Tom Curran: Pats stuck playing a game they can't win

[pats1]

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/24542397/

Pats stuck playing a game they can't win
Regardless of truth, New England's is paying enormous price for Spygate

By Tom Curran
NBCSports.com
updated 2 hours, 59 minutes ago

It’s still too early for the Patriots and their fans to do victory laps.

Even though sticky-fingered Matt Walsh didn’t cough up a videotape of the St. Louis Rams pre-Super Bowl XXXVI walkthrough (an event that Fox’ John Czarnecki attended and called “the most disorganized one ever assembled” that doesn’t mean A) it wasn’t taped or B) Walsh won’t testify that it was when he meets with Roger Goodell on Tuesday.

Maybe it was taped. Maybe it was simply monitored. Maybe the words, “We should have taped that” that a Patriots employee reportedly uttered after the walkthrough morphed into “We taped that.” Maybe Walsh – who seems every bit the rogue employee the Pats have painted – thought it would be a cool souvenir to pop in the VCR when the party got dull. Surely, Bill Belichick knew nothing about it because – for all his real and perceived flaws – he’s not stupid and declaring as forcefully as he has that there was no taping of the walkthrough if he authorized it would be the height of stupidity.

The real issue is that the presence or absence of a walkthrough tape no longer matters. The damage to the Patriots “brand” has long since been done. The price exacted has gone way beyond the first-round pick and $750,000 fine levied by Roger Goodell back in September.

...

 

[BradyManny]

He's 100% right. There's nothing the Patriots can do to undo the damage Walsh, Specter, TomASSe and others have inflicted. Particularly given how much folks outside of N.E. love to hate us anyway. So, F**K them. That's all I gotta say.

 

[bradmahn]

The upside of the whole matter? The ethics of the game have been reestablished. You don’t screw with the product. The downside? The price exacted on the Patriots has far, far exceeded the wrongdoing they committed.

Words of wisdom.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Words of wisdom.

Yes. But, the rest of the league is learning, and, I suspect, will continue to learn an important lesson over the next few years--"Don't #@%( with Bill Belichick." I think the 2007 season has embedded a permanent chip on the shoulders of every member of this team, and expect to see them demonstrate that fact through, oh, the rest of the decade or so.

 

[fgssand]

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/24542397/

The time has come for all other 31 teams to fess up to the fact that many teams have been taping signals during the past decade and all of them steal signals in some fashion.

It is time for the NFL to show the world how this really amounts what it really is.......extra scouting only done in a fashion that broke a rule. But the fact is that all team use information gained in many ways and do the same thing with it - analyze the opposition and gain an edge via recognizing tendencies.

As Willie Mac said - the game is still played on the field, no matter how much scouting information they all have.

Why hasn't this been pointed out so the "cheating Jeannie" can be forced back into the bottle??

Using this as a pawn in the NFL Vs Comcast game is sickening and totally unfair.

 

[MrTibbs]

What they can do is win the damn Super Bowl again under the fact that they DID NOT use and CAN NOT use any video taping devices. If they don't win it again then you know what will be said. People will say the can't win it if they aren't cheating.

If the Patriots win it all again and I mean not just making it to the Super Bowl but "win it" then it all goes away.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Unfortunately, he's right (but hopefully Walsh has nothing else to add that can be substantiated).

This is probably as fair an article as we can expect from the disappointed media hordes who are now furious that they aren't going to get a Walkthrough tape to play over and over and over.

His final sentence is even sympathetic: "The price exacted on the Patriots has far, far exceeded the wrongdoing they committed." True. True. IMO, though, the Patriots will be able to "fix" the damage to their brand over the next couple of years. By the 2010 season, it will be all but rolled back.

However, I don't think that Belichick will be able to say the same. Before September, people routinely mentioned him in the same breath as Lombardi and Brown. I don't think that will happen as often in the future. It's sad and, to me, unfair, but, in the end, he has no one to blame but himself. No Meadowlands Taping in September, No Spygate.

What's not clear to me is how objective fans will think of the Patriots Dynasty teams. I think that most folks (i.e., not Jets fans or haters) will be fair enough not to let this take away from what the players did on the field.

 

[BSR]

What's not clear to me is how objective fans will think of the Patriots Dynasty teams. I think that most folks (i.e., not Jets fans or haters) will be fair enough not to let this take away from what the players did on the field.

In the end, why should we even care what they think? Does it somehow lessen you enjoyment of them?

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Yes. But, the rest of the league is learning, and, I suspect, will continue to learn an important lesson over the next few years--"Don't #@%( with Bill Belichick." I think the 2007 season has embedded a permanent chip on the shoulders of every member of this team, and expect to see them demonstrate that fact through, oh, the rest of the decade or so.

I wish you were right, but what I really think they've learned is "Whew, better him than us."

As for the chip on the team's shoulders, last season was extremely draining, to the extent that I don't know what to expect this year. And, BTW, we'll learn a lot about the character of people on this Board if the team responds by having an off year in 2008.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

In the end, why should we even care what they think? Does it somehow lessen you enjoyment of them?

Fair question. No, I'll still enjoy the team as much as I ever have. But, it will take a while to get the swagger back.

 

[apple strudel]

I don't think the Patriots are playing a game at all. They've been hog-tied by hyperbole, but it certainly wasn't something they entered in to by choice. That's why they can't win.

 

[PromisedLand]

What they can do is win the damn Super Bowl again under the fact that they DID NOT use and CAN NOT use any video taping devices. If they don't win it again then you know what will be said. People will say the can't win it if they aren't cheating.

If the Patriots win it all again and I mean not just making it to the Super Bowl but "win it" then it all goes away.

Some people will say that, but others will say that just because they didn't videotape that doesn't mean they didn't spy or cheat some other way.

 

[blackglass3]

Some people will say that, but others will say that just because they didn't videotape that doesn't mean they didn't spy or cheat some other way.

I heard a guy call into WIP back the week before the Super Bowl talking about it. He said, and I quote, "I don't know how, but I am positive Belichick is still cheating." So yes, we will have to deal with the whole "they're still cheating they just didn't get caught" thing.

As far as that caller, Hugh Douglas called him an idiot and that was the end of that conversation.

 

[BSR]

Fair question. No, I'll still enjoy the team as much as I ever have. But, it will take a while to get the swagger back.

Maybe the one thing that this whole mess should teach us is that we don't need the "swagger" (if I am correctly interpruting your meaning). From now on, I will watch the Pats for the enjoyment of it and not because their sucess is something like a badge of honor. Neither their success nor failure reflect on me and I should act the same.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Why should any success of a football team be a 'badge of honor'?

People need to stop identifying themselves with a player or a team. If the players don't care that much (rare exceptions q.v. Bruschi) why should you? Root for 'em passionately, but maintain an adult perspective. Forget what fans of other teams think. They'll never change their religion nor will you.

We have been blessed with years of a top quality entertainment product that continues to deliver. Live in the present and look fwd to another exciting season in 2008.

 

[stcjones]

The time has come for all other 31 teams to fess up to the fact that many teams have been taping signals during the past decade and all of them steal signals in some fashion.

It is time for the NFL to show the world how this really amounts what it really is.......extra scouting only done in a fashion that broke a rule. But the fact is that all team use information gained in many ways and do the same thing with it - analyze the opposition and gain an edge via recognizing tendencies.

As Willie Mac said - the game is still played on the field, no matter how much scouting information they all have.

Why hasn't this been pointed out so the "cheating Jeannie" can be forced back into the bottle??

Using this as a pawn in the NFL Vs Comcast game is sickening and totally unfair.

"The time has come for all other 31 teams to fess up to the fact that many teams have been taping signals during the past decade and all of them steal signals in some fashion."

Yeah....ummm....good luck with that dream In all reality, no other team is going to come to the aid of the media's favorite punching bag....Bill Belichick and the Dynasty that is the New England Patriots...........I would love to see some coach/owner/players get some balls and dismiss this horsesh##.....but don't hold your breath........

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

The time has come for all other 31 teams to fess up to the fact that many teams have been taping signals during the past decade and all of them steal signals in some fashion.
............................

Why hasn't this been pointed out so the "cheating Jeannie" can be forced back into the bottle??

Here's a thought for Mr. Kraft. Urge the commish to announce an amnesty program for all 32 teams on all instances of prior taping/piping sound/ stealing signals on past offenses. Come clean and there will be no penalties. Try to hide them and the punishment will be as strict as what the Patriots endured. Of course it will never happen but it would put a vise on all the other holier than thou teams, especially with coaches going back and forth between teams and all the dirty litle secrets going with them......





PS I think it's genie not Jeannie,

 

[NEPatriot]

In this political BS game, Specter uses this incident as his piece to piss off Goodell and ESPN sport columnist uses it to get even with BB.

We are in the middle of a gun fight with no place to hide.!

 

[pao]

The real issue is that the presence or absence of a walkthrough tape no longer matters. The damage to the Patriots “brand” has long since been done. The price exacted has gone way beyond the first-round pick and $750,000 fine levied by Roger Goodell back in September.

This is the nuts of the matter now. The only thing that can damage the Patriots Organisation further is if Walsh can somehow prove that the Patriots used these tapes during the game that they were taped OR if someone else was the source of the "taped a SB walkthrough" and they decide to come forward. Nice to get this done.

sdfan

 

[JoePats]

The time has come for all other 31 teams to fess up to the fact that many teams have been taping signals during the past decade and all of them steal signals in some fashion.

The amazing thing about this whole thing is that people have branded the Pats cheaters for attempting to steal signals, which as you said, is something that is just as common as the nickel defense. The broken rule concerns taping location, not content. That this has gone on for 8 months and the most basic fact of the case is still badly misunderstood by the public is utterly mind boggling.