Did I hear this correctly? National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell — who administered the punishment against Tom Brady over the Deflate-gate matter — is now going to hear Brady’s appeal of the four-game suspension?

I am not going to defend the New England Patriots quarterback over this, but the NFL Players Association has a legitimate argument: Goodell should recuse himself and let an independent judge determine whether Brady’s four-game suspension stands.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/with-tom-brady-appeal-ted-wells-could-be-defending-himself-again/ar-BBjMz4W

I’ve said all along the story is overblown. Perhaps the punishment is as well. The NFLPA says it is. Brady’s agent says so, too.

What’s even more interesting is that the report issued prior to the sanctions being leveled cleared the team and head coach Bill Belichick of any complicity in deflating the footballs prior to the AFC championship game — but then the league fined the Pats $1 million and took away two draft picks in year’s draft.

What’s up with that?

Brady, though, is getting hammered — hard — for his probable involvement in the football deflation.

Goodell should step aside in favor of an impartial judge who can look at this case without the bias that the commissioner has demonstrated already.