Insider: DeflateGate punishment not a matter of if, but how severe

So, what happens now?

That's really the only question left to be answered. Because attorney Ted Wells pretty much cleared up all the other major, outstanding questions in his exhaustive report on the Patriots' DeflateGate scandal stemming from January's AFC Championship Game against the Colts.

We know, generally, what happened. Now, what's the NFL going to do about it?

That question remains unanswered, perhaps even deep inside the corridors of NFL headquarters on Park Avenue.

But here's what we know: Where matters involving the "integrity of the game" are concerned, the NFL has generally come down hard on offenders.

That was the case in SpyGate. Ditto in BountyGate. Even supposedly harmless offenses like Browns general manager Ray Farmer's in-game text messages to sideline personnel have been dealt with harshly. (Farmer was suspended four games and the team was fined $250,000.)

But this time, the apparent offender is Tom Brady, one of the NFL's brightest stars. This is new territory for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

But do not assume that will result in inaction.

The NFL is well within its rights fine and/or suspend Brady for his involvement. And, today, his involvement appears practically indisputable.

Wells' report does not offer a proverbial smoking gun directly linking Brady to the deflation of the footballs. Still, it states, "We nevertheless believe, based on the totality of the evidence, that it is more probable than not that Brady was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities of (equipment personnel Jim) McNally and (John) Jastremski involving the release of air from Patriots game balls."

A stream of text messages exchanged between McNally and Jastremski outlining specific details of how the footballs were to be handled also implicate Brady, the report concludes. So, too, do the multiple phone conversations between Jastremski and Brady on the morning of January 19 — the day after the game.

The lack of a direct link can't be ignored, but the report leaves the distinct impression that Brady's fingerprints are all over this. Coincidentally, the impetus for Goodell's push for wider latitude in handing out discipline for competitive violations was the Patriots' most well-known scandal, SpyGate.

In a 2008 memo from Goodell to the NFL's Competition Committee obtained by the Washington Post, Goodell reportedly wrote, "Too often, competitive violations have gone unpunished because conclusive proof of the violation was lacking. I believe we should reconsider the standard of proof to be applied in such cases, and make it easier for a competitive violation to be established. And where a violation is shown, I intend to impose more stringent penalties on both the club and the responsible individual(s). I will also be prepared to make greater use of draft choice forfeiture in appropriate cases. I believe this will have the effect of deterring violations."

Accordingly, we've seen Goodell do just that.

He was scathing in his response to the Saints' BountyGate scandal, in which the team was found to be incentivizing violent hits on opponents with cash awards. Coach Sean Payton and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams were suspended for a full season, assistant coach Joe Vitt banned for six games and general manger Mickey Loomis for eight.

Four players were suspended, with linebacker Jon Vilma receiving the longest, at 16 games. Those suspensions were later overturned on appeal, but the precedent was set.

And precedent looms large here.

"In my experience in the league, punishment has always been related to previous precedent," former Colts president Bill Polian said on ESPN.

Polian viewed the findings as very damaging to Brady and the Patriots.

"Everybody in professional sports takes things right up to the edge," he said. "But there's a long-held proposition in the league that the closer you get to the white lines, the more serious the competitive violation. In this particular case, the competitive violation took place within the white lines. That's serious. It's not passing a stop sign. It's not going five miles beyond the speed limit.

"It's a very serious violation."

And depending on how the NFL views these violations, even members of the organization outside the equipment personnel and Brady (Bill Belichick?) could be subject to discipline.

Claiming ignorance didn't help Payton. And Falcons president Rich McKay, whose team was punished recently for piping in artificial crowd noise into the Georgia Dome, was suspended from his influential position as co-chair of the Competition Committee after that investigation — despite apparently having no knowledge of the violation.

In this case, discipline could be coming swiftly from all indications.

And based on previous actions, it does not appear that the question is "if" but, rather, "how severe."

Follow Star reporter Stephen Holder on Twitter: @HolderStephen.