Spygate-The Patriot Way
- 13 Comment
I have been receiving emails on what my thoughts are on the New England Patriots, and whether or not their legacy has been tainted. Here is how I see it…
Point #1: Every team does what they can to gain an advantage and cheating goes on in all walks of life.
DR U response: There is little doubt that cheating does exist in the realm of sports, but rather than accept it, we should be finding ways to eliminate it. I hear people say that they do not condone what the Patriots did, but New England is not the only team cheating in the NFL. I believe if you make an excuse for it, or defend the wrong action, you may as well be condoning it.
Point #2: The players decide the games, so even if you have the opposing team’s signals, it still does not mean you will win.
DR U response: Why do coaches think it is vital to disguise coverages against Tom Brady? The reason is simple, if he recognizes the coverage you are in, he will tear your team apart. However, if you can fool Brady in thinking that you are in a different defense than what he initially reads, then you have a chance to get a turnover against him. If the Patriots know the signals, and can decipher what defense the other team is in during the pre-snap, the opposing team may as well not even be on the field as Brady will pick them apart.
Also, if knowing the signals doesn’t help in some way, then why would they video tape the signals? I would love to hear what a teacher would tell a student that cheats on a test if the student said that they were so smart in that subject, they didn’t need to cheat to do well. I think the teacher, as well as any rational person, would tell the student that if you can do well without cheating, then don’t cheat!
Point #3: The Patriots would not gain an advantage until the second time that they played the team that they video taped.
DR U response: Let’s assume that argument is true, that would mean that New England had an advantage in at least three games per year (they play each division opponent twice). It is not debatable that there is a big difference between going 13-3 and 10-6, as 13-3 will likely win your division, and 10-6 in some years will have you sitting at home watching the playoffs. So if the Patriots were able to gain an advantage in three games, that would have helped them get into the tournament as well aid them in improving their seed.
It is obvious that the 2007 Patriots do not need any help getting into the playoffs, nor does it matter what seed they get, but the pre-Randy Moss Patriots did need help with their playoff run. If they didn’t need help, they would not have cheated.
Point #4: The 2007 Patriots have stopped cheating, and they are blowing teams away, so whether they cheated or not, it doesn’t matter, they are still better than everyone else.
DR U response: The 2007 New England Patriots are good enough to run the table and never lose a game. That being said, no team ever has to cheat, but this team especially does not need to cheat in order to win games. The disturbing thing is because they were so used to cheating in previous years where they had less than immortal teams, that when this season rolled around and they already possessed a virtual unbeatable squad, they forgot they no longer needed to cheat in order to ensure a victory.
Bottom line: I do believe that the Patriots legacy is tainted, because they took the low road and tainted their own legacy. They can try to make people forget what they did by running up the score in every game, but that still cannot erase the fact that they chose to strive for success by using cheating as one of their methods.
The only thing the 2007 Patriots are proving is that they have a good enough team to embarrass nearly every opponent. However, to me it is far more embarrassing when a talented team opts to cheapen their accomplishments by resorting to cheating. We will never know if the Patriots would have won all their Super Bowls if they didn’t cheat, but that is because New England chose to not prove they could win without breaking some of the rules along the way.
13 Comments on this post
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Dan said:
So, you make the assumption that they have stopped cheating. How do you know this? Is their current record the (partial) result of a new angle? I wonder….
November 17th, 2007 at 5:23 pm -
Dr U said:
Dan,
I cannot confirm how much cheating they have been involved in, and if they have stopped. In my points that I outline, those are just the arguments that I have heard many people give, so I just wanted to respond to the various points that I have heard.
Thank you for the comment!
DR U
November 17th, 2007 at 7:17 pm -
Jay McGillicuddy said:
As you say “There is little doubt that cheating does exist in the realm of sports, but rather than accept it, we should be finding ways to eliminate it.”
The NFL is trying to eliminate cheating they have been trying for decades. All teams cheat and a lot of players cheat. They cheat every game. That is why we have penalties in the game. It is against the rules to jump off sides and if caught it will cost you a 5 yard penalty. If you don’t get caught holding an opponent by the ref that is cheating also.
The league knew teams were video taping their opponents and that’s why they sent out a message at the beginning of the year that video taping would not be tolerated. The Pats decided to test that rule and they got caught and penalized.
Does that mean they cheated previous years? I am not sure, was it against the rules back then? I am not 100% sure either.
I also think they are trying to prove a point to the league.
As far as running up the score I think that is a cop out. So what if they can score at wlll. Is it the offenses job to stop the offense? I feel it is the job of the defense to stop the offense. Last years AFC Championship game is a key example of never letting up. The Pats pretty much had that game in hand and the Colts as explosive as they are never gave up. Thank goodness the Pats kept trying as the Colts fought back and won. Look back at history and see a lot of lopsided scores. It’s the defenses job to stop the offense and this is the NFL not Pop Warner football.
Thanks for allowing me to comment. GO Pats!!!
November 17th, 2007 at 8:36 pm -
Dawn said:
Please listen to this interview with Jimmy Johnson on the FAN. In it, you’ll hear that he too videotaped on the sidelines when he coached the Cowboys. I’ll expect an article about how the Cowboy’s SB rings should be tainted as well.
In the interview, you’ll also hear that an employee now working for the Colts was one of the best at videotaping on the sidelines. I’ll expect an article about how the Colt’s SB ring should be tainted.
If they aren’t forthcoming, I guess we can write it off as biased jouralism.
http://www.wfan.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=1036042
November 17th, 2007 at 9:24 pm -
Dr U said:
Jay,
I really have no problem with the Patriots running up the score. I don’t think they showed much class going for it on 4th down late in the game against the Redskins, while leading by more than 30 points. However, that is certainly within the rules. I was merely saying that it appears New England is trying to destroy their opponents to prove they don’t need to cheat to win. I don’t think they are proving anything, because I already knew they were good enough to win without cheating.
Thank you for the comment!
DR U
November 17th, 2007 at 9:47 pm -
Dr U said:
Dawn,
I certainly hope you don’t view what I write as biased. I just decided to write an article on the Patriots as I was getting emails asking me for my opinion on the matter. I certainly am not trying to throw New England under the bus. I think they climbed under the bus themselves, and all I did was summarize my thoughts in response to other opinions I have heard on the topic.
Thank you for the comment!
DR U
November 17th, 2007 at 9:53 pm -
Sean said:
What I find offensive is how certain sports media companies have chose to portray the Patriots as being evil. There have been other teams in the league, the colts and seattle come to mind, they have both been accused of doing things outside the lines. The Colts most recently have been accused of ’scrambling’ the communications link between the opposing coach and quarterback. In addition both have been accused of ‘pumping in crowd music,’ and yet they aren’t being portrayed as ‘evil.’
The Patriots were punished for getting caught with their hand in the cookie jar and the other teams out there, I would like to think, now have stopped getting their edge over their opponent. People also have forgotten about all the time that each team spends watching tape, the Patriots have clearly done a better job of deciphering what their opponent will do.
I don’t have an issue with how the Patriots are playing ball this year, they are playing a full 60 minutes of football. In college teams these days have to blow out their opponents and yet in the pro’s it’s wrong to blow out their opponents. It’s simple you don’t like it, stop the Patriots from scoring, many exNFLers have echoed this.
I’m not accusing Dr. U of the biased sports reporting that is going on these days.
November 18th, 2007 at 12:27 am -
Dr U said:
Sean,
I am also from the school of thought, if you do not like them scoring so many points, then stop them. I have no issue at all with New England scoring a lot of points.
As far as the Colts scrambling the communications link, the network tv that had the game admitted that the communication problem was their fault. I believe the Colts were asked to shut down their communication while the equipment was not working. There have been reports that the Patriots have illegally put mics on opposing defenses to hear their signals. The report has since been swept under the rug, so it is difficult to tell the validity of that report.
I don’t view the Patriots as evil, and I want people to know that I really do think New England has a great team, and they are well coached. I agree that they are typically better prepared than the other teams going into the game, which is all the more reason they did not need to cheat.
Thank you for the comment!
DR U
November 18th, 2007 at 2:12 am -
DMfh said:
I honestly don’t think the Patriots are running up the scores in an attempt to erase spygate or to embarrass anyone. The offense’s job is to score, plain and simple. I agree with what Madden said several times during the game, it isn’t their job to go easy on the other teams, that’s why there’s another team playing opposite them.
As for spygate, I don’t really see any difference in memorizing their signals and writing them down, and video taping. If you view it in that light, it’s really just creative advantage.
As for it’s affect, it shouldn’t have any. You can bet that teams have changed their signals after hearing about what the Pats did, even if they weren’t playing the Patriots. If not, then they deserve to lose by the huge margins this team is winning by. And you shouldn’t be able to win a superbowl, against the best the NFC has to offer, 3 times, all by cheating.
Thanks for reading.
November 19th, 2007 at 3:56 pm -
Dr U said:
DMfh,
Again, I have no problem with the Patriots running up the score, or not running up the score. I also feel it is up to the defense to stop the opposing offense.
Even though you may not feel there is much of a difference between memorizing signals and video taping it, the league certainly does. They issued a few memos before the season started to emphasize to teams that it is illegal to video tape opposing sidelines, yet the Patriots still opted to break that rule.
My question to you would be, if it has no affect, then why did they do it?
Lastly, I do not think the spygate aided in the victories the Patriots had in the actual Super Bowl games, I think it helped them get into the playoffs and with the seeding in the playoffs.
Thank you for the comment!
DR U
November 19th, 2007 at 6:22 pm -
Chevy said:
Just curious, but when the violation was really the LOCATION of the camera (required to be in an enclosed space), why all the crying?
The uproar over this is just incredible.
The Denver salary cap scam (which enabled them two win two superbowls) was dismissed by the media. The 9ers were also found to have cheated the cap at the end of the Young era – but that’s no big deal.
Also, wasn’t the whole “filming” rule just a memo in 2006?
November 23rd, 2007 at 6:38 am
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