Patriots Videogate: The Arrogance of Bill Belichick

Rod Marinelli noticed “a camera pointed right at our defensive coach making his calls.”  When the Patriots visited Green Bay, cameraman Matt Estrella (the same guy who was doing the taping against the Jets) was caught on the sidelines recording the Packers’ signals.

It's a very safe assumption that Belicheat had his camera goons active at every game, which of course begs the question:

Why haven’t these countless indiscretions been met with punishment until now?

The obvious reason is that the league finally got its hands on irrefutable evidence of wrongdoing.  In the past, these allegations and suspicions weren’t raised until after the incidents occurred.

The other, more insidious, reason has to do with the league’s prior inability to stand up against the all-mighty Belicheat.  The coach believed he could operate outside the NFL’s established rules, and league officials proved him right.

If any of you love South Park as much as I do, you’ll recall the “Chef Aid” episode, and particularly the record executive character.  When confronted about stealing a song for an artist on his label, the record exec loudly shouts, “I AM ABOVE THE LAW!”...and then proceeds to dab some SPOOGE brand gel on his hanging lock of hair.

That's Belicheat in a nutshell.

What I can’t understand is the mass of people, mostly Pats fans, who have come out of the woodwork to justify the incident. Their protests include gems such as:

“He was just doing whatever it takes to win.  You can’t fault him for that.”

“There’s no way he could benefit from videotaping the signals.”

“Everyone in the NFL cheats.”

This organization really had a lot of people fleeced.

Think of how much tape Belicheat has been able to amass over his tenure.  You don’t have to use that information during the game in which it was filmed for it to be a competitive advantage.

And no, stealing signals by videotaping them isn't the same as using your own two eyes.  If the results were the same, why would the Patriots risk punishment by resorting to videotape?

The league had warned Belicheat following the Green Bay game that videotaping was expressly against the rules.  I guess that warning went in one ear and out the other—another example of how grossly arrogant the Patriots are.

And what about those three Super Bowls and Tom Brady’s meteoric rise from sixth-round draft pick to future Hall of Famer?

I sure am skeptical now.

As Dan LeBatard so nicely states it:

“For a team that won three Super Bowls by three points each time, cheating only has to give you an advantage on one successful play to change the result and the champion.”

Circumstantial evidence of illegal behavior has wreaked havoc in sports like cycling, track, and baseball.

The NFL, by contrast, is holding material proof of cheating.

So why were there no suspensions?

Wade Wilson, the Cowboys’ quarterbacks coach, was suspended for five games for taking HGH to deal with diabetic impotence.  There’s no way Dallas could have derived a competitive advantage from this indiscretion, but the league wanted to show that it was holding coaches to a higher standard.

If that’s the case, Belicheat should have been suspended for at least half the season.

As it stands, the team is facing absolutely no punishment that will affect them immediately.  The fines don’t hurt the players.  The draft picks don’t come into play for another season (plus the time it takes for rookies to develop). All told, the Patriots won’t see an adverse effect on the field for at least another year or two.

That's unacceptable.

And what if Belicheat retires after this season?  Those lost draft picks won’t mean a thing to him.

He’ll smugly stride off into the sunset, threadbare sweatshirt flapping in the wind, laughing to himself as he keeps repeating the truth in his mind:

“I am above the law.”

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