New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said that if the league does not find that the team broke rules at the AFC championship game, it should apologize to Bill Belichick, Tom Brady and the rest of the team. (AP)  There was a highly unusual moment Monday when New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft stepped to the microphone and spoke to members of the media.  First, owners usually don’t do this when Super Bowl week begins and then there was the content of Kraft’s comments, which were aimed straight at Commissioner Roger Goodell. He said the league should apologize to his coach, Bill Belichick, and his quarterback, Tom Brady, if the NFL investigation into DeflateGate finds there was no wrongdoing. The investigation, conducted by Ted Wells, isn’t expected to end any time soon, even thought a report Tuesday seemed to narrow the focus into whether a ballboy took the footballs into a bathroom for 90 seconds.  “I am disappointed in the way this entire matter has been handled and reported upon,” Kraft said, (via The Post’s Mark Maske). We expect hard facts as opposed to circumstantial leaked evidence to drive the conclusion of this investigation. If the Wells investigation is not able to definitively determine that our organization tampered with the air pressure of the footballs, I would expect and hope the league would apologize to our entire team, and in particular, coach Belichick and Tom Brady for what they have had to endure this past week.”  Strong words, even stronger coming from a man who was described by an unnamed league executive as “the assistant commissioner” in a new GQ story. That’s why Kraft’s comments seemed to be a shot across the bow Monday. Kraft has been a key supporter ever since Goodell became commissioner in 2006. He was a staunch leader when owners locked out players in 2011 and has been a driving force behind the NFL’s lucrative TV deals, working alongside Goodell. He supported Goodell during the blowback over how the commissioner handled the Ray Rice incident and the issue of domestic violence. He has, in short, been there for Goodell — and vice versa.  But it’s important to remember who works for whom. Goodell may often mix with fans and sit in the stands, but alienating a member of the inner circle of owners and one who justifies Goodell’s outrageous salary. Of course, Kraft also had a hand in pushing Goodell to sit down for an interview with CBS’ Norah O’Donnell after the second Rice video emerged. That went very poorly for the commissioner.  “But Kraft was one of Goodell’s closest confidants among the NFL’s thirty-two owners, and his fiercest advocate and defender,”GQ’s Gabriel Sherman writes. “As a member of the league’s compensation committee, Kraft has vigorously defended Goodell’s eye-popping $44 million pay package, and in the wake of the TMZ leak [of the second Rice video], he personally called owners and lobbied them to issue statements backing the commissioner, according to a senior league source. So large is Kraft’s sway with Goodell that one veteran NFL executive likes to call him ‘the assistant commissioner.’”  DeflateGate, though, puts Goodell against a wall with his other 31 employers and that might outweigh his relationship with Kraft. Especially if there’s a perception that the Patriots can do as they please.  “Will they be punished?” the Seattle Seahawks’ Richard Sherman asked at Super Bowl XLIX. “Probably not. Not as long as Robert Kraft and Roger Goodell are still taking pictures at their respective homes. He was just at Kraft’s house last week after the AFC championship. You talk about conflict of interest.”  Commissioners and certain owners have always been cozy, as Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post writes, but there’s greater scrutiny now, less secrecy.  Look, commissioners will always have their go-to owners — Pete Rozelle wouldn’t buy a new tie without consulting with Wellington Mara back in the day — but Goodell’s stature and his position are so compromised by what’s befallen his office the past six months there is a perception — and a certain belief — he is a puppet playing on string, operated in the shadows by Kraft.  And no matter how steeped in reality that is, the perception is impossible to shake. And oh yes: the puppeteer had something to say about his marionette:  “I’m disappointed in the way this entire matter has been handled and reported upon.”  And ESPN’s Ian O’Connor writes that Kraft may need Goodell again, especially if he’s wrong about DeflateGate.  In the end, Kraft needs the Patriots’ story to stand up as much as anyone. If his designated BFF, Goodell, nails the Patriots on a video of an equipment guy taking a detour he shouldn’t have taken, the commissioner won’t destroy the evidence like he did in the Spygate case.  Those days are over. Kraft is out there on a wobbly limb now, and if he falls he’ll end up a much bigger loser than he did the last time his Patriots played a Super Bowl in this corner of the Arizona desert.  Tired of locker-room attendants and DeflateGate?  How Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and the NFL came to DeflateGate  After spending most of her career in traditional print sports journalism, Cindy began blogging and tweeting, first as NFL/Redskins editor, and, since August 2010, at The Early Lead. She also is the social media editor for Sports.
If DeflateGate investigation turns up nothing, Patriots owner wants an apology from NFL to Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.