Robert Kraft is not pleased with Brady ruling

Now we know why Robert Kraft gave in to the NFL's punishments against his franchise.

There was registered surprise around the league after the Patriots' owner accepted the loss of two draft picks and the $1 million fine two months ago as part of the overall DeflateGate punishment.

He thought that by giving in to some of the league's demands, he could soften them up in their case against his quarterback, Tom Brady.

Now, with Brady's four game suspension upheld by Roger Goodell, Kraft let everyone know how he really feels. It's hard to realize you were a sucker all along.

"I was wrong to put my faith in the league," he said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Back in May, I had to make a difficult decision that I now regret," he added. "I tried to do what I thought was right. I chose not to take legal action. I wanted to return the focus to football."

Kraft was banking on his long and friendly relationship with Goodell and his own high stature within the league ranks to possibly get a reduction in Brady's suspension in a "one hand washes the other" deal.

That never happened.

"The decision handed down by the league yesterday is unfathomable to me. It is routine for discipline in the NFL to be reduced upon appeal, and in a vast majority of these cases, there's tangible, hard evidence of the infraction for which the discipline is being imposed. And still, the initial penalty gets reduced. Six months removed from the AFC Championship Game, the league still has no hard evidence of anybody doing anything to tamper with the PSI levels of footballs."

Kraft publicly apologized for accepting the original penalties and reiterated his support for Brady, adding that the league released what he believed was a headling-grabbing statement in reference to Brady destroying his cell phone in an effort to harm his reputation.

"Tom Brady is a person of great integrity, and is a great ambassador of the game, both on and off the field," Kraft said. "Yet for the reasons that I cannot comprehend, there are those in the league office who are more determined to prove that they were right, rather than admit any culpability of their own, or take any responsibility for the initation of a process, an ensuing investigation, that was flawed. I've come to the conclusion that this was never about doing what was fair and just."

Which, admittedly, will be hard for Brady and the players' union to prove in a court of law, given that the means of procedure were agreed to by they and the NFL in their most recent collective bargaining agreement.