You've got to be kidding me. Belichick broke a rule that was in the Ops Manual. Not the NFL Rulebook... The friggin Ops Manual! The max fine for ops manual violations is something like $30,000.
source?
It's an insignificant rule that went unenforced for 20 years. At worst he probably thought he'd get hit with a small fine. But I doubt he even spent more than 5 minutes of his time thinking about it. Then along comes Nincompoop Wyatt Earp and whacks him with the biggest fine in NFL history. Why? Not because he stole signals... Not because he gained an advantage... but simply because he disobeyed a year old memo. Friggin ridiculous!!
Look at it this way. A guy runs a stop sign at 4:30 AM. The judge sentences him to life in prison. Who's more wrong?
