The way I read Vincent's explanation of why Brady was suspended, there are three elements:AB in DC said:
1) The balls were deflated through some breach in pre-game protocol and we know this because of our scientists and
2) Brady was "generally aware" of this activity and we know that because of the texts and
3) The punishment is greater because of lack of cooperation.
I assume you would actually need elements 1 & 2 to both be pretty much clearly true in order to justify a punishment. Really all we may have is a text and "deflator" and a bathroom break and the rest of it is actual crap, but as you say that will probably be enough for them to leave some punishment and enough for the rest of the world to believe everything else. As for element three who knows what multiplier that gave to the punishment and how they determined four games at all.
The activities of the Patriots' employees were thoroughly documented in the report, including through a series of text messages and telephone communications, as well as evidence of a breach in pre-game protocol. In addition, the conclusions were supported by extensive scientific analysis, as detailed in the report.
With respect to your particular involvement, the report established that there is substantial and credible evidence to conclude you were at least generally aware of the actions of the Patriots' employees involved in the deflation of the footballs and that it was unlikely that their actions were done without your knowledge. Moreover, the report documents your failure to cooperate fully and candidly with the investigation, including by refusing to produce any relevant electronic evidence (emails, texts, etc.) despite being offered extraordinary safeguards by the investigators to protect unrelated personal information, and by providing testimony that the report concludes was not plausible and contradicted by other evidence.
