FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Amid all the accusations, innuendo and speculation about Tom Brady and whether he was part of a supposed scheme to deflate footballs in last year’s A.F.C. championship game, few doubted his throwing skills.
Brady called the eight-month dispute “mentally draining,” which is not surprising because he had to leave training camp twice to appear in federal court in Manhattan, where a judge ultimately overturned his four-game suspension by the N.F.L.
That allowed Brady to face the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night in the season opener and show that despite the distractions, he remains perhaps the best quarterback in the league.