Sep 3, 2015 3 min read

PITTSBURGH – Count the Steelers among the biggest losers of the Tom Brady Deflategate mess.

Thanks to U.S. District Judge Richard Berman’s ruling Thursday in New York, Brady will not be suspended for the Patriots’ season opener Thursday against the Steelers.

The Steelers have publicly said they hoped Brady would have his four-game suspension imposed by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell overturned. They said they hoped – again, at least publicly – Brady would be in the lineup when they open the season at Gillette Stadium.

This would be a clear case of being careful of what you ask for.

Let’s be honest, though, for a moment. None of the Steelers was going to publicly say they hoped Brady missed the game. That was certainly not to the tact to take.

Privately, they had to be ecstatic that was going to be the case – at least until Thursday.

Now, the Steelers have to face the defending Super Bowl champions on kickoff night in a game in which the Patriots are 9-0 as the host on Thursday nights. And they’ll have to do so against a ticked off Brady in front of a crowd that should be, shall we say, a little excited.

The guess here is that they won’t be sending any fruit baskets to the NFL offices in New York for that one.

It’s interesting that the league immediately announced that it would appeal Berman’s decision. That’s where the whole thing could get turned around. While Brady will play against the Steelers, if the league wins on appeal, the suspension could be imposed during the season.

The Patriots and their fans believe Berman’s decision exonerated Brady of any wrongdoing, but it did not.

Berman made his decision based on the league not giving advance notice to its players of potential penalties for doctoring the footballs, the refusal to produce a key witness and the case being the apparent first discipline being handed down by the league based on the finding of “general awareness” of someone else’s wrongdoing.

Notice it didn’t say that Brady was unaware the footballs were being doctored. It just says he wasn’t given notice that he could be suspended for that action, even if he had only a passing knowledge of it.

While the NFLPA immediately called it a win for the players, it might not be. What if, upon appeal, Brady loses and the suspension is upheld in, say, December?

The Steelers never thought at any time that Brady would be suspended for the opener.

“I kind of thought all along that Brady would play in this game,” said Steelers president Art Rooney II said on WDVE radio before Thursday night’s preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers at Heinz Field.

Rooney believed the league would win its case, that Brady would be the one appealing the decision and getting a stay to force his way onto the field.

Now, it will be the other way around.

Either way, no one comes out a winner. Goodell looks bad because it appears his lawyers bungled the case. Outside of New England fans, no one should believe Brady was unaware that the footballs were being doctored. As for the Steelers, they’ll be a team that has to go into a hornet’s nest next week.

Good luck with that.

F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.