Well you are off to a bad start.
Most of us have no problem being negative.....IF you make an attempt to back up your opinion with supporting evidence. The 2 huge breaks you point out here is why I said you are off to a bad start.
The tuck rule - How is that a break. It was a rule that no referee has ever said the official made the wrong call. Jet fans conveniently forget that the Jets BENEFITED for the exact same call in the very same year. Every team benefits from calls that the refs makes from time to time. Sometimes the refs are actually are wrong in their call. In this case they got it exactly right. How is that the Pats getting a break. And how is that the NYJ alumni club giving the Pats a break? The rule might have made no sense, but it was a rule and continued to be a rule for another decade.
Burning the spygate tapes - was actually the worst thing that ever happened to the Pats. EVERYone who actually saw those tapes confirmed they were exactly what they proposed to be. Film of the scoreboard giving down, distance, and time; then the shots of the Jets DC giving his signals. THAT's it. Rather than protecting the Pats, burning the tapes actually was a key reason that made the Pats looks suspicious. I too want to know why Roger burned those tapes.
Besides what most Haters fail to understand is that trying to steal signals was not against league rules. It NEVER has been against the rules, and isn't against the rules even today. What the Pats WERE guilty of was filming those signals from a spot the league had said they couldn't. The fact is the league had sent out a memo telling teams
where the could tape any more, NOT that they couldn't tape. It was a ridiculous memo on the face of it. But it was a POLICY that the league had mandated. Bellichick WAS guilty of arrogance in ignoring a stupid policy, and deserved a rebuke from the league, but NOT the loss of a first round pick and the label of cheaters that the league never bothered to rebut, even though they are on record saying the Pats gained no unfair advantage by taping those signals, and knew every team in the league was taping, but doing it in the area the league mandated.
The real problem is JF79 is the Pats really DO have an unfair advantage on the league. His name is Bill Bellichick. Calling the Pats cheaters is an easy way for loser franchises to explain why the Pats win so consistently for so long and their franchises can't. They ignore that BB has been consistently ahead of the curve over the last 15 years. Briefly, he perfected the 3-4 defense when most of the league was running the 4-3. When his team got old, he still won by drafting well and being the first to successfully run a 2 TE offense that got to the superbowl in 2011 despite having the 31st rated defense. When everyone was going to the 3-4, BB went back to the 4-3 and started to really have defensive success running what basically was a 4-2-5. Finally in developing a linguistic system that allows him to plan both offensively and defensively week to week depending on the team
JF, when the margin of success is so very very slim between NFL teams to begin with, having a coaching staff that can do the things the Pats have done is the real reason the Pats have been so consistently s uccessful over such a long period of time (and of course having Tom Brady) But for some fans it is much easier to explain it all by claiming they cheat. But they have never cheated on the cap like Denver, SF, and the Cowboys. They never oiled their OL's jerseys like Denver. They never tampered with other people's talent like so many teams have done, INCLUDING the Jets. They haven't pumped in noise like the Colts and Falcons. They never went whining to the league like the Colts and Ravens to get rules changes that helped them and hurt the Pats And finally they never tampered with the footballs like the Jets did...and you know it.. Yet none of those teams have been labeled as cheaters like the Pats and it just is unfair and very frustrating for Pats fans who have to deal with it.
And that is why this post is so damned long.
