The New England Patriots unveiled their championship banner on Thursday night but if Judge Richard Berman had ruled differently on Tom Brady’s Deflategate suspension, the Patriots would have had a contingency plan.
As was reported last week, the Patriots had a banner prepared boasting Brady’s number and his three Super Bowl MVPs if Brady’s four-game suspension was upheld. Patriots president Jonathan Kraft described it as such in an interview with WEEI on September 3rd:
Kraft explained that ” ‘1’ and ‘2’ was on it. Not ‘free.’ And there may have been some other things that were on the banner. It was much more factual and substantive than that. Tom may have been a three-time Super Bowl MVP and a four-time Super Bowl winner, and that may have been a part of it too.”
NFL Network host Melissa Stark posted an image of the planned Brady banner on her Twitter account on Thursday. There is indeed a ‘1’ and a ‘2’ as well as other factual information on Brady’s Super Bowl accomplishments on it.
THIS is the banner the @Patriots would have unveiled tonight if Tom Brady did not play @nflnetwork pic.twitter.com/VemK9oNyY6
— melissa stark (@melissastark) September 10, 2015