PYPER
Third String But Playing on Special Teams
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2004
- Messages
- 798
- Reaction score
- 194
Finally, a possible explanation to the question...Why?
I think everyone has the wrong impression of what the Patriots are guilty of. They were caught with a video camera. That is it. It's a rule violation. Much like jumping offsides or clipping.
The whole "cheating" accusation is pure sensationalism at its worst. It's unsubstantiated speculation by people trying to construct the worst case scenario possible. These people take the opinions and fears of known "haters" and completely fabricate a story out of thin air.
Here are the facts:
Fact #1: The camera man was caught filming the Jets signals.
Fact #2: He was out in the open. He didn't appear to be hiding or disguising what he was doing.
Fact #3: Belichick is a smart man. He’s referred to as a “genius” by many sportswriters. He’s also a HUGE history buff. It’s well documented how he and Scott Pioli have stressed character in the building of their team.
Fact #4: The Jets are coached by Eric Mangini, who was Belichick's protege for a long, long time. The Jets also employ many other former Patriots assistants.
Question #1: Wouldn't Belichick have to be pretty stupid to blatantly and knowingly be guilty of what he is accused?
Question #2: Does it not make more sense that there must be some sort of misunderstanding involved?
Logical Leap of Faith #1: The Patriots never used the video footage in the games from which it came. That would be cheating. That would be the worst-case scenario. I don’t see any reason to just assume this is what was happening. From everything we know of the man, Belichick cares far too much about the history and integrity of the game to do this.
Logical Leap of Faith #2: The footage was not used so BB could steal signals in future games. If this was the intent, it wouldn’t make much sense as most teams are smart enough to change their signals on a weekly basis. And even if they don’t change their signals every week, they certainly would change them prior to playing the Patriots a 2nd time.
Logical Conclusion:
Much is known about Belichick's passion for breaking down film. It's a task he enjoys doing and it's something he's really good at. When you analyze the facts, you start to understand that this was never about "cheating".....It's simply about a coach and his anal retentive hobby for breaking down every possible tendency.
Belichick used the footage to assist him in developing what is probably best described as "personality profiles" of every coach in the league. By matching the game film with the film of the adjustments, Belichick was attempting to get an understanding of how each coach thinks. In other words, what kind of adjustments does Coach A do when I show him an empty backfield set. What does he do when I bring in 3 TE's. Every coach adjusts to things differently. As part of his film study routine, Belichick tries to get inside the heads of his opponents and understand how they think. When successful, it’s a tremendous advantage. But one that also requires a tremendous amount of work.
Belichick’s error was in thinking that how he used the footage mattered. In his mind and perhaps even in actuality, he was doing no wrong. Perhaps in his search for loopholes, he concluded that since the footage wasn’t being used “during the game” or filmed on the actual “field”, he was within his rights since those two terms are stated in the rules regarding the use of video equipment.
Belichick isn’t a cheater. He’s just the most diligent anal retentive coach in the history of the sport. But then again….Didn’t we all already know that
I think everyone has the wrong impression of what the Patriots are guilty of. They were caught with a video camera. That is it. It's a rule violation. Much like jumping offsides or clipping.
The whole "cheating" accusation is pure sensationalism at its worst. It's unsubstantiated speculation by people trying to construct the worst case scenario possible. These people take the opinions and fears of known "haters" and completely fabricate a story out of thin air.
Here are the facts:
Fact #1: The camera man was caught filming the Jets signals.
Fact #2: He was out in the open. He didn't appear to be hiding or disguising what he was doing.
Fact #3: Belichick is a smart man. He’s referred to as a “genius” by many sportswriters. He’s also a HUGE history buff. It’s well documented how he and Scott Pioli have stressed character in the building of their team.
Fact #4: The Jets are coached by Eric Mangini, who was Belichick's protege for a long, long time. The Jets also employ many other former Patriots assistants.
Question #1: Wouldn't Belichick have to be pretty stupid to blatantly and knowingly be guilty of what he is accused?
Question #2: Does it not make more sense that there must be some sort of misunderstanding involved?
Logical Leap of Faith #1: The Patriots never used the video footage in the games from which it came. That would be cheating. That would be the worst-case scenario. I don’t see any reason to just assume this is what was happening. From everything we know of the man, Belichick cares far too much about the history and integrity of the game to do this.
Logical Leap of Faith #2: The footage was not used so BB could steal signals in future games. If this was the intent, it wouldn’t make much sense as most teams are smart enough to change their signals on a weekly basis. And even if they don’t change their signals every week, they certainly would change them prior to playing the Patriots a 2nd time.
Logical Conclusion:
Much is known about Belichick's passion for breaking down film. It's a task he enjoys doing and it's something he's really good at. When you analyze the facts, you start to understand that this was never about "cheating".....It's simply about a coach and his anal retentive hobby for breaking down every possible tendency.
Belichick used the footage to assist him in developing what is probably best described as "personality profiles" of every coach in the league. By matching the game film with the film of the adjustments, Belichick was attempting to get an understanding of how each coach thinks. In other words, what kind of adjustments does Coach A do when I show him an empty backfield set. What does he do when I bring in 3 TE's. Every coach adjusts to things differently. As part of his film study routine, Belichick tries to get inside the heads of his opponents and understand how they think. When successful, it’s a tremendous advantage. But one that also requires a tremendous amount of work.
Belichick’s error was in thinking that how he used the footage mattered. In his mind and perhaps even in actuality, he was doing no wrong. Perhaps in his search for loopholes, he concluded that since the footage wasn’t being used “during the game” or filmed on the actual “field”, he was within his rights since those two terms are stated in the rules regarding the use of video equipment.
Belichick isn’t a cheater. He’s just the most diligent anal retentive coach in the history of the sport. But then again….Didn’t we all already know that
Last edited: