POSTED 6:01 p.m. EDT, September 11, 2007
PATS GUILTY OF CHEATING
Chris Mortensen of ESPN reports that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has concluded that the New England Patriots violated league rules when videotaping defensive signals being sent in from the sidelines by Jets coaches during Sunday's game at the Meadowlands.
NFL Security confiscated a camera and videotape from Pats employee Matt Estrella, a video assistant. Mort says that the evidence that was confiscated confirmed the suspicion.
And the punishment could be severe.
Mortensen reports that Goodell is considering the possibility of stripping the team of "multiple draft picks," given that he has issued a stern warning to all teams to avoid such behavior.
We'll echo what we said below about Claude Wroten and anyone who tests positive at the scouting combine. In this case, the persons responsible for doing this are either stupid, or they have a serious problem.
The Patriots previously had been linked to such behavior. And yet they kept on doing it.
Former defensive coordinator Eric Mangini is now the head coach of the Jets, and likely knew a thing or two about these practices in New England. And yet they kept on doing it.
In fact, we're told by a very good source that, when the Packers caught a Pats employee doing the same thing last season, the Packers knew exactly what to look for, and nailed the guy in the act. The Packers didn't press the issue only because they lost the game 35-0, and didn't want to complain under those circumstances.
The Pats' habits in this regard were so well known that, per the same source, Colts president Bill Polian had all on-field cameras removed for the 2006 AFC championship game.
Thus, the Patriots knew that other people know what was happening. And yet they kept on doing it.
If all of this is true, it reflects a dangerous amount of arrogance in that team's coaching staff. In fact, our guess is that, now that the poo has hit the propeller, whoever put this system in place will privately justify it after the fact by explaining that, in the end, the cost was far less than the benefits that have been derived.
And it makes us -- and likely many others -- wonder how far back all of this goes. How many Lombardis are potentially tainted? How many of the games during that record-setting winning streak?
Regardless of the lost draft picks, which mean much less in the salary cap era than they used to, there's now a stain on the NFL first dynasty of the new century. How far it spreads and how deep it goes remains to be seen.
