Belicheck taping defensive signals since 2000

[Chris]

That's what Commission Goodall told Senator Arlen Specter just yesterday. Pretty remarkable. What do you guys think about this? Do you think it made sense for Goodall to destroy the tapes? Do you think he's hiding anything? Does the knowledge that Belicheck had been taping as long as he'd been head coach of NE change your opinion of him at all?

[Riversider]

the tapes should have NEVER been destroyed.

huge act of guilt and complicity.

[Chris]

I agree completely. I see what Goodall's saying about them maybe getting out and all, but really, I have to imagine the NFL has all sorts of stuff that they wouldn't want leaking out...I doubt they're in the habit of destroying anything and everything they don't want to get out.

I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but I have a strong suspicion that the tapes showed some pretty bad stuff...namely, taping of teams before some of their Super Bowl victories. You can make the argument that this may not have helped them, but since they won all three by just 3 points each, even the slightest edge could have made the difference.

Definitely odd that Goodall would destroy the tapes...

[Chris]

Senator Specter made a really interesting point recently; Goodall issued his fines against Belichek and the Patriots several days before they turned over all the relevant materials (the ones which were destroyed). This strikes me as a pretty big deal; how can he decide on punishment before knowing the extent of the transgressions?

There's only one legitimate explanation that doesn't involve a cover-up: that Goodall was issuing a punishment for what had happened so far, and was open to issuing more if the tapes proved damning. This is possible, but seems unlike him. It looks odd to issue a punishment, and then another shortly after. Usually the league waits, and makes one decision on a given matter, so that people can generally assume that, when they act, that's the end of the matter.

I really don't go in for most conspiracies, but everything so far points to Goodall destroying some potentially relevant evidence here.

My guess would be that the materials showed the Pats taping things leading up to the Super Bowl, as has been claimed, but that Goodall determined it didn't provide much of an advantage, and rather than deal with the tremendous uproar such a revelation would cause, he destroyed them. This would be bad, of course, though Goodall knows that ANY tapes relating to their Super Bowl victories -- even if they could not have helped the Pats in any significant way -- would cause a firestorm.

Either way, it's a shame we'll never know for sure.

[Riversider]

' Goodall issued his fines against Belichek and the Patriots several days before they turned over all the relevant materials (the ones which were destroyed). '

wow. did not hear that.

yes the world should have been the judge..... we can only think the worse now....

[Riversider]

the nfl would love to put this behind them, but it wont die.

[Chris]

I hate to state the obvious, but you'd think a lot of these people would realize that, if they want a scandal to die, they have to bring it all out at once. It might be painful, but it's far worse if they get caught covering things up, or if more trickles out later.

[Riversider]

MAYBE it is worse than we know?

[Chris]

Yeah, exactly my thoughts. We'll never know, though. Pretty frustrating, to say the least.

[sanjay]

Yes its indeed a act of embarassment and shame. One should never play with the spirit of the game.

[philkiecker]

I think that they got what they deserved when the Giants beat them in the Superbowl. You can't do such shady things and expect it to all work out. True champions work hard and long (and nothing else). Sure they study game film, but not TOP SECRETLY as if there was something wrong with what they're doing.

[dreamr802]

I think that it's awful that they had taped the defensive signals. It is blantant cheating and I'm surprised that he had taped the Jets defensive signals. That's my favorite team and they weren't that good this year so why tape them?

[electricwall]

too true! he probably taped the phins too....nah...... haha

it is PAThological they'll lie and cheat even when they dont need to.

[princee18]

it puts all of us in great suspision but the snag is that we will never come to know that why it all happened.Very bad....

[tongyun]

I'm really interested in seeing how the commissioner handles this one. I'm a 49er fan and I thought we the punishing for tampering with the Bear's player was way over the top. One unnamed NFL source in the San Francisco Chronicle said the 9ers were singled out to be used as an example because they wouldn't fight back, which they didn't. Now the Patriots have been discovered to be a bunch of cheaters. What will the commissioner do?

[digitaljohn]

I think it's crazy that Belichek and the Pats would even bother cheating like that. They had a good enough team to win without cheating anyway!

I liked the South Park episode that made fun of Belichek, calling all white people cheaters. :p

[ianhimself]

I agree with what John said, the Patroits are so good, they shouldn't have to cheat. :p

It's a shame too, every win they've had since 2000 will always have that imaginary * next to it always reminding you of Spygate.