Yeah, sure. Makes wanting to suspend the most popular QB in the league for 4 games make a whole lot of sense when there was enough doubt for that to all go away if they wanted it to. Gronk was also not a repeat offender, and could have just been fined (I expected the suspension to be overturned).
Also, it was Brady himself that dropped the appeal.
There are a lot of coincidences like what you're citing if you look for them. Just this year, the Chiefs seemed to get a lot of teams as they turned things around. Particularly the Steeler game (a short time after they lost to the Bears), the Bills decided to experiment at QB the week before the Chiefs (which kept the Chargers in the playoff hunt for weeks longer than they would have been otherwise if they'd have lost), Crabtree's suspension was shortened and allowed him to play agains the Chiefs and Zeke was reinstated just in the nick of time for the Chiefs game before he was shut down by his failed appeal. They were victimized by the catch rule also.
The difference though is understanding that any given Sunday these are the dynamics at play. No single person has the kind of influence you are suggesting, you have to oversimplify a lot of things (as well as pretending the CBA doesn't exist) to accomplish the kind of conspiracy you're sold on.
