| 1 | FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) -- Tom Brady has an unlikely ally in Antonio Cromartie. |
| 2 | Cromartie, speaking on ESPN's ''First Take'' at Jets training camp Thursday, said fining Brady $25,000 should suffice for punishment because the team also was fined and docked draft picks. |
| 3 | Brady has filed a lawsuit against the league after it suspended him and Commissioner Roger Goodell upheld the decision on appeal. |
| 4 | The support from Cromartie was a bit surprising considering he and Brady aren't exactly buddies. |
| 5 | Cromartie referred to Brady with an expletive, ramping up an already-heated AFC East rivals as the teams prepared to face each other in the playoffs following the 2010 regular season. |
| 6 | Apparently, however, the hot topic of Goodell's range of authority is enough to get the Jets and Patriots to see eye to eye off the field. |
| 7 | Cromartie reiterated his comments after practice Thursday, believing a four-game suspension for Brady is out of bounds. |
| 8 | ''If you look at the rules, anything messing with the football, the maximum fine, I think, is $25,000,'' Cromartie said. |
| 9 | ''It doesn't say you can go out and suspend anybody. |
| 10 | The maximum fine is $25,000. |
| 11 | Cromartie did acknowledge that it is the players' own faults for signing a collective bargaining agreement in 2011 that gives Goodell ''the freedom'' to rule on player appeals. |
| 12 | ''I feel like we did give him a lot of power,'' Cromartie said. |
| 13 | ''But at the end of the day, when you go through the CBA, there's no changeup saying that he was supposed to have change-of-discipline or anything else. |
| 14 | The commissioner has always had the discipline (power). |
| 15 | But I just feel like at this point in time, the discipline that he's put forth, he's stepped outside the rules and made his own rules. |
| 16 | ''If the rules are the rules, you need to keep the rules the same. |
| 17 | Cromartie is uncertain whether Brady was directly involved in the Patriots deflating footballs last season, but thinks the league is fumbling the matter, regardless. |
| 18 | Despite his criticisms of Goodell, Cromartie isn't concerned about the suspension Jets teammate Sheldon Richardson is facing. |
| 19 | The defensive lineman was suspended four games on July 2 for violating the league's substance abuse policy, and could be docked more games by the league after he was charged with resisting arrest following a high-speed road race in Missouri in which he was traveling up to 143 mph. |
| 20 | ''I think everything with Sheldon is going to go the way it needs to go,'' Cromartie declared. |
| 21 | The reason for his confidence? |
| 22 | ''Prayer,'' Cromartie said with a smile. |