Patriots Would've Raised Brady Banner Instead of SB Banner If Suspension Upheld

With or without Tom Brady, Thursday night was going to feature a banner event at Gillette Stadium.

It was just a matter of which banner would be raised.

Now that Brady's four-game Deflategate suspension has been reversed, the New England Patriots are going to raise a Super Bowl XLIX banner before their season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, they would not have raised it had Brady's suspension been upheld.

Instead, the team would have raised a banner honoring the quarterback.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft revealed that tidbit to Sky Sports (via Chris Mason of the Boston Herald):

"

I'm going to give you a little secret. So if you look up there, you'll see our Super Bowl banners, '01, '03, '04 and that fourth banner. If Brady weren't playing, that would have been his shirt with Super Bowl MVP three times. We wouldn't have unveiled our 2014 banner.

"

As Melissa Stark of NFL Network showed, it wasn't a bluff. New England had the banner ready to go. With all eyes on the game, that banner would have been a way to stick it to Commissioner Roger Goodell and the NFL.

Fortunately for the Patriots, U.S. District Court Judge Richard M. Berman overturned Brady's suspension last week. Now, their opener can be a celebration of last season's championship.

That ruling won't stop the Patriots from using the banner in a way, however. Kraft said that fans at the game will receive a miniature Brady banner: 

"

We have a little surprise for you, you'll see when you're here (tonight). And when you go out the door, every fan in this place is will get a banner and will get the banner that would have been if he wasn't playing. You get two gifts.

"

The "Free Brady" movement has reached its peak—and the end of all of the drama, pending the NFL's appeal of Berman's decision.

[Melissa Stark, YouTube]