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A few additional points to ponder [Update: PFT's sources catch on]
As a follow-up to my earlier thread.
1) As I told a member in a PM this morning, this charge was simply a tool up Mangini's sleeve (and really up every coach's sleeve). I think it's pretty fair to say this type of videotaping activity goes a good deal throughout the NFL every week. Every coach knows about it. Every coach knows he's being watched someway or somehow (hence many coaches using their callsheets to cover their mouths). However, this is one of those rules that the NFL warns teams about (they issued a memo about it this offseason) but never actually enforces -- just like dress code restrictions, collusion (Florio's favorite), and numerous other ticky-tack "rules" that are in place.
Mangini decided this was the week he was going to use this taping rule and see how much he could knock the Pats' focus off preparing for the Jets. Believe me, there was no way in hell this comes out if the Jets win last weekend. Mangini simply uses it when he sees fit.
But there's the problem. Every team has this trick up their sleeve. And since the Jets made such a big fuss over this one, they've actually gotten themselves in their own corner:
Teams are not happy right now with the Jets!
Why, you ask? Because they've made a stink so rank that Goodell is left with no choice but to enforce the rule (that is, if BB's interpretation doesn't hold up). Now, this means that, if the Pats are penalized for this, the NFL will be forced to penalize each and every team that is henceforth found guilty of this videotaping. So, instantly, all of the Pats' opponents the rest of this season are stripped of their "secret" weapon, because all the Pats have to do is walk up, confiscate the camera, and have that team face the punishment.
The Jets have set a dangerous precedent.
All it takes is one team to confiscate another's camera and the motion is set in cycle (the Packers did it last year but apparently never formally reported it). In a way, it's collusion (oOoO that's illegal too) between all 32 NFL teams. If team A doesn't mess with team B's taping operation, vice versa won't occur. Teams simply have to find ways to protect their signals.
2) We all heard Tomlin's and Tomlinson's (ironic nomenclature...) comments this week about how they've heard about the Pats "cheating" in the past. And most of us Patsfans have heard enough from other teams as well, be it the Belichick shuffle against Marvin Harrison in the 2003/4 AFC Championship, or the "chucking" in SB XXXVI before Polian's Posse enacted that rule too.
But let's clear something up. Do the Patriots "cheat?" Well, this is a question I raised before with the author of that "Super Bowl XXXVI was fixed" site. Is exploiting gray areas of the rules "cheating?" Is pushing the rules as far as they can go "cheating?" Is breaking an un-enforced rule "cheating?" I say not. As BB said in his statement today, his interpretation of the rule is different than Goodell's. Now, I heard on 'EEI today that there apparently is something about "accessibility to coaches during the game" that BB could be talking about (i.e. the video that was being shot "illegally" wasn't accessible to him during the game). So I'd certainly call that a gray area. And hey, maybe L.T. was right:
The teams that are most successful (like the Patriots) are those who "cheat."
As a follow-up to my earlier thread.
1) As I told a member in a PM this morning, this charge was simply a tool up Mangini's sleeve (and really up every coach's sleeve). I think it's pretty fair to say this type of videotaping activity goes a good deal throughout the NFL every week. Every coach knows about it. Every coach knows he's being watched someway or somehow (hence many coaches using their callsheets to cover their mouths). However, this is one of those rules that the NFL warns teams about (they issued a memo about it this offseason) but never actually enforces -- just like dress code restrictions, collusion (Florio's favorite), and numerous other ticky-tack "rules" that are in place.
Mangini decided this was the week he was going to use this taping rule and see how much he could knock the Pats' focus off preparing for the Jets. Believe me, there was no way in hell this comes out if the Jets win last weekend. Mangini simply uses it when he sees fit.
But there's the problem. Every team has this trick up their sleeve. And since the Jets made such a big fuss over this one, they've actually gotten themselves in their own corner:
Teams are not happy right now with the Jets!
Why, you ask? Because they've made a stink so rank that Goodell is left with no choice but to enforce the rule (that is, if BB's interpretation doesn't hold up). Now, this means that, if the Pats are penalized for this, the NFL will be forced to penalize each and every team that is henceforth found guilty of this videotaping. So, instantly, all of the Pats' opponents the rest of this season are stripped of their "secret" weapon, because all the Pats have to do is walk up, confiscate the camera, and have that team face the punishment.
The Jets have set a dangerous precedent.
All it takes is one team to confiscate another's camera and the motion is set in cycle (the Packers did it last year but apparently never formally reported it). In a way, it's collusion (oOoO that's illegal too) between all 32 NFL teams. If team A doesn't mess with team B's taping operation, vice versa won't occur. Teams simply have to find ways to protect their signals.
2) We all heard Tomlin's and Tomlinson's (ironic nomenclature...) comments this week about how they've heard about the Pats "cheating" in the past. And most of us Patsfans have heard enough from other teams as well, be it the Belichick shuffle against Marvin Harrison in the 2003/4 AFC Championship, or the "chucking" in SB XXXVI before Polian's Posse enacted that rule too.
But let's clear something up. Do the Patriots "cheat?" Well, this is a question I raised before with the author of that "Super Bowl XXXVI was fixed" site. Is exploiting gray areas of the rules "cheating?" Is pushing the rules as far as they can go "cheating?" Is breaking an un-enforced rule "cheating?" I say not. As BB said in his statement today, his interpretation of the rule is different than Goodell's. Now, I heard on 'EEI today that there apparently is something about "accessibility to coaches during the game" that BB could be talking about (i.e. the video that was being shot "illegally" wasn't accessible to him during the game). So I'd certainly call that a gray area. And hey, maybe L.T. was right:
The teams that are most successful (like the Patriots) are those who "cheat."