Former NFL quarterback A.J. Feeley has a good memory.
Profootballtalk.nbcsports.com is reporting that Feeley, a six-year NFL veteran whose career spanned 2001-11, has accused New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady of doctoring footballs as long as 11 years ago.
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Feeley was a member of the Miami Dolphins in 2004 when he told 97.5 FM The Fanatic in Philadelphia that he saw Brady using an old, broken-in football when he was on the field. In 2004, the NFL mandated that teams had to use new balls provided by the league. It was two years later that the league allowed teams to provide their own footballs for use during games.
Brady and Peyton Manning were instrumental in getting the rule changed in 2006.
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"Prior to Tommy and Peyton Manning going to the league and saying, 'Let us doctor our balls' we used to all play with the same balls," Feeley said. "Somehow this beat-up ball from the ball boy was getting thrown in on offense for New England, yet when we were on offense this orange brand new ball was getting thrown in."
Feeley felt that the doctored footballs gave Brady and advantage and admitting to being bothered by the discrepancy of the balls used.
"He's getting his own balls thrown in on offense," Feeley said. "That was an issue to me at the time. ... We saw it then."
Feeley said he told his defensive coaches but they said that the condition of the football "didn't really matter," which could explain why he didn't alert the officials when he saw it happen.
Profootballtalk.com talked about the convenient timing of Feeley's accusations only after Brady received a four-game suspension for his role in Deflategate -- the Patriots using underinflated balls during the first half of the AFC Championship Game against the Indianapolis Colts.
The Patriots won the game 45-7.
"If the Patriots were cheating to gain an advantage over the Dolphins in 2004, it's odd that no one said anything about it until 2015," profootballtalk.com reported. "Maybe no one said anything because they didn't think it was a big deal. This week the NFL showed that it thinks tampering with the footballs is a very big deal."
CBSSports.com also acknowledged the coincidental timing of Feeley's comments but noted that accusations of the Patriots cheating now has more than a decade-long shelf life.
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