New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was stopped cold on third down in the appeal of his four-game suspension stemming from deflate-gate. Now it’s fourth down for him, and he has just one play left: Appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Many outlets, including the Associated Press, reported that the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Brady’s attempt to overturn his suspension, handed down by the NFL. The AP said Brady could still appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, and that’s his last option. Given how Brady has fought the suspension the entire way, it wouldn’t be surprising if he tries.

The denial of Brady’s appeal wasn’t unexpected. His four-game suspension handed down by the NFL was overturned before the 2015 season, but then reinstated this year by an appeals court. That court ruled NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had the right under the collective-bargaining agreement to suspend Brady.

The case has become less about the facts of deflate-gate itself — the controversy in which the Patriots were accused of deflating footballs for the AFC championship game at the end of the 2014 season — and more about labor rights under CBAs. The appeals courts have affirmed that Goodell has a tremendous amount of power when it comes to player discipline, because he was granted it in the 2011 CBA signed by the league and the NFL Players Association. Although Ted Wells’ investigative report on deflate-gate found no direct evidence of Brady’s involvement and a four-game suspension for an equipment violation is unprecedented in NFL history, the union basically gave Goodell the power to hand out discipline as he wishes.

After Brady was suspended last year, U.S. District Judge Richard Berman overturned the suspension and Brady played the entire 2015 season. A three-judge panel this year reinstated the penalty because it ruled Goodell was within his rights under the CBA.

With Brady almost certainly out for the first four games of this season, the Patriots will turn to Jimmy Garoppolo to start at quarterback.

The NFLPA released a statement on the ruling:

“The NFL Players Association is a labor Union that protects the rights of all of its members and pursues any violations of those rights by any means necessary. We are disappointed with the decision denying a rehearing, as there were clear violations of our collective bargaining agreement by the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“Despite today’s result, the track record of this League office when it comes to matters of player discipline is bad for our business and bad for our game. We have a broken system that must be fixed.

“We will review all of our options carefully on behalf of Tom Brady and all NFL players.”

– – – – – – –

Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
Follow @YahooSchwab