The NE Patriots get the hammer

[jmc]

I wonder if Belichick thought about the potential $500k fine before he tried to cheat to beat the Jets... And I mean, come on, the Jets? Would have easily won anyways.

Wasnt the video nabbed before the first quarter ended anyways? ...... so they kinda did beat the jets without cheating?

[Yangsing]

Patriots super bowl wins are a sham!

[Tekki]

Im glad there were no immediate suspensions or game effecting changes. This way, when my boys in blue beat them again, they will have no excuses ^____^

[Koyuki]

WOW LOL this is retarded. Pacman jones beats some hoe and gets kicked out the league. Bellicheck cheats and gets fined $500,000, like OMG I HOPE HE CAN STILL FEED HIS FAMILY. >_>

Atleast suspend his ass for a game. That's utter bullshit.

Because learning somebody's defensive signals clearly equals out to slamming a girls head into a stage, clearly the same thing. What a freaking horrible comparison. I agree he got off easy, 500k isn't that much to him, but still comparing the two was horrible

Why is it that everyone with an opinion doesn't even know what the Pats did wrong? THERE IS NOTHING ILLEGAL ABOUT STEALING SIGNALS IN THE NFL. You can't videotape signals from the field. The Pats videotaped signals from the field, hence the penalties.

Videotaping from the stands? That's legal. Having a team of guys stare at the other team's coaches to keep track of signals? That's legal. Breaking down signals from NFL and network on-field cameras after a game? That's legal.

In summary, this isn't about stealing signals. It's about the method they used to steal signals. Holy fuck, it's been almost a week and people still don't know what the hell they're talking about.

Holy fuck, stop sucking off the patriots.


Goddamn I fucking hate fanboys.

[Boyiee]

I'm a pats fan but I know what he did was wrong and he needed to be punished. I like the draft pick thing over the suspension, I feel it is longer lasting and will hurt more. Plus it's a good example, just getting suspended from games never really stopped anyone... but now there is longer term ramifications that can really hurt, on top of the money which not every coach would be ok with giving away.

Really, there is cheating in every major sport. Every NFL, MLB, NBA, horse racing, whatever, there is scandal somewhere. They didn't win due to the videotaping so whatever, at least it wasnt during a real game against a real team (lol).

[Demosthenes11]

This story is totally not a big deal at all. It's public information to anyone sitting in the stadium. Videotaping is against the rules yes and should be penalized, but all this "OMG WTF CHEATERS" reaction is bullshit. Stealing signs is part of the game, it's just how they did it -.-

[Tekki]

I dont think this whole ordeal is a big deal I have to side with those who are point out the inconsistencies of the leagues decisions.

[Kurp]

I think the OJ story is more interesting than this one.

[Tyche]

The only people trying to justify it and pass it off as no big deal are disillusional patriots fans. 500k, despite being the largest fine ever for a coach, is chump change to belichik. The pats are going to get a decent first round pick anyway (let's face it, NE will go a lot farther than SanFran). Id of had to suspend him for at least 2-4 games. It isn't like this is the first time, Green Bay and Detroit have busted him for this shit in the past. Numerous teams have reported radio "problems" when playing them. The league said it would continue to monitor the patriots and be a little more wary of other teams using mean to gain competitive edges as well. Belichik knowing that Goodell is looking over his shoulder constantly is probably the best punishment there is other than suspension. To the people dismissing it as football norm and everyone does it, give me a fucking break. Find me anyone with half as many incidents as the pats. The only other incident I can come up with off the top of my head was when Miami owned the patriots in the face last year with a 21-0 route. They bragged about acquiring some bootleg tapes of Brady's cadence. This is what I call bittersweet irony. An interesting point I heard brought up...All the patriots superbowl wins have come by 3 points, who's to say how much of an "advantage" belichik has been getting? I've always hated belichik because he was such a great coach, yet didn't have the media savant or much personality to develop any sort of relation or liking. With the reputation he's built up over numerous "reported" cases, and god-knows how many "unreported" cases, I just don't know where he lies in the upper echelon of coaches.

[Lordender]

I seriously don't think the punishment was harsh enough, I laughed at the fact they have 2 first round pics so they can shrug it off and that fine is chump change.

[Demosthenes11]

The only people trying to justify it and pass it off as no big deal are disillusional patriots fans. 500k, despite being the largest fine ever for a coach, is chump change to belichik. The pats are going to get a decent first round pick anyway (let's face it, NE will go a lot farther than SanFran). Id of had to suspend him for at least 2-4 games. It isn't like this is the first time, Green Bay and Detroit have busted him for this shit in the past. Numerous teams have reported radio "problems" when playing them. The league said it would continue to monitor the patriots and be a little more wary of other teams using mean to gain competitive edges as well. Belichik knowing that Goodell is looking over his shoulder constantly is probably the best punishment there is other than suspension. To the people dismissing it as football norm and everyone does it, give me a fucking break. Find me anyone with half as many incidents as the pats. The only other incident I can come up with off the top of my head was when Miami owned the patriots in the face last year with a 21-0 route. They bragged about acquiring some bootleg tapes of Brady's cadence. This is what I call bittersweet irony. An interesting point I heard brought up...All the patriots superbowl wins have come by 3 points, who's to say how much of an "advantage" belichik has been getting? I've always hated belichik because he was such a great coach, yet didn't have the media savant or much personality to develop any sort of relation or liking. With the reputation he's built up over numerous "reported" cases, and god-knows how many "unreported" cases, I just don't know where he lies in the upper echelon of coaches.

Until you can provide any kind of proof with the accusations you are making, shut up?

[archibaldcrane]

stuff about patriots being sketchy over the past few years

Until you can provide any kind of proof with the accusations you are making, shut up?

Yeah, let's all just assume that this is the first time that the Patriots have ever done this, even though other teams have made accusations of the exact same thing in previous seasons.

[Alleya]

I'm not much of a football guy and I barely understood half that article, but I was impressed to see the coach owning up and taking responsibility instead of trying to blame someone else or going into rehab.

[Tekki]

Its actually more like. "500k? Pfft ok, ya i did it, lets move on"

[Melena]

He's only owning up cause he knows he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Now that the truth is out, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the hits brady or moss take for the rest of the year come off a little harder. Cause I know if I tried that shit in baseball, i'd be getting a mid 90 heater up around my ear.

[Tyche]

The only people trying to justify it and pass it off as no big deal are disillusional patriots fans. 500k, despite being the largest fine ever for a coach, is chump change to belichik. The pats are going to get a decent first round pick anyway (let's face it, NE will go a lot farther than SanFran). Id of had to suspend him for at least 2-4 games. It isn't like this is the first time, Green Bay and Detroit have busted him for this shit in the past. Numerous teams have reported radio "problems" when playing them. The league said it would continue to monitor the patriots and be a little more wary of other teams using mean to gain competitive edges as well. Belichik knowing that Goodell is looking over his shoulder constantly is probably the best punishment there is other than suspension. To the people dismissing it as football norm and everyone does it, give me a fucking break. Find me anyone with half as many incidents as the pats. The only other incident I can come up with off the top of my head was when Miami owned the patriots in the face last year with a 21-0 route. They bragged about acquiring some bootleg tapes of Brady's cadence. This is what I call bittersweet irony. An interesting point I heard brought up...All the patriots superbowl wins have come by 3 points, who's to say how much of an "advantage" belichik has been getting? I've always hated belichik because he was such a great coach, yet didn't have the media savant or much personality to develop any sort of relation or liking. With the reputation he's built up over numerous "reported" cases, and god-knows how many "unreported" cases, I just don't know where he lies in the upper echelon of coaches.

Until you can provide any kind of proof with the accusations you are making, shut up?

Last year the Lions played the Patriots in Foxboro. At one point their coach, Rod Marinelli, phoned up to the press box, "There's a camera pointed right at our defensive coach making his calls. Is that allowed?" A Lions' employee called the NFL booth. No, it certainly was not. So the videotaper was stopped. Then after a while he began again. The same process was repeated and he was asked to stop again. Now that's dedication.

"At one point we had a good drive going against the Patriots," said one Lion who doesn't want his name involved in this mess, but was willing to talk about it. "Mike Martz really had 'em going. They were getting fouled up, lining up wrong, we were moving the ball. Then boom, the headset from the sidelines to the coaches' booth goes out.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/w ... ml?eref=T1

Last season, Green Bay Packers security guards physically removed from Lambeau Field a man who had identified himself as an employee of the New England Patriots and was videotaping game action from the sidelines, despite being warned to stop.

http://www.madison.com/tct/sports/238790

To quote you "are you serious lol"...you didn't know about any of this or are you just so disillusioned that you think this is mere coincidence?

[Demosthenes11]

the taping thing is completely irrelevent imo. Coach signals are public information. Taping is wrong, and they got slapped on the wrist for it, but that doesn't mean teams don't have similar employees just standing and watching/doing the same thing when its completely within the rules. Same result, different journey, pats just did it the easy way (wrong way).

As far as the radio things go - I saw a special on tv (dont remember what channel or show ) that talked about technology in football. Radio and headset malfunction are a lot more common than you may think, and part of the game now today is being able to adapt to going without one if that happens. I agree if the patriots did do this it would and should be a big deal still, but until any of these suspicions are confirmed, innocent unless proven guilty right?

[Tyche]

The only thing legal is a pen and a damn notepad and writing that shit down by hand. Not taking video or photos of defensive lineups, routes, and taping cadence. Big fucking difference between what you can do in your head or what you can draw on a piece of paper and then what you can photograph and videotape. As you can read above, these suspicions were confirmed by other teams. As far as the radio justification, seriously, don't play the "it's just a coincidence", that makes you sound absolutely absurd. Pats fucked up, deserve everything they get, and I hope the NFL steps up to the plate with cheating like they did with their personnel policy. All they have to do is look to the NBA to see what can come from the far extreme of cheating, and I'm sure Goodell doesn't want to see anything remotely close to that. Seriously pats fans, own up and say that this is ridiculous instead of finding excuses. Your coach did. You're still gonna make the playoffs, you still won 3 superbowls, and you still have a sick fucking team...noone can take that away. Least you can do is quit making yourself look absurd.

[Boyiee]

I didn't make excuses. I only said I liked the draft punishment cause it'll hurt more than the suspension punishment, and going against the rules in this manor deserves the harsher punishment.

[Demosthenes11]

did you even read what I wrote?
And by the way, it's perfectly legal to take pictures of what you said and if I remember correctly can take video too, you just can't take video of the opposing team's sideline (which is why video/pictures of defenses show the field only from the top). Video of signals is the only thing they did wrong, and you saying all this other shit just make you incredible.