--- description: New Jersey Governor blames media over heavy attention on Deflategate. title: Chris Christie: Hype Over Tom Brady and Deflategate 'Overblown' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68c65a3fe600250e/6987eea60b72e344456e1eb0/tom-brady.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Politics](/section/politics/) ## Politics Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Chris Christie Says Hype Over Tom Brady and Deflategate Is 'Overblown' by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 8, 2015 12:08 AM CUT  Tom Brady talks during a press conference at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., on Jan. 22, 2015 Tom Brady talks during a press conference at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., on Jan. 22, 2015Maddie Meyer—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 8, 2015 12:08 AM CUT New Jersey Governor Chris Christie thinks the media circus over New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady potentially knowing that his team’s footballs were a little light on air is, frankly, “[way, way overblown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2TMB09aoVE "undefined").” “I don’t think anybody is really trying to say that Tom Brady won four super bowls or became a future Hall of Famer because the balls were a little under inflated,” Christie, a noted Cowboys fan, told [_IJ Review_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2TMB09aoVE "undefined") in an interview on Thursday in New Hampshire. “I think the media and others _love_ for somebody who is married to a beautiful model, who is richer than you can imagine and who is a future Hall of Famer, to take a couple of shots at him? People like that every once in a while.” Christie’s comments come one day after an NFL investigation found it was “more probable than not” that Brady was at least “generally aware” about team employees tampering with footballs. [\[_IJReview_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2TMB09aoVE "undefined")\] _Read next:_ [_6 Surreal Takeaways From the Deflategate Report_](http://time.com/3849660/deflategate-new-england-patriots-tom-brady-football/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3851232/tom-brady-deflategate-scandal-chris-christie/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3851232/tom-brady-deflategate-scandal-chris-christie/"},"headline":"Chris Christie Says Hype Over Tom Brady and Deflategate Is 'Overblown'","datePublished":"2015-05-08T00:08:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:02:22.242Z","description":"Governor blames media over heavy attention on Deflategate","url":"https://time.com/3851232/tom-brady-deflategate-scandal-chris-christie/","keywords":["Football","NFL","People","Tom Brady","patriots","deflategate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68c65a3fe600250e/6987eea60b72e344456e1eb0/tom-brady.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt68c65a3fe600250e/6987eea60b72e344456e1eb0/tom-brady.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady talks to the media during a press conference to address the under inflation of footballs used in the AFC championship game at Gillette Stadium on January 22, 2015 in Foxboro, Massachusetts.","caption":"New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady talks to the media during a press conference to address the under inflation of footballs used in the AFC championship game at Gillette Stadium on January 22, 2015 in Foxboro, Massachusetts.","creditText":"Maddie Meyer—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3851232/tom-brady-deflategate-scandal-chris-christie/","name":"Chris Christie Says Hype Over Tom Brady and Deflategate Is 'Overblown'"}}]}] ```