HOUSTON — After nearly two years of waiting, and grumbling over Deflategate, New England Patriots fans enjoyed a measure of revenge on Sunday night when quarterback Tom Brady lifted the N.F.L.’s championship trophy in front of Roger Goodell. It was Goodell who, as league commissioner, suspended Brady for the first four games this season for his role in what the league said was a plot to deflate game balls.

But anyone who expected Brady, Coach Bill Belichick or the Patriots owner Robert K. Kraft to call out Goodell face to face has been disappointed.

Instead, Brady, Belichick and Kraft have taken a subtler route: They have all but snubbed the commissioner. On the podium at NRG Stadium on Sunday night and on Monday at the presentation of the game’s Most Valuable Player Award to Brady, the three men spoke with their bodies, not their mouths.