I think it’s reasonable to include just as a temperature of what the average fan is thinking though.
And I don’t know if you read the article itself, but I thought it was a good read, and the author pretty much says that he believes the Patriots explanation is likely what happened. The only quibble I had about it was this comment — “and it also doesn’t help the Pats’ case that the team’s official explanation for the most recent incident mirrors the excuses the people involved in the original Spygate were instructed to use in case they were busted.” I don’t recall hearing that before - is this true and I missed it, or is it conjecture?
First of all, we need to understand the rule, the chronology and the Jets antics around the time of Goodell's hiring, before we believe anything Seth Wickersham puts in his article with all those unnamed sources.
Anytime someone won't list a source, I discount the information. If the information was real, you use a source to support it. If you won't list it, which, this something any English major, Journalism major or History major HAS TO KNOW, to be able to graduate, I don't believe the info. There's a reason why the source is "unnamed".
At some point it becomes the telephone game with any heresay or lying from Wickersham or whoever else. It makes me laugh that some want to use ESPN as a bible in this case after they were caught perpetuating the wrong info or lies.
The best thing I've ever seen, outside of former NFL coaches backing BB, is the youngest former NFL coach, Bill Cowher, essentially saying Goodell is a liar with Cowher's interview on 98.5 on 12.3.10. I'll take a former NFL coach under Rozelle and Tagliabue's regimes or proven liar with an agenda, in Goodell.
Cowher basically says Goodell is a liar, every team films their games with a video coordinator, including motioning and/or hand signals or whatever else a team is capturing, regardless of what it during the game. It's part of the sport, otherwise no one would have jobs in these roles on ALL NFL teams.
It was always about USE in the game THAT DAY, which was BB's point in defending himself. It was also WHY the JEts tried to publicly sell the idea, in hilarious fashion, that during a 12 minute halftime, BB, Ernie Adams and maybe Brady go whistling into a secret roam in the enemy stadium and decode hand signals on a VCR at halftime., which is why BB is so great at halftime adjustments.
Once someone pointed out how ******ed that sounded and no one would believe it, that's when the Jets scaled it back and just talked about the "hand signals" and sideline filming from the NE's own sideline. Again, technically BB broke the way the new rule was stated, but we know WHY he did it. That's the issue. Goodell never told the public about the NY/NE funny business that had been going on, more recently with the Mangini business.
Goodell lied, wanted to not allow for NE to have any assistance of any kind that might help them win more SBs, especially for scouting, and Goodell cheated.
That's the truth right there.
Every week in the NFL, we have no idea if the team we are playing has their video coordinator in the specified spot ever capturing Mayo or Steve Belichick motioning or not. You'd have to be really naive to think that is NOT the case.
