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Patriots aren’t owed any apology, Roger Goodell says

Roger Goodell said his job is to protect integrity of the game. Jeff Haynes/associated Press

Like everyone else, the Patriots are awaiting the results of Ted Wells’s investigation into whether underinflated footballs were intentionally used by the team in the Jan. 18 AFC Championship Game win over the Indianapolis Colts.

No matter the results — it’s been 104 days since that 45-7 win — there’s one thing the Patriots won’t be getting: an apology from Roger Goodell, the NFL commissioner.

When the Patriots arrived in Phoenix for Super Bowl XLIX — they would beat the Seattle Seahawks six days later — team owner Robert Kraft staunchly defended coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, and said that if the probe into Deflategate turned up no wrongdoing, he expected the NFL to say it’s sorry.

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“If the [NFL] investigation is not able to definitively determine that our organization tampered with the air pressure in the footballs,” Kraft said on Jan. 26, “I would expect and hope that the league would apologize to our entire team, and in particular, Coach Belichick and Tom Brady for what they have had to endure.”

That won’t happen, according to Goodell. “Well, no, because here’s the thing, and I’ve said this to Robert and I’ve said this publicly: Our job is to protect the integrity of the game,” said Goodell, who was appearing Friday morning on ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike” program. “If there are questions about the potential for some type of violation, it’s our obligation to go find out whether it happened. There are 31 other teams that want to know that the rules were followed.

“I hope there is nothing from this. But we didn’t make any judgment about whether there was or there wasn’t. We allowed Ted Wells to do that. That’s our job, and that’s what we’re going to do. I’m not going to apologize for doing our job.”

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Goodell indicated that Wells’s report might be released soon. “My sense is it’s coming close, only because I know he’s finished the investigation part of it, [and] he’s been writing for some period of time,” Goodell said. “My assumption is the report will be available soon.”

Williams jumps in

Leonard Williams wasted no time jumping right into the Patriots-Jets rivalry. Williams, a defensive lineman who went to the Jets No. 6 overall in Thursday’s first round, told reporters after being selected that sacking Brady has turned into a personal goal.

“They have a lot of pictures up of Brady in their complex,” Williams said. “I’m looking forward to a great matchup against him. I hope that he is my first sack of my career.”

Just one problem with that declaration, if you’re a Jets fan. The Patriots and Jets don’t meet until Oct. 25, New England’s seventh game. If Brady really is Williams’s first sack, it will mean the former defensive end from Southern California will go more than a month into his rookie season without one.

Five more picks

After Friday’s trade with Cleveland, the Patriots will enter the final day of the draft with seven draft picks: Three in the fourth round, one in the fifth, two in the sixth, and a compensatory pick in the seventh, which can’t be traded. The have their own pick in the fourth round, followed by two picks acquired from Tampa Bay via a trade for Jonathan Casillas (one in the fourth round, one in the sixth), and one pick sent from Tennessee in a trade for Akeem Ayers (seventh round). The Patriots dealt their own fifth-round pick in the trade with Tampa Bay, their sixth-round selection in the deal with Tennessee, and their seventh-round pick in a 2012 trade with St. Louis for receiver Greg Salas . . . Unlike seasons past, the Patriots will not bring their picks to the stadium on draft weekend.

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Michael Whitmer can be reached at mwhitmer@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeWhitmer.