Media ignores Steelers caught cheating on TV last night

strngplyr said:

So you're eager to turn nothing into something out of anger?

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No, only if it is actually a phone. I don't want false things used for a witch hunt, but I want all teams to be prosecuted to a similar manner as the Pats when they are caught red handed. It's also not out of anger, but in a desire that when enough fanbases and owners realize it, they'll act to change it.

strngplyr said:

So you're eager to turn nothing into something out of anger?

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If this makes the Steelers get a small taste of their own medicine and is a distraction on what is already crappy day for them I am happy. I don't expect anything to come of it beyond that but this is already a win for me.

My two cents:
1. If this were the Pats it'd be national news...but rightly or (obviously) wrongly the Pats have the 'cheater' label now, Kraft sealed that fate when there was no pushback during Spygate to control the narrative, and obviously accepting the team penalties during Deflategate.
2. The dichotomy between this and deflategate is interesting. Past penalties for football tampering were $50K fine (Chargers, stickum towels); nothing, but ballboy suspended (Jets K-balls); and nothing but warning issued (Vikings/Panthers cold-weather game). Past penalties for cell phone use were $10K fine (Polumalu, maybe Wilson too? no headset on but using phone on sideline); and a 4-game suspension and $250K fine (Ray Farmer, cell phone use in the booth). In other words, the league has treated cell phone use/booth communication far more seriously than ball tampering.
3. Whether or not that's a phone, it certainly LOOKS more like a phone than a wristband. And it certainly LOOKS like Ben got a heads up in his headset and put it away mighty quick then looked around guiltily. Rightly or wrongly he looks like he was caught using what looks like a cell phone...is that any worse than Brady 'more probable than not' having 'general awareness' of a 'possible' deflation scheme?

This should be investigated, and a fine should be levied if he was, in fact, using his cell phone, per the league rules and past precedent--maybe a 1-game suspension because he was using it with a headset on, there's a non-zero chance he was communicating with the booth/watching a game feed/whatever and thus calling into question the 'integrity of the game'. Nothing more, but it should be investigated.

Finally, it's hilarious that people don't understand why Pats fans would be angered by situations that LOOK like possible cheating/breaking rules that aren't investigated/penalized, when their two cheating incidents--one of which most likely didn't happen--turned into national stories and were blown so incredibly out of proportion they defied anything resembling logic.

EDIT: to add, this is the team that accused the Pats of messing with headset comms and using an illegal D-line shift during week 1--hell, the player that called into question the D-line shift. Again, why anyone is wondering why Pats fans would be pissed about this is beyond me. This could actually be illegal, per the rulebook, it could even be cheating as a way to derive a competitive advantage (though that's incredibly, incredibly unlikely). Yet the media spent days breathlessly talking about headset comms and the D-line shift and are already either ignoring this or turning it on the 'angry Pats fans' as a non-event.

I think we can all agree it is a phone and they were relaying the Ravens playcalls, now the question is how long has this been going on? Last two titles are obviously tainted but how do we know they weren't using cell phones in the 70's? We don't and we shouldn't have to wonder.

robertweathers said:

This is all speculation of course but IMO if you look at the pic, Ben is holding it from behind.

In addition, for that model the screen auto-adjusts regardless if the buttons are facing towards you on the right hand side or outwardly on the left.

Make sense?

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The screen is facing upwards. If the buttons are on the left, they would be on the right side of the picture. Even with the screen rotating you cant move the physical buttons, as far as I'm aware

robertweathers said:

I posted this in the other thread.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. He has a case on it.

View attachment 10710

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The buttons in the Ben photo and your photo are not in the same location otherwise he would be looking at the back of his phone. Just an observation.

Konta, I don't see this as even whining, but just pointing out how common rules are broken on the sideline. What if Ben was taping sideline signals with the camera? If BB had his smart phone out on the sideline do you think the nfl would ask for it?

I am finally understanding the wisdom of Al Davis: "Just win, baby." Everything else is a bunch of noise. Everyone hates the Patriots, but as long as we keep winning, everyone basically shuts up.

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

I am finally understanding the wisdom of Al Davis: "Just win, baby." Everything else is a bunch of noise. Everyone hates the Patriots, but as long as we keep winning, everyone basically shuts up.

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Right, like right after we won the Super Bowl when everyone stopped calling the Patriots cheaters...

Wait, what?

Ice_Ice_Brady said:

Everyone hates the Patriots, but as long as we keep winning, everyone basically shuts up.

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Ice, I think its the opposite actually. We keep winning (especially now) and everyone will be frothing at the mouth even more, angry and jealous, and speculative if the Pats are above bar.

The more we win the more all of these people are going to be more vocal about cheating and making up claims that the pats did something illegal.

The Brandon Five said:

Right, like right after we won the Super Bowl when everyone stopped calling the Patriots cheaters...

Wait, what?

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Bruins29 said:

Ice, I think its the opposite actually. We keep winning (especially now) and everyone will be frothing at the mouth even more, angry and jealous, and speculative if the Pats are above bar.

The more we win the more all of these people are going to be more vocal about cheating and making up claims that the pats did something illegal.

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Naahhh...you guys think this is bad, just imagine if we were 1-2 right now. Remember those vultures last year when we were 2-2 after the KC loss? The vultures the year before when we had KT has our #1 receiver and were struggling out of the gate? How about when we lost those SBs? All offseason was just a Patriots bashing orgy within the media and other fanbases, with one hatchet article after another.

Sure, the hatred and jealousy is amped up when we win (which is most of the time), but just wait until things turn south at all. Then you will really see how bad it is.

Tony2046 said:

The buttons in the Ben photo and your photo are not in the same location otherwise he would be looking at the back of his phone. Just an observation.

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I have the Galaxy S5, as im typing this right now im holding the phone the exact same way Ben was holding it and the volume button is facing up.

Well, I will say that having the Pats go on a tear with perfectly inflated footballs should shut up a lot of people because they really cant use the deflate allegations to justify past performance

Buttons are where they would be in photo. Flex seems like is in case which is like a sleeve bigger than phone

I think stuff like this makes pats fans look really bad. When people look this hard for a cheater, seeing something for what it's clearly not, then it kind of makes it look like fans are saying "What does it matter if we cheat, other teams do it too". It's the same thing that we hate on here when fans of other teams say that we cheat, when we don't.

We just need to stop this rhetoric. It makes Pats fans sound like the whiners that support other teams. Spying, stealing signals is a time honored tradition. Embrace it.

Patstopia said:

Hmmm, so the 'play list' is enclosed in a hard black plastic shell. And seems to be about phone size? Well as long as they say so, that's good enough I guess! Nothing to see here! They said so!

It's not like the systemic cheating that runs rampant thru the entire Patriots organization!

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Yes. The play list is often enclosed in a black shell with a plastic window over it. Take a look on Brady's arm and you will see one. Yes, he uses a white one. But there are black ones too. I have one at home that I used when I played. It's about the size of a big-ish phone and looks like what Ben is holding.

Good lord, i have no idea what it is but it doesnt look like a phone at all. Its way too flimsy. Cant we just focus on our team and winning rather than turning into every other fanbase that claims we cheat because brady gets a haircut. To all those who think we are treated unfairly by the media..We are... Its cause we win all the f@cking time. Personaly i refuse to sink to their level. We are winners.. We hang banners.. Let the rest of the nfl fanbases talk about radio signals and f@cking cell phones.

I think it is the wrist band. But I don't want to debate that. If I'm right and, more importantly, if the Steelers are right then this accusation is as substantial as the ball deflation nonsense.

But... I'd like like the Steelers fans to contemplate this. Suppose now the NYJFL decides to investigate this to the tune of $5 million plus legal costs, to dock you a 1st and 4th draft choices, fine you a $1 million, suspend Ben for 4 games? Oh, and all this while you are trying to prepare for a Superbowl. If you can wrap your imaginations around that then you get some sense of the titanic injustice that has been done to the Patriots.

If it is a phone, it would have to be one where the volume buttons are:

- At the top, toward the left if looking at the screen in landscape orientation

- On the upper right hand side if looking at the screen in portrait orientation

I think the gripe is that the Steelers say it's not a phone and it's like "okay let's just take their word for it". If it had been the Patriots, there is no way the media or league would just take their word for it. None. I hate people making mountains out of anthills but I also hate double standards, particularly with how these things are handled based on which team is involved. I want the Pats to be treated the same way as every other team.