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If the aftermath of Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s remarks to the media on Thursday, during which Belichick shifted the focus to quarterback Tom Brady, some speculated that Brady would follow Belichick’s press conference by taking the blame for knowing that someone was letting air out of footballs. Brady didn’t say that. He claimed he knew nothing about the balls being deflated.

Appearing on ESPN’s NFL Live in the aftermath of Brady’s press conference, former NFL quarterback Mark Brunell made his opinions clear.

“I did not believe what Tom had to say,” Brunell said. “Those balls were deflated. Somebody had to do it. And I don’t believe there’s an equipment manager in the NFL that would on his own initiative deflate a ball without his starting quarterback’s approval. I just didn’t believe what Tom Brady had to say.”

Brunell explained that starting quarterbacks (and he started 151 games in the NFL) routinely check the balls to ensure that the balls have the right feel, from an inflation standpoint.

“That football is our livelihood,” Brunell said. “If you don’t feel good about throwing that ball, your success can suffer from that.”

Appearing in the same segment, former NFL running back Jerome Bettis and former NFL safety Brian Dawkins also expressed skepticism about Brady’s explanation.

Brunell’s remarks mesh with the common-sense explanation from Hall of Fame coach John Madden that the blame rests with the quarterback, who wants the balls a certain way and gets what he wants, and nothing else.

“When I pick those footballs out, at that point, to me, they’re perfect,” Brady said Thursday. “I don’t want anyone touching the balls after that, I don’t want anyone rubbing them, putting any air in, taking any air out, to me those balls are perfect and that’s what I expect when I’m on the field.”

But that’s not what Brady got. So either the measurements were inaccurate or the air spontaneously left the balls or someone let the air out of the balls without regarding to Brady’s belief that the balls already were “perfect.”