New England Patriots: Dick Vermeil On Spygate

NOTE: This article was first seen at PatriotsPlus.net.

Spygate hasn't been this hot of a topic since 2007, when the scandal broke. 

This week, Sports Illustrated published a profile on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell written by Peter King. 

In the article, of course, Spygate was brought up and Goodell shed some light on the story, making the scandal a hot topic once again.

On 98.5 The Sports Hub's Felger and Mazz Show Thursday, they had on former NFL coach Dick Vermeil. And, of course, Spygate was a topic among the three, and this is what Vermeil had to say about the recent news:

"I don’t know if everyone was doing it, but everyone might’ve had a method of trying to do it," Vermeil told 98.5 FM. "Maybe he did it better than everyone else. OK? And I’ll tell you this: In all honesty, I’ve coached as a head coach 15 years and an assistant four years, I know some things that have been done in the National Football League and I could document them, if I wanted to, that are far worse than that ever came close to being."

Vermeil assured listeners that much worse things go on than Spygate, and he even said that "everyone might've had a method of trying to do it."

Felger and Mazz later went on to ask Vermeil if he had ever done anything like it, and Vermeil brought up decoding defensive signals. Let's face it, nearly every team has tried to decode hand signals in just about every sport.

Vermeil went on to say that sometimes they did have the defensive signals decoded on the opposing team, and with Vermeil calling the plays, he was a bit overwhelmed.

Play-callers have 40 seconds to call a play. Don't you think it's a bit hard to decode signals and then call a play, depending on what you think the defense is doing?

What I have always wondered is how much effect did the Patriots videotaping other teams have on the game?

My answer: Little to none. The Patriots weren't able to review the film until after the game (it would just take too long to do it during halftime). So for the next time they would play that team, don't you think that teams change their signals over the course of the year? Of course they do.  

Be sure to follow Tony Santorsa on Twitter @ TonySantorsa