NBC Sports analyst Rodney Harrison has defended his New England Patriots on TV several times in the past, but this time he can't even be that naive.
Harrison discussed #DeflateGate on NBC Sports Radio, and said the whole situation was blown out of proportion. However, he believes the Patriots did bring it on themselves.
“The Patriots are being attacked even more because of what happened with Spygate, because they’re the Patriots, because they win, the way they win, their head coach, their owner,” he said. “I believe they’re being attacked. At the same time, it’d be naive of me to sit back and say they don’t bring it on themselves.
“Obviously, if (Brady) likes his balls softer and it was under the legal limit, that’s messing with the integrity of the game. That’s something, as players, we teach our kids the right thing. We have to teach them that you can’t break the rules and when you do, you get punished.”
Harrison agrees that Brady should have been suspended, but doesn't think the Pats should have received any punishment.
“It’s kind of overblown, I really believe that. I understand that there’s a certain level of integrity of the game. Quarterbacks are very, very anal when it comes to their balls. To sit here and be naive and say that Tom Brady didn’t have any idea that the balls were under a certain level, I would have to say I don’t believe that.”
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