Brady got pulled into it because he's a fucking cheater. For a long time Brady has been complaining to the Techs to lower the ball air pressure. Things came to a head in the AFC championship game - but AFTER, when he lied about having any knowledge of the situation.
Brady didn't hand over his phone - but also refused to have HIS lawyers there, going through it to protect the private aspects of his phone. Brady claimed to not even know the name of the Tech, then later MENTIONED the tech to another person. Brady blew up the guy's phone immediately after this came out, too. Plus, Brady gave the guy merch that could reach values of tens of thousands of dollars. Brady got dragged into it because Brady is CENTRAL to the whole thing.
Brady knew the rules. He colluded with others to break the rules. He then lied about it.
Sucks. A lot. Not as bad as barry bonds, but brady's reputation from here to forever is tarnished just a bit.
My view? Abolish the stupid rule about air pressure. Air pressure - or lack thereof - of a football does NOT hurt the opposite team. Has no bearing on them.
Baseball and other sports where everyone uses the same ball? Okay - have ball-rules. Football? Nope. Get rid of them - but If the NFL does not come down hard on this (hehe...hard on) like they did, they'd have even less credibility.
This is worse - in terms of the intergrity of the game - than domestic violence, drunk-driving, and even dope-smoking. This affects ON-FIELD stuff.
“… the greatest detractor from high performance is fear: fear that you are not prepared, fear that you are in over your head, fear that you are not worthy, and ultimately, fear of failure. If you can eliminate that fear—not through arrogance or just wishing difficulties away, but through hard work and preparation—you will put yourself in an incredibly powerful position to take on the challenges you face" - Pete Carroll.