Well the Saints players did appeal their suspension, and they were all overturned, so I'm not sure what you're getting at...
As for my take, sounds like the Pats did something wrong. Not enough evidence, by any means, for the punishment, but they're the best team in football so they should expect to be held to a higher standard. Every team in the league breaks rules at different times, the fact that this one got blown up as large as it did is really just a factor of how good they are, and continue to be; everyone (outside of their fanbase) hated the cowboys in the 90's, Yankees in the 90's etc. No different, comes with the territory.