Tom Brady engineered another game-winning drive. He won Thursday, but the bigger victory came for all NFL players.
Federal judge Richard Berman vacated Brady's four-game suspension levied against the New England Patriots quarterback for his connection to deflated footballs used in the AFC championship game.
DOCUMENT: Federal judge overturns Tom Brady's suspension
This wasn't a rebuke. It was a slap in the face to commissioner Roger Goodell's absolute power. Berman, in his opinion, wrote Goodell "dispensed his own brand of industrial justice."
This strikes to the heart of the matter. The collective bargaining agreement was so one-sided on discipline that Berman interpreted fairness into his ruling and protected players in a way their CBA has not.