LOS ANGELES — Star quarterback Tom Brady says he's excited to play in New England's season opener and expressed his gratitude toward the US judge who struck down the NFL's four-game suspension against him. “I look forward to the competition on the playing field and I hope the attention of NFL fans can return to where it belongs,” Brady said, breaking his silence on the “Deflate-gate” fiasco Friday night. “I also want to thank Judge Berman and his staff for their efforts to resolve this matter over the past five weeks. I am very grateful. “While I am pleased to be eligible to play, I am sorry our league had to endure this. I don't think it has been good for our sport — to a large degree, we have all lost.” Brady — one of the biggest names in the National Football League — posted the statement on his Facebook page. The ruling by US Judge Richard Berman not only paves the way for Brady to take the field with the Patriots against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Thursday's NFL opener, but is also a public relations embarrassment for commissioner Roger Goodell, calling into question his role as the league's ultimate authority. The NFL has said it will appeal the decision. While Brady may have won his appeal, he has faced criticism for the way he conducted himself during the investigation which was sparked by accusations that the Patriots used balls inflated below the league minimum during their American Conference championship victory over the Indianapolis Colts last season. The Patriots went on to win the Super Bowl. Brady also issued an apology Friday, and then went on the defense by insisting he fully cooperated with the probe. “I am also sorry to anyone whose feelings I may have hurt as I have tried to work to resolve the situation.” Brady said the Patriots are holding their first official practice of the new season on Saturday morning. “I can't wait to fully commit my energy and emotion to focus on the challenges of the 2015 NFL season,” he wrote. Owners could reconsider Goodell's role, newspaper says NFL owners are prepared to discuss changing commissioner Roger Goodell's role in player discipline after yet another courtroom defeat, the Washington Post reported Friday. US federal judge Richard Berman overturned Goodell's four-game suspension of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady on Thursday, citing “several legal deficiencies” in how Goodell handled the investigation of underinflated Patriots footballs and how Brady's appeal of the punishment was conducted. The players' union has sought to have a neutral arbitrator, rather than Goodell, handle appeals of player discipline, and owners could be open to that idea after punishments handed out in a string of high profile cases have been reversed by outside arbitrators or courts. “There will certainly be discussion of that,” the Post quoted an unnamed NFL owner as saying, although the owner said he was “not sure where it will lead.” A timetable for such discussions by the owners was not clear. Falcons owner Arthur Blank told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it could be time to revise the commissioner's role. “It's not healthy for the NFL to be in the kind of litigious position that it's been for the last several years,” Blank told the newspaper. — Agencies
