Pats’ Brady says ‘feelings hurt’ amid ‘Deflategate’ scrutiny

(Reuters) – New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who will face the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl, said yesterday his feelings have been hurt during the NFL’s investigation into his team’s use of deflated balls.

With many onlookers wondering whether the quarterback played a role in the matter to gain a competitive edge in the Patriots’ AFC championship win, Brady has said all along he had nothing to do with the matter.

“It’s all speculation,” Brady said during his Monday morning appearance on Boston radio station WEEI-FM. “I’ve tried to wrap my head around it, too. I’ve done that and I’m trying to move past that, because I continue to try to rehash things.

“I personalized a lot of things and thought this was all about me, and my feelings got hurt. Then I moved past it, because it’s not serving me.

“What’s serving me is try to prepare for the game ahead. I’ll deal with whatever happens later.”

In an interview with ESPN during Sunday’s Pro Bowl game, Brady said he had not yet spoken to NFL investigators and that he did not expect to until after the Feb. 1 Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona.

With head coach Bill Belichick having held two news conferences in recent days dedicated entirely to the deflated balls, the Patriots will be keen to turn their thoughts purely to the threat from the defending champion Seahawks.

Brady, a three-time Super Bowl winner, said he won’t be spending any more time trying to understand how the balls may have fallen below the regulation pressure.

“I’ll have my opportunity to try to figure out what happened and figure out a theory like everyone else is trying to do. But this isn’t the time for that,” said Brady.

“Honestly, I’m not interested in trying to find out right now, because we have the biggest game of our season ahead.”

“It’s really about this week and ignoring what anyone may say or think or do or feel. Everyone has had an opinion to this point. Everyone can speculate all they want on what happened. That’s their right, that’s their opinion.

“Part of playing professional sports is dealing with the good and the bad. Coach has taught us for a long time to ignore the noise and focus on what we control. That’s what we’re going to do.”