The Daily Blog 9/12
Things are continuing to heat up as the New England Patriots find themselves in the center of the national spotlight after a source told ESPN that the the League is saying that the Patriots violated the rules following their review of the tape from the camera confiscated during Sunday’s win over the New York Jets.
This is turning into quite a fiasco, and is only set to get uglier. According to the NFL Network’s Adam Schefter, Patriots coach Bill Belichick will likely be summoned to the league office very soon to meet with commissioner Roger Goodell to discuss the matter. Schefter said Tuesday night that the meeting will occur “sooner rather than later”. According to the ESPN report the league is also reviewing a possible violation into the number of radio frequencies the Patriots were using during Sunday's game. They also reportedly did not have a satisfactory explanation when they were questioned about possible irregularities in their communication setup during the game.
With all this evidence mounting against them the bad news seems to be from all accounts that Goodell may be looking to make an example out of the Patriots, and discourage what many feel is a practice league-wide of teams doing similar things to obtain a competitive advantage. Unfortunately for New England they just seem to be the first to get caught, and it looks like they will be the ones who suffer the consequences, while the rest of the teams quietly end whatever tactics they were doing.
Now everyone hates a winner if your team isn’t one, and according to Schefter the reactions from around the league are pretty ugly. Teams are now looking back at previous contests, and there are apparently many other “smoking guns” to back up these allegations. There is also reportedly a sentiment that depending on how long this has been going on, the Patriots’ actions may have cost teams games, which could have cost them division championships or playoff appearances, which have ultimately cost people jobs. Needless to say it appears there are plenty of other coaches lining up to make their case against Belichick and company.
Schefter also reported that the penalty may now include fines, loss of draft picks, and suspensions, and possibly even all three together. This is Goodell’s chance to make a name in his brief tenure as commissioner, and the sentiment now seems to be that the punishments announced in the coming days may be pretty ugly. Needless to say it will likely be a while before this one goes away.
GOOD NEWS FROM BUFFALO
Throughout all the turmoil on TV and radio in New England it was nice to get some good news Tuesday night after ESPN reported that Buffalo Bills special teamer Kevin Everett may walk again. Everett reportedly suffered a “catastrophic” spinal injury while making a tackle against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, with the initial prognosis looking very bleak. Now things are looking up, and our best wishes go out to Everett and his family.
SITE INFO - FALLOUT FROM “CAMERAGATE”
It will be a short blog entry as Tuesday was a long day for myself and our terrific moderators. All of us spent most of the day dealing with the influx of fans coming in from other messageboards to obviously voice their pleasure in seeing this whole debacle unfold. We removed over 30 problem posters, well over 100 individual posts, merged approximately 30 or so threads, and hit record traffic numbers on the day. There were over 1600 people viewing the forum this evening, and we also ended up having also temporarily restricted new registrations. All new applications will require a screening by me before being activated, so please be patient or contact me by using the contact form located on the front page of PatsFans.com
I'll leave you with this: Three members waiting to be approved are "SignalThief", "Tom-Gaydeee", and "C_H_E_A_T_S". I don't think you'll see them in the forum anytime soon.
