Since the beginning of February, Patriots fans have been left to twist in the wind amidst the hurricane of rumors, speculation, and innuendo brought on by the allegations of former video assistant Matt Walsh.
Two days ago, the spygate scandal came to a head when Walsh sent NFL commissioner Roger Goodell eight videotapes of other teams' signals, dating back to 2000, when Belichick first arrived in New England. One of these tapes was made during the AFC Championship game against the Steelers.
However, the much ballyhooed tape of the St.Louis Rams' walkthrough before the '01 Super Bowl was conspicuously absent from Walsh's stash of tapes. Rumors of the existence of this tape have run rampant among many less reputable sources of media (*cough* *cough* John Tomase *cough* *cough*) since Walsh went public with his accusations in February.
It is now apparent that this tape never existed, and that any accusations of foul play on the part of the Patriots during that Super Bowl were misguided and untrue.
All Matt Walsh had to do was issue a statement saying that he didn't have any tape of the Rams. The rumor would have died a quiet and uneventful death right then and there.
Instead, he sat back and watched as a weightless and invalid rumor was allowed to make the rounds among the media. To me, this whole sordid affair reeks of a bitter nobody (Walsh was fired by the Patriots in 2003 after illegally taping conversations between himself and VP of football operations Scott Pioli. Needless to say, there was bad blood there) looking for his 15 minutes of fame, and by the looks of things, he has succeeded beyond any reasonable expectations.
Then again, Walsh did have tapes, and although they were nothing new, I cannot rush to premature judgement on this issue. Who knows? Perhaps Walsh made his accusation out of pure civic virtue. Maybe he had no ulterior motive for his actions.
And maybe the sky is purple and the world is flat. Maybe Pacman Jones is just misunderstood.
But I digress. While it is true beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Patriots cheated, the tactics of Bill Belichick are not an outlier among NFL teams by any stretch of the imagination.
In the words of Bill Parcells, "If you don't expect to have your signals stolen, you're stupid."
Former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson has called stealing signals a "common practice." He went on to say that "A lot of other teams around the league do it."
In light of his confession, will Roger Goodell investigate Johnson's accomplishments of the '90s? Of course not, and for a few reasons, the first and most obvious being that it is old news, just like the Super Bowl that occurred seven years ago.
Also, any cheating done by Johnson, and more to the point, Belichick, that hasn't already been punished was done under Paul Tagliabue, who did not enforce any rule banning videotaping in the nature of what the Patriots did.
Any punishment levied by Mr. Goodell in regards to anything that occurred in 2001 (even if Walsh actually had the smoking gun walkthrough tape), is moot in that he would be acting outside of his jurisdiction anyway.
The only thing that causes Belichick's actions to run afoul of league rules is a memo sent by NFL VP of Football operations Ray Anderson prior to the 2006 season, and while it is unfortunate that Belichick chose to disregard that memo, only actions that occurred after Anderson's memo should even be looked at.
So what did we learn from this trying ordeal? Well for starters, we found out that the NFL was more corrupt as an entity then previously thought. We also found out that Belichick was just one in a litany of coaches who stole signals.
One thing that seems to be lost amidst the hoopla of spygate is the fact that Roger Goodell did indeed hand out an unprecedented punishment in light of the Patriots' cheating. Before last year, a team has never lost its first-round pick due to a rule violation. Belichick himself was also fined a quarter-of-a-million dollars.
Frankly, this whole story was blown way out of proportion in this writer's opinion. Belichick went from being a great, albeit enigmatic, coach, to a cross between Stalin, Richard Nixon, and Satan.
The degree to which Bill Belichick has been demonized among the media, both freelance and mainstream, is embarrassing.
Furthermore, it denotes not the severity of Belichick's offenses, but a lingering resentment towards the Patriots that seems to have been festering around the nation since the team went from being a lovable cinderella, to a consistent and controversial powerhouse.
Mr. Belichick did something wrong, cheated if you will, and he was quickly and succinctly punished for it. Case closed, or so I thought.
comments (14) write a comment »
write a new comment
about 1 month ago
This is a dead issue to me....unless new - I mean 2008 - evidence is uncovered
from about 1 month ago
I see what you mean, the point of this article is to serve as yet another rebuttal to people who just can't seem to let this issue go. You are clearly not one of those people but I hear the same tired jokes/arguments every day and it drives me nuts, so I felt compelled to write about it, despite the fact that the issue is pretty much dead as you said. Thanks for the comment.
Peace,
Max
about 1 month ago
a lot of nfl fans owe the patriots an apology (of course, that will never come). they all waited for matt walsh to produce this tape, and he, as i said all along, had nothing. this issue is more dead than shaun alexander's career. the pats made a mistake, broke a rule, paid for it, deserved the initial scorn, but everything from matt walsh was a lie, and i feel badly for all the people out there that hung their hopes on this loser's word.
from about 1 month ago
Couldn't have said it better myself, although I don't think other fans should apologize, John Tomase should though. He ran with a story with extremely questionable credibility and in doing so slandered the Patriots and put into question his own journalistic integrity. Other news outlets had the story of a rams walkthrough tape but refused to run it because of its dubious credibility. Walsh technically didn't lie because he did in fact have evidence and he never (to my knowledge) corraborrated Tomase's story. If it weren't for Tomase (and pre-eminent bitter Eagles fan Arlen Specter) I wouldn't have written this article, and most importantly, nobody would know who the hell Matt Walsh is, just like it should be.
Don't sleep on Shaun Alexander just yet, he'll never be a star again but if someone kicks his butt in gear and forces him to lay off the cheetos, someone could get a pretty cheap compliment back or a good insurance policy (think Indy, NE, or NO) teams with bad depth, a penchant for signing old veterans, or a questionable starter at RB.
about 1 month ago
You know the one thing that strikes me as funny on this issue?
Waaaay back, in baseball's lore, they tried to make a big deal about Thompson's home run, the "Shot heard around the world", when they claimed, that someone had a pair of binoculars, and sat in the scoreboard, to steal the signs on which pitch was coming. So what? With a pitch coming in, at 90 plus mph, you'd have to radio the signal down, send it to the coach, have the coach signal it in, and then hope, the batter, can hit that said pitch coming in.
Lots of luck, there.
True, signals were taped. They had a clue, on what different signals came in. But if a QB audibles, like in the case of Peyton manning, signals are out the window, and you're on your own.
That, and it's not like one signal, is going to be responsible for your entire game plan.
Either way, Belicheck should know by now, not to do it.
from about 1 month ago
Thanks for the comment, I had thought along those lines as well, I didn't know the tidbit with the Binoculars and Thompson's shot though. Belichick did screw up by taping signals... against the Jets no less, a team that he probably knew he would have no real trouble in dispatching. And going back to Bobby's homer, as we all know, the stuff about binoculars faded quicky into the background of any coherent discussion about that play or the season itself, as I believe spygate will as well. Also, stealing signs had been a common practice in baseball dating all the way back to John McGraw's days in Baltimore and New York, just as stealing signals had been common since at least the '90s. Again, thanks for the input.
Peace,
Max
about 1 month ago
Before we can put a bookmark on this unfortunate saga, Walsh has a meeting with Goodell tomorrow.
We do not know what Walsh knows. I think he has something. Why did it take so long for him to come forward? Another layer of this story, is the involvement of Senator Arlen Specter (R) Pennsylvania. Right now, Comcast and the cable industry is at war with the NFL. I think because of Comcast he has turned up the heat on this Spygate soap opera. I think Specter has a hidden agenda here. I think he will continue to look into this cheating scandal. Unless the NFL caves in to the cable industry, Specter will probably back down.
I think if Belichick was open and honest about what he did, I think this whole thing would have blown over. Unfortunately, I think Belichick's hubris has hurt him here. Furthermore, Goodell having the tapes destroyed just added more intrigue.
Although Goodell fined Belichick and the Patriots, I think they were a "slap on the wrist". I think Goodell dropped the ball here. Because Goodell did not issue harsher fines like taking away both first round draft picks or a combination of picks and suspending Belichick for a game or games, I think some people perceive Belichick got away with cheating and did not get proper punishment. I think this is where there is a lot of resentment toward Belichick.
The NFL wants this to go away. I do not think Belichick is the only head coach who used video taping or other methods to gain a competitive advantage. I think this is more widespread than other people may think. If Walsh has something, I can only hope he can shed some light on what other clubs may be doing and not just focus on Belichick.
from about 1 month ago
Taking away both first round picks would have been taking away the 49er's first round pick, not the Patriots'.
Matt Walsh took his damn time for two reasons: He's bitter, and the legal protection he was asking for was basically requesting that he not be sued for stealing from the Patriots. The tapes, regardless of whether or not they were considered illegal, were property of the Patriots, as well as "memorobilia" which was taken.
The fact of the matter is, signal stealing is perfectly legal in the NFL. It is, in fact, encouraged. The only thing is you can't use a camera to get them during the game.
about 1 month ago
Zac,
We do not know what Walsh knows. How do you know he is bitter? Patriots management wants this story to go away. They have demonized him. Demonize the messenger so you can dismiss the message.
Until Walsh speaks with Goodell and Specter, we cannot say this story about cheating is nothing.
Signal stealing is legal? Not if you get caught. Just ask Mr. Belichick.
With Specter involved, I think this story will continue.
from about 1 month ago
Glenn, thanks for the read and the comments, Roger Goodell just realeased a statement saying that Walsh was unaware of any additional violations and that the tapes he made remained in his posession until the end of a game, meaning that they were used exclusively for game-planning for later games, as the Patriots said. I wouldn't venture to say that sign stealing is legal, just very common up until recently, just ask the Jets, who were incidentally caught taping Patriots signals during a game in foxboro in '06, apparently, the camera men were kicked out of Gillete stadium but never reported.
So what's my point you may ask? Perhaps Mangini's motive for reporting NE's violations were not tied to civic virtue as it has been made to appear. I will say that it is unfortunate that the Pats cheated, the bredth and scope of the infractions in question aren't nearly as great as the media (Tomase) has made it seem. Although i do agree with Zach in the respect that taking both 1st rounders would've in effect nullified a trade with San Fran, which would have been extremely unfair regardless of the infraction in question, unless we were given Joe Staley (the guy the niners got in the deal) I think that it was not unfair to punsih the pats, but the degree to which they were singled out is appalling in my eyes. bYou're right about Spectar, he'll keep digging even when he hits the stony bottom of the proverbial chasm of BS that is spygate.
Peace,
Max
about 1 month ago
I disagree with you. I think as a Patriots' fan you have blinders on.
What did they do with the information?
I do not think Belichick is the only coach who has delved into this behavior.
The NFL wants this story to go away.
If Commissioner Goodell was interested in the integrity of the game, he would have launched a thorough investigation thoughout the entire league and not just the Patriots.
I think the fines were a joke.
from about 1 month ago
Agreed about the fines, i bet Kraft reimbursed Belichick and the team can take a 3/4 million dollar loss. The NFL does want this story to go away you're also right about that. However, the problem I see is that Mr. Specter has absolutely no jurisdiction here, what right does he have to get involved? no laws were broken, no regulation was infringed on (unless of course you count NFL regulations), It's Goodell's league and he has the right to handle it as he sees fit, yes I am biased on this issue but Specter's jurisdiction over the NFL has yet to be explained to me in a satisfactory way.
According to Walsh, the Patriots never saw the tapes during the games in which they were taped, which would leave but one logical purpose for them, use for gameplanning a later game, what else could these tapes possibly be used for if they are not used during games? And for that matter, who cares if they were, every team in the NFL has people in the press box with binoculars who look at opposing signals and try to attach them to a play, taping for use in a game is a pointless and risky endeavor. My problem here is not the punishment the Pats received, but the degree to which they were signaled out as the one and only offenders, thanks to Tomase, who was forced to print an apology earlier this week. That and the fact that the whole situation could have been resolved a week after the super bowl but it was allowed to fester for 3 months.
Peace,
Max
about 1 month ago
Well i don't have blinders on I am a Carolina Panther fan all i know is i saw one hell of a SuperBowl when Pats beat the Panthers . Maybe the best game ever. The tapes are a none issue as far as i am concern the damn thing ought to be called crygate for the fans whose teams haven't been as successful as the Pats. and can't quit crying about it good article Max every thing you write is a good read'
from about 1 month ago
thank you very much for the feedback and the compliment, I agree about that super bowl, i would've been a little bitter had the panthers won for maybe a week or so but the greatness of that game would've cancelled out that feeling quickly, I wouldn't say that everyone who whines/takes the opposing viewpoint on spygate is bitter. Take Glenn for example, not only are his arguments relevant, but he is a Giant fan who would have no tenable reason for bitterness over spygate.
My best game ever has to be the Strock Fouts duel when Benirschke was playing on one leg for all intents and purposes, for the last five-ten years though, that SB was one of the best if not the best. It seems to me that every super bowl the Pats play in is a game for the ages, even last year's defensive struggle.
Peace,
Max
write a new comment