On the first day of Super Bowl week, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft gave an impassioned speech defending his team during the deflating scandal, adding the NFL should apologize to Bill Belichick and Tom Brady if the investigation finds no fault with the team.
Later this week Kraft sat down with NFL Media's Melissa Stark to explain his reasoning behind the speech.
"I just didn't like the way we were, in my opinion, being unfairly attacked," he said in the interview, which ran Friday on NFL Network's NFL Total Access. "I just decided to do what was right for our family."
Kraft detailed what he believes the Patriots family stands for:
"We play by the rules, we play hard and we prepare hard," he said. "The work ethic of our team and preparation is like no other, in my opinion, and we try to make our fans in America proud."
Still, there is a section of the country that feels the Patriots' track record of scandals speaks for itself.
"When you do well and you're on top, everybody wants what you want," Kraft said of people trying to drag down his organization.
When asked pointblank by Stark if some of the handwringing is due to "jealousy," Kraft replied, "I don't know."
Either way, as the week progressed the Patriots players were able to put the controversy behind them and focus on the Seattle Seahawks, which seemed to be a big reason behind Kraft making the statement Monday.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast previews Super Bowl XLIX and gives our picks for the big game. Watch the entire show (and Wess eat his softball pants) on NFL NOW.
