The New England Patriots have asked the NFL to reinstate the suspended employees at the heart of the scandal that came to be known as Deflategate.

The team suspended equipment assistant John Jastremski and officials locker room attendant Jim McNally as part of the investigation into whether the footballs the team provided for the AFC title game were improperly inflated. In one of the more damning texts uncovered in the probe, McNally referred to himself as “the deflator.”

The Patriots claimed McNally (a “big fellow”) was talking about losing weight. McNally also wrote “F–k tom” in texts exposed in the Wells Report, and threatened to blow up quarterback Tom Brady’s pigskins like a “balloon,” a “rugby ball” and a “watermelon.”

The team was fined $1 million and docked two draft picks as punishment. Brady had his four-game suspension vacated by a federal judge. The team has denied any wrongdoing, but it suspended McNally and Jastremski.

“Of course,” Brady told WEEI on Tuesday when he asked if he wanted the pair back on the team.

“None of those things are my decisions, but I feel terrible — like I said the other day — for what they’ve been put through, what their families have been put through, what my family has been put through, and what’s happened. I just feel terrible that they’re not with our team.”

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Wednesday the reinstatement request is under review. The NFL said the two could not be reinstated without permission from the league.

With AP