It has been well over two weeks since independent investigator Ted Wells released his 243-page Deflategate report and in that time, one Deflategate-related figure has remained noticeably silent: Bill Belichick.
In the 17 days since the report was released on May 6, Belichick hasn't said anything publicly to anyone about the matter.
The Patriots coach didn't even offer a reaction on May 11 when he found out that his star quarterback was going to be suspended for the first four games of the 2015 season.
Belichick could have said something like, "We can win with Jimmy Garoppolo" and that would have been that. Instead, Belichick hasn't said anything, which leads to one question: Why has he been so quiet?
According to Ron Borges of the Boston Herald, Belichick has stayed silent because Belichick never believed Tom Brady's Deflategate story, meaning it would be almost impossible for the Patriots coach to defend his star quarterback.
"Belichick never believed [Brady's] story, from what I was told," Borges said during an interview this week on CSN New England's Sports Tonight. "Because they all know."
If Belichick never believed Brady, that would offer at least one explanation as to why Patriots owner Robert Kraft surprisingly decided to accept the NFL's deflategate punishments on May 19. The Patriots were docked two draft picks and fined $1 million.
As for Borges, he also pointed out that Belichick's not the only one who doesn't believe that Brady's innocent.
"Why do you think all those retired quarterbacks, the Troy Aikmans of the world -- Troy Aikman is about as nice a guy as I've ever met in football -- nobody's backed [Brady]," Borges said. "Nobody, not a single guy. Why do you think that is? Because they hate Brady? No. Because they're not stupid. They know nothing's done with those balls that the quarterback doesn't want done."
Back in January, Aikman said that it was "obvious" Brady was guilty and that the Patriots should be hit with a Bountygate-like punishment.
It's not a stretch to think Belichick doesn't believe Brady. At Belichick's press conference in January, a lot of people came away feeling that Belichick threw Brady under the bus.
Guess Belichick knew what he was doing when he threw Brady under the bus back in January.
— Adam Beasley (@AdamHBeasley) May 6, 2015
"Tom's personal preferences on his footballs are something that he can talk about in much better detail and information than I could possibly provide," Belichick said in January.
Obviously, Belichick can't duck the media forever and eventually someone's going to ask him whether or not he believes Brady is a cheater. When that happens, Patriots fans should probably hope Belichick sounds more convincing with his answer than Brady did in January.
