Charles Haley Thinks Brady's Rings Are “Tainted”

Charles Haley won the first two of his NFL record five Super Bowl rings with Joe Montana, who finished his career with four Championships of his own.

Last Sunday, New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady tied Montana with his fourth Super Bowl win, in a 28-24 thriller of a victory over the Seattle Seahawks. Asked to choose between Montana and Brady this week in an appearance on the Talk of Fame Network, Haley quickly chose his old teammate Montana--and argued that unlike Montana, Brady’s rings are tainted.

“Joe didn’t have to cheat,” Haley said. “I’ve lost all respect (for Brady). When your integrity is challenged in the game of football, to me, all his Super Bowls are tainted. You have to say this just didn’t happen overnight. Who wants that shadow over them? I could be wrong. But I realize there were 12 balls deflated and 12 ain’t. Then you’ve got (Patriots coach Bill) Belichick coming on three different times trying to explain it... You know something is wrong.”

Haley was named as part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015 last Saturday in Arizona and was present for Brady’s fourth Super Bowl win, as well as all the talk of deflated footballs that led up to it.

“This is what Charles Haley believes--it’s going to come back to haunt him one day,” Haley said. “If the league doesn’t come down on this guy... Everybody is talking about it. Nobody believes it was by accident. It is what it is. I’m not going to take any of his Super Bowl rings away from him. But it’s sad that it has to be tainted like it is right now. Hopefully they’ll come out and let us know what really happened. Then all the mystery is gone.”