POSTED 10:46 p.m. EDT, September 20, 2007
RESOLUTION TO PATS' SCANDAL HAS A STRANGE FEEL
Okay, so the NFL has received from the Patriots all materials related to the videotaping of defensive signals, and has destroyed them. The matter apparently is closed.
In all candor and with all due respect, however, something about this doesn't feel right. The destroyed materials had no real value, since any head coach or defensive coordinator who ever had played against the Belichick-led Pats would have surely revamped his defensive signals before facing them again. Even with the materials destroyed, any coach who would assume that a team that cheated in the first place by making the tapes wouldn't cheat by squirreling away a copy of the destroyed tapes doesn't deserve to have a job in the league.
But what of the ongoing rumors of other transgressions, such as the placement of microphones on defensive linemen? NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told the AP, "We have no evidence to support that claim."
That's fine. No sanctions can ever be imposed on a matter of this nature without evidence. The real question, though, is what the league is doing, if anything, to search for such evidence.
Over the weekend, former Oakland receiver Tim Brown said on FSN's Pro Football Preview that an audiotape was sent to the the Raiders in 2002 containing clear sounds of quarterback Rich Gannon calling out audibles and adjustments during the teams' epic 2001 divisional playoff game. On Sunday, Gannon reiterated the contention while calling the Raiders-Broncos game for CBS.
It sure sounds like the early stages of "evidence to support that claim."
Still, we can't blame the NFL for closing the book on this one quickly. The league has no greater incentive to fully investigate the potential depths of the Patriots' rabbit hole than the Falcons had to insist on an archaeological at Michael Vick's property.
In these situations, nothing good can come of finding something bad.
Gregg Easterbook of ESPN.com addressed the potential ramifications of this scandal in his most recent Tuesday Morning Quarterback column, in a compelling look at a P.R. problem that could bring about a reduction in the league's popularity.
And that's why the best outcome might be to find a way to move on/move out regarding the whole cheating thing without screwing up what has become a very, very good thing for a lot of people. Us included.
We don't bust our butts on this site because we dislike the NFL and want to see its fan base shrink. I vividly remember as a kid being irritated by the notion that baseball was America's pastime, and being elated when it became clear that the NFL was the new king of the hill. But despite all of that, there's still a little voice in our guts telling us it's only right for the truth to come out (whatever it might be), and that even if the proof creates a short-term embarrassment the long-term interests of the sport will be vindicated.
So in the absence of a governmental body that has jurisdiction to poke its nose into these affairs, the onus falls on the "real" media to start turning stones in order to determine whether the skeletons in the closet have any meat on their bones. If there's anything to the whispers that resonated through the grapevine last week, there undoubtedly will be at least one former employee of the Patriots who no longer works in the NFL and has no aspiration to return -- and who has enough first-hand knowledge to make this story about something more than a guy with a video camera recording images that are in plain view of everyone during an NFL game.
Whether the "real" media is engaged in any such efforts remains to be seen.
