Sundayjack, as usual you bring a great perspective to this board. As hardcore Pats fans it's sometimes hard for us to know where our reason ends and fandom begins, so a clear-eyed outsider is always valuable.
Your speculation and Brady's comments this morning pretty much describe my feelings about the whole thing. Everybody's always trying to get an edge, pushing the limits of what's allowed and occasionally inching across the line. In this case they got busted, fair enough, but it's not NEARLY as big a deal (or as out-of-the-ordinary) as the "shocked, shocked" media is pretending. And if people had a clearer view of how game-planning really works, the whirlwind of innuendo would probably calm down.
Actually, I think NBC's broadcast helped in that regard by showing just how many cameras, binoculars, printouts etc. are allowed and are regularly used by all teams. The sin was simple a matter of degree, not of kind.