Tom Brady's Ex-Teammate Recalls Tearful Reaction to Deflategate Controversy

Amidst a career of incredible highs, Tom Brady has one moment where he faced significant controversy. Known to many as "Deflategate," the scandal was a low point for Brady emotionally, as one of his ex-teammates revealed in a new episode of the AppleTV+ documentary The Dynasty: New England Patriots.

Darrelle Revis played for The Patriots for a single season, in 2014–15, right when Deflategate was consuming media headlines. As he recalled in the documentary, Brady broke down crying in front of the rest of the team.

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"When Deflategate happened and Tom was the headliner of the whole situation, he addressed us as a team," Revis explained in the documentary. "You could tell he was distraught… He said this is something I wouldn’t do. I would not ruin the season for us. The allegations are false. He was actually bawling his eyes out in front of us.”

The NFL normally allows footballs to be inflated between 12.5 to 13.5 psi, but Brady was accused of telling Patriots personnel to deflate them lower than this range during the 2015 AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. 

The NFL gave Brady a four-game suspension, which he initially accepted before successfully appealing. The appeal was overturned in 2016, forcing the Patriots to pay a $1 million fine and lose two draft picks. Brady had to sit out four games of the 2016 season. 

“The two weeks were very difficult on Tommy, he was taking it very hard,” said Patriots owner Robert Kraft in the documentary.