Antonio Smith accuses Patriots of spying

[PatsWickedPissah]

What a well researched article. Far more detail than my post. Kudos!

 

[shmessy]

Tee hee, I was just kidding!

Tania Ganguli ‏@taniaganguli 5m
Antonio Smith now says he was jokingly saying the Patriots must have been spying. #Texans

Tania Ganguli ‏@taniaganguli 4m
Smith said he didn't realize how much everybody loved the Patriots. Says people took it too seriously because of that. #Texans

 

[Brady6]

But wait, there's more!

Rich Eisen ✔ @richeisen
Steelers Ryan Clark on NFL's investigation of Tomlin's sideline two-step: "There will be no tapes to burn so it should be a speedy process."

Hey Ryan, how did that 50-burger taste a few weeks ago, you over-the-hill bum?

Well it’s a good thing because the Steelers offseason starts real soon and we wouldn’t want this running into Tomlin’s family time..

 

[Brady6]

Tee hee, I was just kidding!

Tania Ganguli ‏@taniaganguli 5m
Antonio Smith now says he was jokingly saying the Patriots must have been spying. #Texans

Tania Ganguli ‏@taniaganguli 4m
Smith said he didn't realize how much everybody loved the Patriots. Says people took it too seriously because of that. #Texans

It was actually pretty funny when you think about it, last season the Texans entered our week 14 game with an 11-1 record and lost to us 42-14 and this season they entered 2-8 and we won 34-31 but we cheated this year :lol:

 

[Rob0729]

From the moron:

“I said it, but you have to check the manner in which I said it,” he said. “I didn’t accuse them of beating us with cheating. Come on, don’t you have a sense of humor? Though it may be something I was curious about it, I wasn’t thinking they spied on us or they were cheating.

“Half the stuff I say is spontaneous and witty, and I don’t think anything else about it. I’m sorry I said the word spying. I was joking and having fun with it.

”

Ultimate Texans » Smith says Patriots? spy comments were a joke

If half the stuff he says in spontaneous and witty, what he said yesterday must have been the other half.

 

[JoeSixPat]

A surprisingly high number of NFL players and an unsurprisingly high number of Jets fans seem to want to ignore the following:

1. The allegation that the Patriots taped any team’s practice was false. The local newspaper retracted the story acknowledging they took a statement out of context.

2. The NFL issued a memo in 2006 stating that signal filming cameras were no longer allowed on the field. In the first game of 2007 the Patriots violated that rule – and people unaware that signal filming is common, freaked out and Goodell over reacted.

3. There is no “logic” in which the Patriots violation of a 2006 rule change, in 2007 could rationally invalidate Super Bowls in 2001-2004.

These simple facts are just too much for certain individuals to comprehend or retain – usually due to their extreme jealousy of the Patriots.

The bottom line – there have been hundreds of players Belichick has coached with the Patriots – many of whom are now with rival teams or even retired, with everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Not one player has ever come forward to say “Belichick made me cheat” or “I saw cheating”

Not one

 

[pwes]

Sometimes you guys seem like you WANT to get pissed off at this garbage. There is no reason this thread should be 7 pages long.

 

[Ozymandias]

So to basically summarize...

Smith just essentially trolled the entire country and everyone fell for it. He's right in one sense, as shocking as that sounds, people are uptight about the Spygate nonsense. The fact that this even became a national talked about thing that it was is just proof of that.

Anyone still talking about Spygate cannot be taken at face value, and should be ignored. Or in layman terms, don't feed the trolls.

 

[JMC00]

Smith just essentially trolled the entire country and everyone fell for it.

Well to be fair it was the reporters that heard him say it and reported it that got trolled. The fact that none of the reporters who were there followed it up with something like "Are you accusing the Patriots of cheating?" shows that at thatpoint they had their story and actual reporting be damned.

 

[supafly]

Well to be fair it was the reporters that heard him say it and reported it that got trolled. The fact that none of the reporters who were there followed it up with something like "Are you accusing the Patriots of cheating?" shows that at thatpoint they had their story and actual reporting be damned.

That was my first thought also.

I felt like Smith wasn't specifically calling out the Pats until the reporters started re-phrasing their questions to tailor the Patriots.

They're all mediot bastards in my opinion...well most, not all. I like certain guys/girls like Curran, SMY, etc.

How could any team who has tried something new for the first time actually be crying foul? Do they somehow really expect us to believe that Belichick is the modern day Nostradamus, or was the story going to be that we hid in their hotel room closet or something? There was no film to study. It had never been used before!

 

[Koma]

A surprisingly high number of NFL players and an unsurprisingly high number of Jets fans seem to want to ignore the following:

1. The allegation that the Patriots taped any team’s practice was false. The local newspaper retracted the story acknowledging they took a statement out of context.

2. The NFL issued a memo in 2006 stating that signal filming cameras were no longer allowed on the field. In the first game of 2007 the Patriots violated that rule – and people unaware that signal filming is common, freaked out and Goodell over reacted.

3. There is no “logic” in which the Patriots violation of a 2006 rule change, in 2007 could rationally invalidate Super Bowls in 2001-2004.

These simple facts are just too much for certain individuals to comprehend or retain – usually due to their extreme jealousy of the Patriots.

The bottom line – there have been hundreds of players Belichick has coached with the Patriots – many of whom are now with rival teams or even retired, with everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Not one player has ever come forward to say “Belichick made me cheat” or “I saw cheating”

Not one

It's nitpicking, but there was one guy - Ross Tucker. Back in 2007, after the original story had broken and was picking up steam, he said that, while he was with the Patriots, he saw players who were on season-ending IR participating in practice.

He didn't identify who it was, but we can look back at the roster then and make some guesses. You'd also have to take into account what injury they had. For example, if a guy tore his ACL in the preseason or September, he wouldn't be taking reps in November. I also can't think of any late draft picks/UDFA types that were stashed on IR and became key players. At any rate, even if a player on IR practiced, it's not like he could play that year.

Still, it was against league rules and, based on Tucker's account, the Patriots violated that rule.

 

[supafly]

It's nitpicking, but there was one guy - Ross Tucker. Back in 2007, after the original story had broken and was picking up steam, he said that, while he was with the Patriots, he saw players who were on season-ending IR participating in practice.

He didn't identify who it was, but we can look back at the roster then and make some guesses. You'd also have to take into account what injury they had. For example, if a guy tore his ACL in the preseason or September, he wouldn't be taking reps in November. I also can't think of any late draft picks/UDFA types that were stashed on IR and became key players. At any rate, even if a player on IR practiced, it's not like he could play that year.

Still, it was against league rules and, based on Tucker's account, the Patriots violated that rule.

Participating in TEAM practices, or participating in personal practicing situations? I think there's a pretty strong difference between the two.

And besides, this is just hearsay from Tucker himself. Even if it is true and they were taking part in team practices, I'd have to assume that most teams are doing the same and/or committing some area of their own violations themselves.

I'm not saying that 2 wrongs make a right, but it's hearsay and speculation in my opinion, and even IF it was true--they've received their due punishment from 6 or 7 seasons ago, and then some.

 

[Brady6]

Sometimes you guys seem like you WANT to get pissed off at this garbage. There is no reason this thread should be 7 pages long.

With all due respect I think you’re a looking at the pages and not the content on them, if you actually read the thread much of it is posters joking around and making fun of the situation, very little of the thread is actually us getting pissed off. A lot of it I would say at least half was all just good fun.

 

[shmessy]

Sometimes you guys seem like you WANT to get pissed off at this garbage. There is no reason this thread should be 7 pages long.

So why are you participating in it and adding to it?

 

[RhodyPatriot]

Can only speak for myself but what brought me to this issue was not Antonio Smith but the media reaction to him comments. I'm listening to D & C yesterday morning and in the first 2 minutes of the show this issue comes up and they keep going back to it. The mediots have been my issue all along.

 

[Joker]

Not one player has ever come forward to say “Belichick made me cheat” or “I saw cheating”

Not one

absolutely 100% TRUE. Unequivocally.

YET...Roger Goodell...who started this whole witch hunt, who besmirched the Patriots brand, who attacked the Patriots veracity and integrity, who blindly assaulted every single loyal Patriot fan with HIS broad brush of suspicion, he has yet to be held accountable for HIS reprehensible, and IMO, criminal behavior, in this entire sordid mess.

 

[RayClay]

It's nitpicking, but there was one guy - Ross Tucker. Back in 2007, after the original story had broken and was picking up steam, he said that, while he was with the Patriots, he saw players who were on season-ending IR participating in practice.

He didn't identify who it was, but we can look back at the roster then and make some guesses. You'd also have to take into account what injury they had. For example, if a guy tore his ACL in the preseason or September, he wouldn't be taking reps in November. I also can't think of any late draft picks/UDFA types that were stashed on IR and became key players. At any rate, even if a player on IR practiced, it's not like he could play that year.

Still, it was against league rules and, based on Tucker's account, the Patriots violated that rule.

Tucker should have been on IR when he was such an important team mate of Tom Brady, as he mentions about every other sentence stories.

He is a piece of crap "journalist" who uses his Patriots "career" to endlessly hype his own importance. Amazing, since he was such a total washout on the Patriots, that he doesn't mention his Buffalo career, where he actually played a bit, to bolster his credibility.

He is a media whore, sniffing the dirty jocks in the Patriots locker room for any connection at all to a great team to trying to establish credibility.

 

[shmessy]

Can only speak for myself but what brought me to this issue was not Antonio Smith but the media reaction to him comments. I'm listening to D & C yesterday morning and in the first 2 minutes of the show this issue comes up and they keep going back to it. The mediots have been my issue all along.

Exactly.

Just look at the Houston Texans lockerrom "uncut" video. Each and every one of the players interviewed was asked pointedly something to the effect of 'Why did the Patriots have you figured out in the second half'. Of course, media is angling for that.

http://www.houstontexans.com/tv-med...Patriots/71a07fd6-6bd5-47e6-9a6b-1fa6723275c2

Note: The Antonio comments about "spying or scouting" were not in the team's site video. Their PR Dept. knew immediately wat he said and what it meant.

The fact that a 10 year veteran took the bait so easily and decided to entertain them with it doesn't mean he's not a complete moron. The first several senteces he spoke were right on and carefully parsed - - then he came down with the diarhhea of the mouth. It's like a gymnast falling off a balance beam.

 

[Fencer]

Not one player has ever come forward to say “Belichick made me cheat” or “I saw cheating”

Except, of course, for guys who freely admit to playing past the whistle. Technically, I think that would be cheating. But players on every team do it, and are admired for it.

Vrabel seems to have been notorious for, in fumble piles, squeezing guys below the belt. Harrison had a great quote to the effect that sometimes it is necessary to engage in a bit of unnecessary roughness.

 

[Joker]

Except, of course, for guys who freely admit to playing past the whistle. Technically, I think that would be cheating. But players on every team do it, and are admired for it.

Vrabel seems to have been notorious for, in fumble piles, squeezing guys below the belt. Harrison had a great quote to the effect that sometimes it is necessary to engage in a bit of unnecessary roughness.

I am not referring to anything other than THE singularity, the "spygate" allegation. Not one ex-Patriot player all these years has EVER corroborated what the national sports media outlets have been pounding week after week year after year, with absolutely ZERO response from this commissioner. The damage these constant canards and fabrications have inflicted on the Patriots brand SHOULD be of tantamount concern to the NFL commissioner. Damage to the brand seems 100% obvious...yet ZERO from the ex-Jet employee recommended for re-employment in the NFL by none other than Leon Hess. THIS is fact. Goodell recused himself from the Incognito/Miami issue over a fairness perception, yet HE ruled unilaterally on the New England Patriots and SEVERELY damaged their brand and attempted to cripple their ability to put the best product on the field for THEIR fans by capriciously taking a fundamental team building block first round pick?

This is all so preposterously transparent and so sickeningly petty..THE established modus operandi of Roger Goodell since he was voted in. Patriots, Saints, Steelers...on and on and on year after year, he has attacked franchises outside of the New York metro area while those two franchises skate free as birds. Just LOOK at what he has NOT done to "defend the shield" in the face of the Sal Alosi incident, the public profanities blindly aimed at anyone/everyone in Rex Ryan's path, no matter where or what time of year, the public deviance thrust in the faces of young NFL fans, the TWO CAMERAS field level admittedly used by Mangini and the Jets in the exact same time frame of the "spygate" imbroglio...on and on as everyone who has followed this sordid mess knows.

Ray Ray Retirement Super Bowl last season...Peytie Pity Party Super Bowl this season...Goodell has become a full blown tyrant, a modern day version of a football Commodus..krist, he even resembles the megalomaniacal Roman emperor.