Tom Brady took the stand recently and defended himself against “deflategate” allegations.

At first glance, it would seem that there is absolutely, positively no way humanly possible that the New England Patriots’ QB had nothing to do with what happened.

On second and third glances, we still come to the same conclusion. Tom Brady knew about deflategate, and as a psychology student, I will show you using both my own knowledge and that of professionals in the field of lie detection to prove it.

Right off the bat, Brady is off to a bad start. The first question, rather predictably asks if and how he altered the footballs.

“I didn’t, you know, have any, uh….. you know, I didn’t alter the ball in any way.”

All you’ve got to say is “no,” Tom.

Mark McClish is a deception expert who worked for nine years as an instructor at the US Marshall Service Training Academy, where he taught interview techniques and how to detect deception. He now runs statementanalysis.com, a website dedicated to detecting lies and finding the truth. Here is a quote from McClish relevant to what Brady said:

“The subject starts off saying ‘you know’. The subject expects us to take for granted that he is being honest. The problem is he has not told us he is being honest. He did not state “I am being honest.” He states ‘you know’ but we do not know. We cannot believe he is being honest unless he tells us he is honest.”

Jan 22, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady talks to the media at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Brady says “you know” twice in the first sentence he speaks. Although, it’s a stretch to call the jumble of words that came out of his mouth a sentence. That would be 0-1 for Brady, for those of you keeping track.

The second question is pretty direct, and should be an easy one for Brady to knock out of the park. “Are you a cheater?” the reports asks. To which Brady replies, “I don’t believe so.”

What!!! You don’t “believe so”?

People don’t like to lie, and that leaks out subconsciously in their word choice. Brady can’t bring himself to say no.

He goes on.

“I mean, I feel like I’ve always played within the rules. I would never do anything to break the rules.”

Again, he doesn’t say, “I didn’t break the rules.” Instead Brady says “I mean”,“I feel” and “I would never”. He isn’t denying anything. Not once in the entire half hour does he say anything even closely resembling a direct denial of deflategate. He’s just avoiding having to answer the question directly. Now why the heck would an innocent person want to avoid clearing their name?

Here’s McClish again.

“The word ‘never’ is often used by deceptive people when making a denial. For example, if a person was asked if he took the money, he may state, ‘I would never do that.’ In addition to recognizing the use of the word “never,” we also see the person did not deny the action. He did not say he did not take the money. He only stated this is something he would in no way do. The word “never” does not mean “no.” Therefore, you cannot substitute the word “never” for the word “no” which is something deceptive people like to do.“

Gary Pearlman of the South Beach Times also wrote, “Using words like ‘never’ to answer a question also may be a sign that they’re dodging it and refusing to answer directly: Saying ‘I would never cheat on you’ is not the same as ‘I did not cheat on you.’

Strike two, Tom.

On the subject of if he noticed a difference in the deflated ball, Brady said, “No, I did not recognize that. I did not feel a difference between the first half and the second half when supposedly they were inflated to the original or even more inflated.”

Notice that he doesn’t use contractions here. That’s almost always a dead giveaway of lie. Here are some examples.

• “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” -Bill Clinton
• “I am not a crook.” -Richard Nixon
• “I can emphatically say I am not on drugs. I have never had a single positive doping test, and I do not take performance-enhancing drugs.” -Lance Armstrong

Later in the press conference, he is asked what he wants to say to the skeptics who won’t give New England the benefit of the doubt after spygate and deflategate. He’s finally given a chance to go on the offensive. To tell all the ignorant, unjust accusers to go away. Instead he again dodges the question.  

“Everybody has an opinion. I think everybody has the right to believe whatever they want. I don’t ever cast judgment on someone’s belief system. If that’s what they feel like they want to do, then I don’t have a problem with that.”

Really Tom? Deflategate is ripping your reputation to shreds and all you have to say is, “I don’t have a problem with that”? An innocent person would be FURIOUS if their reputation was tarnished by false accusations.

He is then asked if it’s important to him that someone be held accountable for deflategate.

“Well that’s for, you know, I’m not the one that imposes, you know, those type of…. you know accountability, its you know…… discipline and all that. That’s you know not really my job. So, you know, obviously I’d like to know what happened, um, as you all would too.”

Not even a hint of animosity. Just defensive and distancing phrases. That’s a pretty clear indication that no one but himself put him in this position.

When asked how being called a cheater makes him feel, Brady responds by saying, “I think you can just go out and try to be the best you can be, deal with people with respect, with honesty, with integrity, have a high moral standard. You know, I’ve always really tried to exemplify that as an athlete. I’ll continue to try to do that.”

Here is more from McClish. “The word ‘trying’ means attempted, failed, didn’t do it. The subject is clearly telling us he is not being honest. He is only attempting to be honest.”

Brady is then asked another direct question. A reporter asks him if he would like to say “I’m sorry” to the fans for the distraction of deflategate.

The appropriate response to that question from an innocent person would be, “No, I have nothing to apologize for.”

But instead we get more avoidance. “Well I think it’s disappointing that a situation like this happens. Obviously I’d love to be up here talking about , uh, in a very joyful mood. These are the two best weeks of the year if you happen to be one of the two teams still playing. It should be a great two weeks. I’m obviously very disappointed that we have to be having a press conference like this. I wish I could give you more answers or the answers that you guys were looking for. But I don’t have some of those answers.” 

Jan 18, 2015; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (12) after beating the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

The reporter persists. “For the fans that are watching and looking into that camera, what do you say?”

Brady laughs and says, “I’m not sure. What would you like me to say? I’m not quite sure.”

SAY YOU DIDN’T TELL THE BALL BOY TO DEFLATE THE DANG FOOTBALL OR SAY YOU’RE SORRY FOR TELLING THE BALL BOY TO DEFLATE THE DANG FOOTBALL!

Later, Brady is asked if he knows where the footballs go after the referees check them before the game.

“I have no idea. That’s not part of my process.”

Really Tom? You have no idea? None? You said that you are very particular about how you like your football, but you have “no idea” what happens to them?

McClish writes on his site about this very topic. “It is hard to believe a person when he or she says, ‘I have no clue’ or ‘I have no idea.’ Most people have an idea on just about everything. I don’t know how we can successfully send an astronaut to Mars but I have an idea. My idea probably will not work because I am not a rocket scientist but I do have an idea.”

So there you have it folks. Tom Brady knew about deflategate. You probably could’ve just looked at the man’s face and reached the same conclusion, I mean seriously, look at it.

But if you made it this far, hopefully you’ve been at least a little bit enlightened.