Bill Belichick, Roger Goodell, and How the Patriots are Still Alive
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Big news of the week: Bill Belichick gets caught videotaping/cheating during the Jets-Patriots game last week.
Bigger news of the week: Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots are fined for the videotaping incident.
Biggest news of the week: Roger Goodell is an owners’ boy.
I must say I did not expect the news, but I must say I’m not surprised. How could the Patriots have kept their unprecedented run of three Super Bowl championships in four years, and also winning four straight division championships (five overall). There have also been games where when thinking about it, there was a pretty good chance that Belichick and the Patriots may have had a synthetically-made upper hand.
In the first game of the season in 2003, the Patriots lost drastically to the Buffalo Bills, 31-0. Somehow, they were able to turn the tables on the Bills later, winning the second game between the two 31-0. Last year, the first two games against former Belichick assistant Eric Mangini ended with fairly close scores, and in the wild card playoff game the Patriots thumped the Jets by 21. Also, despite having worked together, the two did not seem to get along after Mangini was hired by the Jets. Mangini has even hinted that the Patriots stooped to these kinds of tactics. Perhaps something was going on under the surface?
The most egregious example, if indeed this videotaping was actually used, would be in the 2001 season. The Patriots had played the St. Louis Rams earlier in the season, and the Rams handled the game pretty well, especially with their high-octane offense. Somehow, this offense with Mike Martz, MVP Kurt Warner, and Marshall Faulk was totally shut down in the Super Bowl. How could the Patriots have all of a sudden entirely brought down this record-setting staff? Playing opponents once before in the season does give a team experience, but are these re-engagements usually dominated by the second team? The second game should be more even rather than the dominance of the game entirely switching sides.
Even outside of games, there have been hints of Patriot cheating. The Green Bay Packers caught the same exact guy with the camera at the Jets’ game filming last year at Lambeau Field. The Indianapolis Colts apparently did not allow any cameras except for TV crews on the field when they were playing New England. Players and coaches have wondered aloud or even said straight up that the Patriots were suspected of foul play. (Some can be seen here: http://www.stltoday.com/blogs/sports-bernies-extra-points/2007/09/were-rams-cheated-out-of-super-bowl-win/; for those of you not familiar with Bernie Miklasz, he’s the main columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and has a really good reputation around these parts for his professionalism and expertise. Also he was recently named most influential sports figure in St. Louis by St. Louis Sports Magazine).
Now the game examples are just speculations, especially for all of you in the New England area. There is no obvious proof that the videotapes that may have been filmed were used as nothing more than game film (although it is hard to quantify filming of the Jets’ defensive signals as game film). But I must say that Belichick did not come out and utterly deny any wrongdoing, as someone who was falsely accused usually would. He even offered as good of an apology that he can give, which isn’t much, but it’s still an apology. I doubt he’s going to appeal the $750,000 fine given to him and the team, and the loss of their draft pick(s), because perhaps he really did cross the line.
The penalty Roger Goodell gave is obviously very heavy to us normal people, and perhaps would have been to other teams as well. But Belichick earns $4 million a year; $500,000 is not that much in the grand scheme of things. ( http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/ordine/blog/2007/09/argue_if_you_will_whether.html). The $250,000 is not that much to a franchise, and the first round draft pick IF the Patriots make the playoffs is laughable, especially since they have San Francisco’s first round pick already. The second and third round picks if the Patriots don’t make the playoffs don’t matter; a lot of teams don’t have second and third round picks sometimes, and the Patriots are pretty set for the next few years. Goodell said in his letter to the Patriots:
“This episode represents a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid longstanding rules designed to encourage fair play and promote honest competition on the playing field….I specifically considered whether to impose a suspension on Coach Belichick. I have determined not to do so, largely because I believe that the discipline I am imposing of a maximum fine and forfeiture of a first-round draft choice, or multiple draft choices, is in fact more significant and long-lasting, and therefore more effective, than a suspension."
http://boards.boston.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?tsn=1&nav=messages&webtag=bc-patriots&tid=10731
Oh really? More effective than a suspension? If you still think so, please read above.
Goodell has punished others more harshly for their off-field activities: Tank Johnson and Pacman Jones come to mind, and Dallas assistant coach Wade Wilson was suspended for five games even though he doesn’t play anymore and he said it was for health reasons that he was taking HGH. In regards to football, which should be Goodell’s main objective, cheating takes precedence over off-the-field activities, which already has the law to take care of it, and HGH prescriptions that are health-related and doctor-advised. It is known that Goodell is a good buddy of Robert Kraft. A slap on the wrist to keep Kraft happy under the guise and language of imposing a huge penalty? Bill Belichick is still a good coach; it couldn’t have been all cheating for him to be able to win three Super Bowls in four years. But losing the “best coach in football” for a length of time would hurt the Patriots. With Belichick, the season will continue. There has been no denying the fact on the Patriots’ side, which means illicit videotape use has been going on at least, so Goodell isn’t judging based on pure speculation. He could’ve, and should’ve, handed down a harsher penalty if he actually weren’t entirely biased.
