Tom Brady

NEW YORK — A federal judge this morning let the air out of “Deflategate,” erasing New England quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game suspension for a controversy that the NFL claimed threatened football’s integrity.

The decision frees Brady to prepare for the Sept. 10 season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell went too far in affirming punishment of the Super Bowl winning quarterback. Brady has insisted he played no role in a conspiracy to deflate footballs below the allowable limit at last season’s AFC Championship Game.

The suspension was “premised upon several significant legal deficiencies,” Berman wrote in his opinion, noting that an arbitrator’s factual findings are generally not open to judicial challenge.

Berman’s ruling does not necessarily end the dispute. The league can appeal.

The judge said Brady had no notice he could receive a four-game suspension for general awareness of ball deflation by others or participation in any scheme to deflate football and for not cooperating with an investigation.

“Brady also had no notice that his discipline would be the equivalent of the discipline imposed upon a player who used performance enhancing drugs,” Berman said.

Brady was also denied equal access to investigative files, including witness interview notes, and didn’t have a chance to examine one of two lead investigators, the judge said.

The league brought the scandal to Berman’s Manhattan courtroom once Goodell upheld Brady’s four-game suspension.

The union countersued, said Brady did nothing wrong and asked the judge to nullify the suspension.