in that process," he told the sold-out crowd at the school north of Boston.
"Whenever that happens, it happens. I certainly want to be very comfortable in how I feel about the statements that I make."
