The Pats
 

I'm disappointed in the NFL. Billicheck gets a $500,000 fine and some other bs and a draft pick loss if they make the playoffs. That's nothing.

I was hoping they would get kicked out of the league for good, and a new franchise could come in somewhere other than in NE. Who's with me?:p

I like the Pats...but yeah, they got off easy.

You were kidding about 'kicked out of the league'...right?

that would be way to harsh and ridiculous.

As it is, $500,000 out of Bellichek's pocket, $250K from the club and the
loss of one of next years 1 picks (they have 2) or the 2nd and 3rd (if they
do not make the playoffs this season) ....is way too light....

Bellicheck should have gotten 2 game suspension...

According to dr. Z's column on cnnsi.com the Pats have been suspected
of this type of cheating for years.....

Im sure every club uses "spotters" to try and steal the opposing teams
signals... and cheat in all kinds of ways.

but using this type of technology (taping) is going overboard...
it is too bad the league did not come down harder on the Pats to set
an example for the future.

Fair enough I guess.

Wonder who the next team to get caught is gonna' be.

From barstoolsports.com...

Boston.com - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is weighing a multiple-game suspension for Patriots coach Bill Belichick, according to a report by Don Banks and Peter King on SI.com. The report says that the Patriots will definitely lose a first-day draft choice (1st, 2nd, or 3rd round) and it could be as high as a first-rounder for stealing defensive signals from the New York Jets.

WCVB-TV in Boston (Ch. 5) is reporting that Belichick will be fined $500,000 and that the Patriots will lose two first-day draft choices, but did not mention a suspension. According to the report, the fine has to be paid by Belichick himself and cannot be paid by the team's owner, Robert Kraft.

Are you fking kidding me? Two first day draft picks and a half a million dollar fine? What’s next? The Pats only get to play with 10 guys on the field? Roger Goodell has turned this into a witch hunt. Clearly he believes that the Patriots have become too dominant with all their recent acquisitions and he needed to do something to restore competitive balance within the league. Therefore he has capitalized on some blue law in the NFL Rule book and punished the Pats to an unprecedented level. Frankly I think it’s sad and pathetic. Listen if the league needs to handicap the Pats just have the balls to come out and say it. But this hiding behind a technicality in the rulebook is disgusting. And frankly it’s going to backfire because I’m sure Belichick is pissed now. Before he didn’t mind letting other teams win a superbowl ever now and again. Those days are over. It’s all Pats all the time from here on out. It’s going to take more than losing a couple draft picks to stop this dynasty.

As a side note who the fck is Goodell to say that Belichick has to pay the $500,000 fine? Money is money dude. You can't dicate who pays for what. And how the hell is going to monitor this anyway? What’s he going to keep track of Belichick’s bank account? Fck Goodell and this communist bull****.

I edited the content for PPOT. You can't touch the Pats. As I predicted, they'll lose draft picks next year. Won't matter.

gassy, I share your sentiments. it's a BS ordeal. It's amazing to think the Pats need to cheat to beat the Jets. ha ha

I don't get it. Hasn't stealing the other side's signals been a time honored tradition that was considered fair play at least since the New York Giants (baseball) rented an apartment near the Polo Grounds to steal the catcher's signals and telephoned them to the dugout? What's so different here?

It's the Pats. Patriotic, you know, do the right thing. If it was the Steelers who got caught, it'd be acceptable, just the way things are.

Belichick (sp) is known to be rather Nixonian at times.
and all NFL coaches are paranoid and insecure to some degree...
couldnt imagine a guy like Tony Dungee cheating,
but he probably does too....

do any of you guys play fantasy football?

It's an issue because the NFL released a SPECIFIC rule against it. They said YOU CAN NOT VIDEOTAPE.

What's so friggin hard to understand about that?

AND the PATS got CAUGHT red handed flipping the NFL and everyone else the bird.

Maybe if they had stopped AFTER getting busted the LAST time they would have just gotten a warning.

What he said. Since they are repeat offenders I think stripping a few titles would be adequate. Possibly some jail time for Bill too.

That is not how they did it, they had a guy behind the centerfield fence.

Should have been harsher penalties, few game suspension for coach, loss of all draft pics for a few years. Slap on the wrist does nothing but encourage further shadiness.

It's amazing how when someone types IN ALL CAPS IT SEEMS LIKE YOU'RE BEING YELLED AT. The PATS could PLAY THE REST OF THE SEASON NUDE WITH NO HELMETS AND THEY'D STILL MAKE THE PLAYOFFS---
SmileWavy

Anybody here REALLY think the NFL matters? If so, I feel sorry for you.

Well said!

Here too. No tv does that to you. Everything I know about the situation I learned from this forum.
Jim

I guess nobody knows who Tom Shaw is.

Give the Eagles their Super Bowl rings now....lol

That's right, the Eagles played the Pats in a bowl! Who were they spying on?:D LOL.

The Jets should be flattered that someone would actually WANT to take their picture.

More then anything, getting caught gives the organization a tremendous black eye and undermines to a degree their prior accomplishments. Don't you think mid way in the season, the Pats fans are going to be sick to their stomach hearing from the broadcasters about spying and cameras? Now that their opposing teams have an opportunity to change their signals and play fairly, we will see how they do. Belichick will have to "prove" his genius. We will see if he can handle the pressure.

Sure it matters, where else would "high class dog breeders" get their funding :(?

Without the NFL and NBA, the market for "bling-bling" would drop precipitously.

Hmmm. . . Maybe getting rid of the NFL wouldn't be so bad.

i mean really! OJ killed 2 people & nothing happened to him. Why should Belicheck get grief for something this minor?

just because you get fined doesn't mean you're guilty. this is America, remember?

Nah but when you go on national TV and apologize chances are pretty good that you are.

Its funny that F1 gets fined 6% of there yearly income and the pats basically get fined pocket change. 6% to the pats would be about 4 million.

The American way I guess.

I didn't catch this story early and now all of the coverage just talks about whether the fine is enough. can anyone give a summary of what they did and why it was wrong? All I can gather is that they stole signs by videoing the game.

A matter of degree maybe. To me what the Patriots were doing is akin to what Penske and Donohue were doing in the Trans Am in the late 60's and early 70's - the unfair advantage - everybody was doing it, they just had the volume at 11.

The McLaren/Ferrari fiasco is just a case of theft pure and simple, and was delt with accordingly.

The NFL instituted a specific rule against video taping an opposing teams signals.

The Pats were accused of doing it against the Packers last year.

They got caught red handed doing it against the Jets last weekend.

They had a camera man on the Jets sideline recording all the defensive signal calling.

A coach, Wade Wilson takes prescribed HGH to deal with a medical condition & gets suspended 5 games. Belichick thumbs his nose at the comish & cheats in a fashion peoviding a competetive advantage & get's a slap on the wrist.

Since nobody seems to know, I'll point this out too. Tom Shaw, strength & fitness trainer to the stars (last 6 super bowl mvp's trained by him) is hired by the Pats. After 2 seasons the NFL makes them break off the relationship saying Shaw has inside info on too many competing players. Is there a pattern here?

[QUOTE=Mule;3480051Since nobody seems to know, I'll point this out too. Tom Shaw, strength & fitness trainer to the stars (last 6 super bowl mvp's trained by him) is hired by the Pats. After 2 seasons the NFL makes them break off the relationship saying Shaw has inside info on too many competing players. Is there a pattern here?[/QUOTE]

Is there a point here?

Yes there is. Keep looking.

I think he was perhaps thinking this was evidence that the Patriots organization is exhibiting a pattern of behavior that seems to indicate there are no bounds to the lenghts they will go to gain competitive advantage.

Like paying off the refs?

http://infohost.nmt.edu/~dsandov1/TuckRule.jpg