CameraGate, the NFL Verdict, the Border Wars Escalation, and the Effect on the Patriots “Dynasty”
Illustration courtesy of NY Daily NewsWhen it comes to the American media (in all forms), there are two areas where it excels; the first is piling on when it comes to a car wreck (see: Michael Vick, Britney Spears), and the second is some serious preaching after someone (or some team) has royally screwed up. Both elements have been in full display in the wake of the New England Patriots “CameraGate” incident. In the aftermath of the surreal escalation of this event during the past week, I decided to take a step back, and read as much coverage as I could (mainstream media, blogs, blog commentary, etc.). After doing so, I would like to throw my 2 cents into the fray.
(yes, this means I’m just as guilty of piling on & preaching as everyone else. Hey, it’s what we do, and besides that, it just happens to be my team. I have to say SOMETHING!)
So here it is, divided into topic sections:
Thoughts on the punishment handed down by Der Führer Roger Goodell:
Do I like the fact that the Patriots are losing a 1st Round draft pick? OF COURSE NOT! I’m a Patriots fan! But do I AGREE with the penalty? Sadly, yes. There’s no getting around it; the Patriots not only broke a rule, but they broke a rule that the NFL reinforced last September with the following memo:
“Video taping of any type, including but not limited to taping of an opponent’s offensive or defensive signals, is prohibited on the sidelines, in the coaches’ booth, in the locker room, or at any other locations accessible to club staff members during the game.”
In addition, they broke the rule against Belichick’s former protege, who certainly knew his old boss’s tactics, and gleefully caught him red-handed. Bottom line, they cheated and looked pretty dumb doing it. Not something you’d expect from a head coach with a “genius” reputation.
What does this do to the Belichick vs Mangini rivalry?
In all seriousness, we’ve gone beyond anything we’ve every seen in modern NFL coaching history. The closed I can think of is back in 1989, when Bengals coach Sam Wyche hated Gerry Glanville so much that he had his team make an onside kick when they were all ready winning 45-0, and then a field goal at the very end of a 61-7 rout. When they met at midfield, Wyche called Glanville a *bleeping* phony and a liar.
(Speaking of that, lost in the whole CameraGate incident is the fact that the Patriots went to a hurry-up offense late in the 38-14 route of the Jets. Have no doubt, Belichick was rubbing it in Mangini’s face.)
But this one goes way beyond the field. Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports has an excellent take on just how intertwined the Patriots and Jets roots have become, and just how low this feud has gone. We’re talking Fredo and Michael in the Godfather Part II at this point.
Silver thinks that Belichick should be the one to man-up and stand down in this war of deceit and deception. While I agree, I also think there’s two chances of that happening, Jack and Sh*t. Mangini just pants his former boss & completely humiliated him in the public court. Who knows what revenge the hooded one will take the next time these teams meet. Let’s just say if I were Eric, I wouldn’t be taking any fishing trips to Lake Tahoe…
Should the punishment have been harsher, like having Belichick suspended for at least one game?
The outcry for Belichick being suspended honestly amuses me. Do people really think that would be worse than losing a first round draft pick? The NFL’s most precious commodity is draft picks, and taking away the Pats first round pick for next year’s draft is an unprecedented punishment. The Denver Broncos lost their 3rd round draft picks in both 2002 and 2005 when the league discovered they had broken the league’s salary cap rules. So both teams were caught cheating, yet the Patriots lose a first rounder instead of a third. And the Broncos were caught TWICE, yet the punishment did not increase the second time.
As for what would have happened if Belichick was suspended, I think Matt Mosley from ESPN summed it up pretty well:
Even if you didn’t allow him at the practice facility, he could still consult with his coaches all week. He would still have his hands all over the game plan. The people who think the Patriots would go into a tailspin without Belichick might be giving him a little too much credit.
Is the Patriots Dynasty now tainted?
Absolutely not. As I mentioned earlier this week, this entire situation has been blown WAY out of proportion. Yes, the Patriots tried to steal signals through videotaping and that’s illegal. But trying to steal signals has been a way of life in the NFL (and other leagues) for decades. Heck, just last year the Dolphins were accused of purchasing audio tapes of Tom Brady’s cadence at the line of scrimmage. Back in ‘97, the Patriots beat the Dolphins in the AFC Wildcard game in part because they figured out Marino’s audibles, and linebacker Todd Collins knew a slant pass was coming when he intercepted it for a touchdown. Where was the outrage then?
But that hasn’t stopped AOL Fanhouse’s Michael David Smith from posting a mind-numbing 21 articles regarding CameraGate, including this beauty where he trashes Matthew Estrella, the cameraman, and then gets called out by a friend of Estrella’s in the 1st comment. I’m eagerly awaiting Mr. Smith’s next 3 posts, which should blame Belichick for the Kennedy assassination, global warming, and High School Muscial 1 and 2.
Conversely, I highly recommend Matt Ufford’s take, who also writes for the FanHouse. He has no love for the Patriots, but feels much of the venom unleased on the internet has been spewed forth by Patriot haters. Regarding sign stealing, he writes, “if this were such a competitive advantage, how did it stay under the radar for so long?”
This is a huge point, because according to the NY Daily News’ Gary Myers, the Jets knew about these tactics a LONG time ago…
A few years ago, when Herm Edwards was coaching the Jets and Mangini was working for Belichick in New England, the Jets coaching staff noticed a Patriots employee on the sideline pointing a video camera at the Jets coach who was sending in the defensive calls with hand signals.
The Jets coaches reacted by smiling for the Patriots camera and stopped just short of saying, “Hi, Bill.”
“At times, we would wave at the guy that was filming over there,” a Jets source, who is no longer with the team, said yesterday. “We just gave false signals and waved at the camera. I don’t know if they picked up our signals or not. We didn’t really worry about it too much. We didn’t make a big deal out of it. Sometimes we would just send a guy in with the play instead.”
Staying with Mr. Myers article, we find another quote (from a surprising source) indicating that if the Patriots were trying to steal signals with video, it didn’t affect the outcome of one of their most famous victories:
“If he did steal signals in that game, he didn’t do a very good job,” said Lions offensive coordinator Mike Martz, the Rams coach {when New England beat St. Louis, 20-17 in the Super Bowl}. “Going into the last drive, they had 100 yards of offense. He got the wrong signals. If he had our defensive signals, it didn’t help him much.”
“He won legitimately,” Martz insists. “Those players had to line up and play and win those games. And they did.”
Care for another quote from a vanquished Super Bowl foe? At the end of John Tomase’s article for the Boston Herald (which I linked above regarding the Patriots loss of a 1st round pick), he quotes Eagles’s coach Andy Reid saying the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXIX “fair and square”.
Final Comments:
Going back to the media, there’s another thing we seem to do very well lately, and that’s to forget about a scandal just after it happens. As I’m writing this, CameraGate has all ready come down from the main ESPN page. And think of how we’ve treated someone like Shawne Merriman. Less than a year ago, when he was suspended by the NFL for violating the NFL’s steroids and related substances policy, ESPN’s Eric Allen wrote this:
I’m shocked and saddened by the news of Shawne Merriman’s reported suspension for a positive steroids test. Now everything he’s ever accomplished and will accomplish in football will be questioned…now players are going to take extra shots at him because he’s going to be thought of as a cheater.
Today, Merriman is Nike’s new poster boy. So much for that long-term tainting of his character.
I don’t think it’s right for us to so easily forget Merriman’s transgression. Or the fact that one player who killed someone in a drunk driving accident continues to suit up today.
And I’m not going to be a hypocrite here; I don’t think we should so easily forget that the Patriots cheated. I stand by what I’ve written: they cheated, were punished accordingly, and it shouldn’t take away from their past accomplishments. But I, like many other New England fans, certainly feel differently about our team today. And it’s been brewing for awhile. Between Belichick’s wife stealing, Brady’s double-dipping, Harrison’s suspension, and now this, it’s been a bit frustrating lately to be a Pats fan. But make no mistake, tomorrow I will wear my Patriots jersey with pride & cheer for my team, perhaps harder than ever before. Like any other diehard NFL fan would say; I love this game, and I love my team, through thick and thin.
So here’s hoping that with the spectre of CameraGate all ready starting to fade, Kraft & Company decide to spent some time cleaning house over on Route 1. Specifically dumping any extra camcorders & suspect video files lying around. Regardless of how the rest of the season goes for the Patriots, I as a fan would like to be able to hold my head high and say at the end of the day, win or lose, our team did it “fair and square”.
NFL, New England Patriots, CameraGate, Bill Belichick, cheating, video, 1st round pick, punishment, media overkill
September 16th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
I definitely can not agree with you on this topic. first you are being extremely hypocritical. You portray your disgust for the punishment the patriots have recieved, in claiming that it isn’t fair and such, but then you say later how you agree with how the patriots and belichick have been punished. In my mind the patriots and Belichick were not punished enough. Draft picks may be a top commodity in the NFL but a single first round pick is not that big of a deal. Also the patriots are getting another 1st rounder from previous trades. Also look at the players that the patriots have used in the past. Troy Brown, who was a huge part of the patriots three super bowl victories was drafted in the eighth round of the NFL draft in 1993, David Patton, another big time reciever was undrafted, Deon Branch, who is now in the superbowl record books for most receptions as well as a suberbowl MVP, was drafted in the 2nd round. And do not forget that Tom Brady was a 6th round pick. So obviously, loosing one draft pick is probably th least of the pats worries.
Bill Belichick got off easy as well. a one game suspension.. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! The man cheated and should be punished accordingly. Merriman got 4 games for his drug use and so does every other player who doesn’t obey the substance abuse policy. Belichick should be suspended 4-5 games. I agree with you that I’m sure he will still have his hands in on the gameplan but he will not be on the sidelines. By making him sit out for a month will really hit him hard. This guy lives for coaching and wants to be out on the field with his team, so by giving him only a one game suspension does not affect him as much as 4-5 games would.
September 16th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
First off, Mitchell622, thanks for your well thought out & well written comment. After putting time into an article, nothing makes me happier than a reader with a good, constructive comment, whether it’s for or against my position.
As for my position, my ‘disgust’ (more along the lines of frustration) is not directed at the punishment - again, I feel it was tough, but fair. It’s directed at the army of writers and commenters on the internet that are calling for punishments like Belichick to be fired and/or the Patriots to forfeit their game against the Jets. I think that’s an overreaction, and a great deal of Patriots bashing. (The cry for the forfeit really gets me - I don’t think even the most diehard Jets fan really thinks they win that game if they replayed it again this week, minus CameraGate.)
You have some great examples regarding draft picks, but you could also make the reverse argument that nobody makes more out of their 1st round picks than the Pats. Look at their starting defensive line (Warren, Wilfork, and Seymour when he gets back); one of the best in the NFL, made up entirely of 1st round picks. Plus, they got Corey Dillon for a 2nd round pick and Randy Moss for a 4th round pick - imagine who they could have gotten for their 1st round pick next year? Bottom line: you’re losing out on an impact player - that would hurt any team (and I don’t feel that the Patriots should be penalized more for performing well in the draft & being able to stockpile picks).
As for the opinion that Belichick should have been suspended? Well, you’re certainly not alone there. I truly believe that what they were doing (trying to steal signals) is not as severe as a player taking an illegal substance to enhance their performance on field. Again, the Jets have seen the Pats try this before & one of their coaches called it “no big deal.” Regardless to your position on stealing signals, it’s been around sports forever, and will continue to play a role, right or wrong. I’m sure we disagree on that, but the league has all ready handed out their punishment.
Thanks for stopping by, Mitchell622!