Guys read the whole thing. He's right on a couple of points. (and yes he's a patriots fan) But read it and see for yourself.</p><h1 class="storyTitle"><font size="2">Dominant story locked behind the Gate</font></h1> Thanks to CameraGate, the Jets were handed a free pass for getting creamed in Week 1. On Sunday night, the Chargers were given a similar free pass by NBC. Since the network already had its story line in place -- "San Diego seeks revenge against the lying and cheating Patriots!!!" -- it couldn't deviate from that story for three hours, even as the Pats were slapping together one of the most dominating performances in a ballyhooed regular-season game in recent memory. So allow me to point out some of the stuff NBC glossed over.</p> When you were watching Sunday night's game, did you realize that ... </p> ... the Patriots' punter stepped onto the field once?</p> ... Sammy Morris finished with twice as many fantasy points as LaDainian Tomlinson? Yeah, the same Tomlinson about whom John Madden gushed was "more confident" than anyone he'd ever seen Saturday night.</p> ... the Patriots traded a fourth-round pick for a guy who has 17 catches, 288 yards and three touchdowns through two games and has to be double-teamed at all times? One of the most talented offensive players in recent NFL history has been completely and totally rejuvenated, which means we have one more fun player in an already fun league. Do you care?</p> ... when new linebacker Adalius Thomas baited Philip Rivers into throwing to Antonio Gates, jumped the pattern and hijacked the pass for a touchdown, it was exactly the type of play the slow New England linebackers couldn't have made last season? </p> ... playing with more than one quality receiver for the first time in his career, Brady has gone 47-for-59 (81 percent) for 576 yards, six TDs and one interception so far? Isn't there a potentially fun "What would have happened if Brady had Manning's supporting cast and Manning had Brady's supporting cast for the last six years?" argument developing here? Do you care?</p> ... with under four minutes left in the game, on the tail end of a 10-minute drive inside the San Diego 5-yard line, the Patriots went for it on fourth-and-1 with a 17-point lead? Normally, you kick a field goal there, so there's no lingering bad blood afterward, only the Patriots said, "Screw these guys. We're running Morris behind the left side of the line, and even though the Chargers know it's coming, there's no way they're stopping it." So that's what they did. And Morris careened into the end zone for a score, one of those classic in-your-face moments that make football the greatest American sport. I love when good teams do that. It's the height of arrogance. You're basically telling the other team, "If we meet in January, remember this moment." Of course, Madden and Michaels glossed over it because they were too busy trying to figure out which picture to put on a horse trailer.</p> ... that the 2007 Chargers are overrated? Yeah, they have talent. Yeah, they have Tomlinson. Yeah, they can make some plays on defense. But they have the worst receivers of any potential playoff team. They have the worst coaching staff of any potential playoff team. And if that's not enough, their quarterback hasn't proven he can deliver in a big game yet. Everyone glossed over these problems heading into the season because it was boring to pick the Colts or Patriots, so the Chargers became the "sexy" AFC pick, even though they choked at home last January and decided to put their 2007 season in the hands of Norv Turner and Ted Cottrell. There are real questions about them now, only we didn't hear anyone asking them Sunday night.</p> No, NBC was too determined to blow out CameraGate. Before the game, Andrea Kramer reported Turner was taking precautions from a secrecy standpoint, refusing to allow any Patriots personnel into his locker room and even handing his players the first 15 plays Sunday morning instead of Saturday night. Her appropriate reaction should have been, "Wow, making your players paranoid isn't the best way to prepare for a big game, no wonder Norv has been such an underachieving loser for his entire coaching career." But Kramer was treating the topic so seriously and breathlessly, you would have thought she was standing in Iraq with missiles going off behind her.</p> Same for you, Cris Collinsworth. You spent halftime ignoring that the Patriots had just announced Week 1 wasn't a fluke and exposed some serious chinks in the whole "San Diego is a Super Bowl contender" armor, choosing to rehash the same disgusted CameraGate reactions we'd already seen on "Inside the NFL" and "American Night of Football" (or whatever the hell that pregame show is called). Really, we're delighted you still have such a strong and predictable opinion about a beaten-into-the-ground story, but there are three no-doubt-about-it Super Bowl contenders -- Indy, New England and San Diego -- and one of those three teams was annihilating one of the other three teams. I don't know, this seemed kind of relevant at halftime.</p> Look, I know everyone now assumes the Patriots have been cheating for the past six years, even though they hadn't been penalized even once before last weekend; even though no coach or player has left New England since 2002 and blown the whistle on them; and even though the New England players were fired up Sunday night, partly because everyone has been so eager to stick an asterisk next to everything that's happened from 2001-2007 (check this Jackie MacMullan column for more details).</p> Our "evidence" that there may have been a prolonged pattern of cheating last week came from "unnamed sources" and players who had already lost big games to the Patriots and seemed excited to have an excuse after all these years. (Kordell Stewart, where were you last week? We were waiting to hear from you!) This is a league in which every coordinator calls in plays by holding a sheet over his mouth so nobody can read his lips. And yet, the Patriots videotaped another team's signals for three-fourths of a quarter and everyone reacted like they kidnapped a Jets assistant and tortured him for information or something.</p> Lemme ask you two questions:</p> 1. Is there a chance -- just a chance -- Belichick has gotten a little paranoid in his old age, and since an undermanned Jets team played them closely in all three Pats-Jets games last season, he spent the spring and summer wondering if Mangini had figured out a way to steal their signals, so he decided to tape their coaches in Week 1 to see if that was true? And then he got caught? </p> 2. Is there a chance Roger Goodell is doing the "I'm leaving no stone unturned" routine because he's so determined to show everyone there's a new sheriff in town (shades of Reggie Hammond at Torchy's), and because it's becoming more and more obvious the previous administration was asleep at the wheel on anything and everything except the next TV deal?</p> Scenario 1 doesn't seem completely unrealistic. Neither does Scenario 2. So why is everyone so anxious to make the leap that one indiscretion equals a six-year pattern of behavior, and there's more to this story simply because Goodell publicly (and loudly) demanded the Patriots turn over all their tapes, notes and recordings? If this pattern of inappropriate behavior had been happening for six years, wouldn't they have been caught before Sept. 9, 2007? Wouldn't a league filled with coaches and executives who obviously hate and resent the Pats have been dying to blow the whistle on them? Wouldn't one disgruntled ex-Pat over the past five years (and there have been many) have blown the whistle on them just to stick it to Belichick? And are we honestly supposed to believe nobody else was doing this?</p> The Patriots cheated in one game. They got caught, they paid the price. Like every other Pats fan, I hate what happened and continue to be disappointed that our coach pulled a Nixon on us. I don't know how many times I can write this. They are the villains of the NFL. The Belichick era has been tainted. When the coach passes away some day, CameraGate will be mentioned within the first two paragraphs of his obituary. I can't argue with any of these points, just like I can't think of a good response for all the good-natured crap that my friends have been giving me. Watching football at a buddy's house on Sunday in Southern California, my friend Hench and I endured roughly 2,675 cheater-related jokes over seven hours. We can't fight back. There's no way to fight back. If the roles were reversed, I'd be cracking the same jokes. Believe me.</p> But since they've already paid a steep penalty for a one-time indiscretion, can we move on with the 2007 NFL season, please? Is everyone done piling on and competing in the "The Race To See Who Can Seem The Most Disgusted and Outraged" contest? As a Massachusetts reader named Sidewinder e-mailed me Friday, "I can't believe how hysterical Peter King sounded on WEEI when talking about Belichick's indiscretion. Talk about getting his skirt up in a bunch. Does this guy realize sports is the toy department of life? Save the righteous indignation for the 9/11 anniversary or the waste of a generation in Iraq."</p> See, that's the thing. It's sports. People cheat. People do bad things. People make mistakes. It's just like real life, only it doesn't matter nearly as much. </p> We live in a world in which global-warming activists charter private jets to take them from speech to speech, then tell people not to use so much toilet paper. We live in a world in which American kids are getting killed every day in the Middle East and nobody will mobilize a valid protest until the President finally decides, "We're having a draft lottery." We live in a world in which you can Google the female star of the most popular Disney TV movie ever and see her naked, and NBC runs a popular show in which they trap potential child predators and film the confrontations on TV. We live in a world in which high school kids can decide they don't like another high school kid, so they can build an anonymous slam page and libel the hell out of him, and even though this happens and keeps happening, we still don't have any set-in-stone Internet laws to prevent this. We live in a world in which Perez Hilton and TMZ.com get their own TV shows, but "Friday Night Lights" is two months away from getting canceled. We live in a world in which every home run record from the past 10 years has to be taken not just with a grain of salt, but an entire salt shaker.</p> So save me the moral indignation about CameraGate. The whole world is screwed up. We watch football every week because the games are entertaining, because it's something to do, because it gives us something to discuss with our friends, co-workers and family members. If you're searching for a football-related moral cause with some meat, watch this month's feature about Earl Campbell on "Costas Now." He's the Texas hero who got chewed up and spit out by professional football; now he suffers from crippling back and knee problems and needs a cane or a wheelchair to get around. The NFL makes roughly a kajillion dollars a year, only its player's union doesn't give two craps about a deteriorating ex-star like Campbell, one of the watershed stars of the '70s and someone who helped push the league to its current heights. They have a lame pension program and no disability benefits, and they have a union head (Gene Upshaw) who openly admits he's paid to worry about current players and not former ones ... even though he's a former player himself. Of course, that story isn't nearly as controversial as the current Patriots scandal because we can't slap a "Gate" behind it. Too bad.</p> Anyway, when the Patriots and Colts play in Week 9 to determine alpha dog status for the 2007 season, if you're not attached to either team but find yourself rooting for the Colts because Tony Dungy is a better person than Bill Belichick and a better example for your kids, ... well, you're probably right. That's a legitimate reason to root for one team over another. I don't blame you. Let's just hope that, by Week 9, we're enjoying the football season again. That was a fascinating Chargers-Pats game Sunday night for a number of reasons, only nobody outside of New England seemed to notice. Especially the network that was broadcasting it.</p> One more thing: Everyone keeps saying Belichick's legacy has been tainted by the events of Sept. 9. And it definitely has. There's no question. But if you picked the Chargers to win or cover last night, you can't deny that sinking feeling you had during the first quarter, when NBC showed Belichick on one sideline and Turner on the other, and you thought to yourself, "I'm an idiot, what the hell was I thinking?" Belichick might not be the best role model, but he's still the best football coach alive. More importantly, Norv Turner is still Norv Turner. One mistake can't change either of those things. You should have known better.</p> </p> </p> </p> </p> </p>
The scenarios about BB being paranoid & Goddell laying down the law are very plausible. </p> It does make me wonder; 1) how long has this been going on & how many outcomes has it affected? 2) Why did Mangini narc on BB? Guilty conscience? 3) Allow me to point out this conspiracy; what if its a subtle tactic to divide and conquer so that the jest and patsies remain dominant. EM wearing the white hat & BB the the black one.</p> I, for one, am fine with Belichick's response & how he is handling it. Just like this made the Vick story go away, there will be something else that makes this go away and the soomer the better.</p> As for Collinsworth, he's an idiot. You can tell that Olbermann is already biting his tongue when dealing with him. I'd bet it was KO who dug up the stats on career rushing yds they displayed at halftime during week 1 i.e Bob & Keith have0 & have never played and CC has -15.</p>
playing with more than one quality receiver for the first time in his career, Brady has gone 47-for-59 (81 percent) for 576 yards, six TDs and one interception so far? Isn't there a potentially fun "What would have happened if Brady had Manning's supporting cast and Manning had Brady's supporting cast for the last six years?" argument developing here? Do you care? Didnt hurt that he knew all the play calls going in.</p> ... that the 2007 Chargers are overrated? Yeah, they have talent. Yeah, they have Tomlinson. Yeah, they can make some plays on defense. But they have the worst receivers of any potential playoff team. They have the worst coaching staff of any potential playoff team. And if that's not enough, their quarterback hasn't proven he can deliver in a big game yet. Everyone glossed over these problems heading into the season because it was boring to pick the Colts or Patriots, so the Chargers became the "sexy" AFC pick, even though they choked at home last January and decided to put their 2007 season in the hands of Norv Turner and Ted Cottrell. There are real questions about them now, only we didn't hear anyone asking them Sunday night. They started out playing 2 of the final 4 from last year, and went 1-1 with new head coach. They arent overrated.</p> No, NBC was too determined to blow out CameraGate. Before the game, Andrea Kramer reported Turner was taking precautions from a secrecy standpoint, refusing to allow any Patriots personnel into his locker room and even handing his players the first 15 plays Sunday morning instead of Saturday night. Her appropriate reaction should have been, "Wow, making your players paranoid isn't the best way to prepare for a big game, no wonder Norv has been such an underachieving loser for his entire coaching career." But Kramer was treating the topic so seriously and breathlessly, you would have thought she was standing in Iraq with missiles going off behind her. The sad part is I am sure the patriots still found a way to get a hold of the information and cheat.</p> You spent halftime ignoring that the Patriots had just announced Week 1 wasn't a fluke and exposed some serious chinks in the whole "San Diego is a Super Bowl contender" armor We finally agree. They proved cheating in week 1 wasnt a fluke, they plan to keep it up all season. Also san diego was exposed in the fact they cant be a team that is cheating.</p> Look, I know everyone now assumes the Patriots have been cheating for the past six years, even though they hadn't been penalized even once before last weekend; even though no coach or player has left New England since 2002 and blown the whistle on them; and even though the New England players were fired up Sunday night, partly because everyone has been so eager to stick an asterisk next to everything that's happened from 2001-2007 No coach who left has had something real to play for vs patriots since leaving. Now one did and he had to stop the cheating. The other coaches/players who left arent going to tarnish thier own legacy by saying something.Lemme ask you two questions:</p> 1. Is there a chance -- just a chance -- Belichick has gotten a little paranoid in his old age, and since an undermanned Jets team played them closely in all three Pats-Jets games last season, he spent the spring and summer wondering if Mangini had figured out a way to steal their signals, so he decided to tape their coaches in Week 1 to see if that was true? And then he got caught? No</p> 2. Is there a chance Roger Goodell is doing the "I'm leaving no stone unturned" routine because he's so determined to show everyone there's a new sheriff in town (shades of Reggie Hammond at Torchy's), and because it's becoming more and more obvious the previous administration was asleep at the wheel on anything and everything except the next TV deal? No</p> Scenario 1 doesn't seem completely unrealistic. Neither does Scenario 2. So why is everyone so anxious to make the leap that one indiscretion equals a six-year pattern of behavior, and there's more to this story simply because Goodell publicly (and loudly) demanded the Patriots turn over all their tapes, notes and recordings? If this pattern of inappropriate behavior had been happening for six years, wouldn't they have been caught before Sept. 9, 2007? Wouldn't a league filled with coaches and executives who obviously hate and resent the Pats have been dying to blow the whistle on them? Wouldn't one disgruntled ex-Pat over the past five years (and there have been many) have blown the whistle on them just to stick it to Belichick? And are we honestly supposed to believe nobody else was doing this? We would have to ignore all the other indiscretions and coincidences that are tied into this. Allegations from a packers game. Players testing positive for HGH while patriots doctor injury report. The snow plow, the tuck call. Also you would have to ignore the fact that there are some character issues with bb as well, shoving cameramen, stealing peoples wives. So i would say evidence weighs heavily against them.</p> The Patriots cheated in one game. They got caught, they paid the price. Like every other Pats fan, I hate what happened and continue to be disappointed that our coach pulled a Nixon on us. I don't know how many times I can write this. They are the villains of the NFL. The Belichick era has been tainted. When the coach passes away some day, CameraGate will be mentioned within the first two paragraphs of his obituary. I can't argue with any of these points, just like I can't think of a good response for all the good-natured crap that my friends have been giving me. Watching football at a buddy's house on Sunday in Southern California, my friend Hench and I endured roughly 2,675 cheater-related jokes over seven hours. We can't fight back. There's no way to fight back. If the roles were reversed, I'd be cracking the same jokes. Believe me. Child molester analogy. They only get caught with one child, but no one believes that is the only one, and on one believes that they wont do it again. That is why they get killed in jail, and why no one wants them around. Cheating is same as child molesting.</p> But since they've already paid a steep penalty for a one-time indiscretion, can we move on with the 2007 NFL season, please? Is everyone done piling on and competing in the "The Race To See Who Can Seem The Most Disgusted and Outraged" contest? As a Massachusetts reader named Sidewinder e-mailed me Friday, "I can't believe how hysterical Peter King sounded on WEEI when talking about Belichick's indiscretion. Talk about getting his skirt up in a bunch. Does this guy realize sports is the toy department of life? Save the righteous indignation for the 9/11 anniversary or the waste of a generation in Iraq So many flawed points. I will stick to football. one time indiscretion is a bit ridiculous, saying it wont make it true. The dynasty is that of cheaters, and nothing more.</p> So save me the moral indignation about CameraGate. The whole world is screwed up. We watch football every week because the games are entertaining, because it's something to do, because it gives us something to discuss with our friends, co-workers and family members. If you're searching for a football-related moral cause with some meat, watch this month's feature about Earl Campbell on "Costas Now." He's the Texas hero who got chewed up and spit out by professional football; now he suffers from crippling back and knee problems and needs a cane or a wheelchair to get around. The NFL makes roughly a kajillion dollars a year, only its player's union doesn't give two craps about a deteriorating ex-star like Campbell, one of the watershed stars of the '70s and someone who helped push the league to its current heights. They have a lame pension program and no disability benefits, and they have a union head (Gene Upshaw) who openly admits he's paid to worry about current players and not former ones ... even though he's a former player himself. Of course, that story isn't nearly as controversial as the current Patriots scandal because we can't slap a "Gate" behind it. Too bad. You know that someone is guilty when they use other bad things to justify how what they did wasnt bad.</p> </p>
You're just bitter because your team thinks that Wrecks Grossman is an NFL quarterback. I mean, Jesus Christ, dude, the snow plow game happened a quarter century ago and involved Ron Meyer. And the last time I checked Belichick didn't make the tuck call, that was a referee and had nothing to do with New England. Did you accuse the Colts of cheating after the flotilla of phantom pass interference calls called against their opponents in the playoffs last year?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ehmunro)</div><div class='quotemain'>You're just bitter because your team thinks that Wrecks Grossman is an NFL quarterback. I mean, Jesus Christ, dude, the snow plow game happened a quarter century ago and involved Ron Meyer. And the last time I checked Belichick didn't make the tuck call, that was a referee and had nothing to do with New England. Did you accuse the Colts of cheating after the flotilla of phantom pass interference calls called against their opponents in the playoffs last year?</div> Defending NE by attacking the bears QB? Ok, that doesnt reek of guilty.</p>
The snow plow may have happened 25 years ago, but it does show that the Patriots have a long, cheating tradition. It also shows how the Patriots faithful love to make folk heroes out of ex-cons that help them cheat.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DolfanDale)</div><div class='quotemain'>The snow plow may have happened 25 years ago, but it does show that the Patriots have a long, cheating tradition. It also shows how the Patriots faithful love to make folk heroes out of ex-cons that help them cheat.</div> What Ron Meyer did wasn't illegal until <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic">after </span>the game, when Don Shula retroactively changed the rules. Sort of like he did to the Green Bay Packers a couple of years later when the Dolphins lost the game on a blocked field goal by Gary Lewis and Shula convened the competition committee the next morning to retroactively outlaw the way that Lewis blocked the FG (by jumping really, really high from behind the line of scrimmage) and attempting to strip the Packers of a third round pick for having the effrontery to beat the Dolphins. Oddly, though, Shula <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic">never</span>outlawed his trick plays. (Ever the paragon of fairplay that Donnie boy. )</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DolfanDale)</div><div class='quotemain'>The snow plow may have happened 25 years ago, but it does show that the Patriots have a long, cheating tradition. It also shows how the Patriots faithful love to make folk heroes out of ex-cons that help them cheat.</div></p> Last time I checked the Dolphins were 0-2. </p> Jets cheated too if you didn't know. Here read it. </p> Every team cheats. In every sport. They just have different ways of doing it. Basketball players flop, soccer players simulate falls, etc etc.</p> Even regular people cheat, you would be lying if you said in your life you have never made a mistake, cheat, etc. Every person does it. No one is perfect. So now you're tainted too? (this is just a sport by the way just like this article says)</p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ehmunro)</div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DolfanDale)</div><div class='quotemain'>The snow plow may have happened 25 years ago, but it does show that the Patriots have a long, cheating tradition. It also shows how the Patriots faithful love to make folk heroes out of ex-cons that help them cheat.</div> What Ron Meyer did wasn't illegal until <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic">after </span>the game, when Don Shula retroactively changed the rules. Sort of like he did to the Green Bay Packers a couple of years later when the Dolphins lost the game on a blocked field goal by Gary Lewis and Shula convened the competition committee the next morning to retroactively outlaw the way that Lewis blocked the FG (by jumping really, really high from behind the line of scrimmage) and attempting to strip the Packers of a third round pick for having the effrontery to beat the Dolphins. Oddly, though, Shula <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic">never</span>outlawed his trick plays. (Ever the paragon of fairplay that Donnie boy. )</p> </div> </p> Okay, so the Patsies were cowards with no honor on that particularday. Still, the rule passed because everyone knew that what the Patriots did that day wasn't fair. Personally, I still consider that cheating, but I realize that I havehigher standards than most. (That must come from rooting for the only perfect team in the modern era.) You can try and blame Shula for rule changes, but he is only one man with one vote. I don't knowmuch aboutthe rule changeregarding the Packers, but if the rule change passed then there must have been others that agreed.</p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (CelticKing)</div><div class='quotemain'> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DolfanDale)</div><div class='quotemain'>The snow plow may have happened 25 years ago, but it does show that the Patriots have a long, cheating tradition. It also shows how the Patriots faithful love to make folk heroes out of ex-cons that help them cheat.</div></p> Last time I checked the Dolphins were 0-2. </p> Jets cheated too if you didn't know. Here read it. </p> Every team cheats. In every sport. They just have different ways of doing it. Basketball players flop, soccer players simulate falls, etc etc.</p> Even regular people cheat, you would be lying if you said in your life you have never made a mistake, cheat, etc. Every person does it. No one is perfect. So now you're tainted too? (this is just a sport by the way just like this article says)</p> </p> </div> </p> The Dolphins may be 0-2 so far this year, but at least the Dolphins have earned all the victories that show up on their all-time record.</p> Hiding behind the Jets may be a new low.</p> I've made my share of mistakes in life, but I'm not a cheater. Integrity is one of my personal strengths.</p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DolfanDale)</div><div class='quotemain'>Okay, so the Patsies were cowards with no honor on that particularday. Still, the rule passed because everyone knew that what the Patriots did that day wasn't fair. Personally, I still consider that cheating, but I realize that I havehigher standards than most. (That must come from rooting for the only perfect team in the modern era.) You can try and blame Shula for rule changes, but he is only one man with one vote. I don't knowmuch aboutthe rule changeregarding the Packers, but if the rule change passed then there must have been others that agreed.</div> And the reason that Shula never outlawed his trick plays again? (Like the one he used all the time of lining up ten guys on offense and having another guy leap onto the field at the last possible second for the wide open screen pass? Bud Grant got fined by Shula after remarking to reporters after the game where he got burnt by the play "Unfortunately I don't have the power to convene thecompetitioncommittee and outlaw the play tomorrow.") I guess the Don Shula Dolphins were just "cowards with no honor".</p><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DolfanDale)</div><div class='quotemain'>The Dolphins may be 0-2 so far this year, but at least the Dolphins have earned all the victories that show up on their all-time record.</div> By your own standard every victory with Shula as coach has to be asterisked, making this statement false.</p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ehmunro)</div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DolfanDale)</div><div class='quotemain'>Okay, so the Patsies were cowards with no honor on that particular day. Still, the rule passed because everyone knew that what the Patriots did that day wasn't fair. Personally, I still consider that cheating, but I realize that I have higher standards than most. (That must come from rooting for the only perfect team in the modern era.) You can try and blame Shula for rule changes, but he is only one man with one vote. I don't know much about the rule change regarding the Packers, but if the rule change passed then there must have been others that agreed.</div> And the reason that Shula never outlawed his trick plays again? (Like the one he used all the time of lining up ten guys on offense and having another guy leap onto the field at the last possible second for the wide open screen pass? Bud Grant got fined by Shula after remarking to reporters after the game where he got burnt by the play "Unfortunately I don't have the power to convene the competition committee and outlaw the play tomorrow.") I guess the Don Shula Dolphins were just "cowards with no honor".</p><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DolfanDale)</div><div class='quotemain'>The Dolphins may be 0-2 so far this year, but at least the Dolphins have earned all the victories that show up on their all-time record.</div> By your own standard every victory with Shula as coach has to be asterisked, making this statement false. </p> </p> </div></p> Do you have a link to back up these Bud Grant allegations? I can't find anything through google and I'd like to see what part of this story, perhaps, isn't being told. </p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DolfanDale)</div><div class='quotemain'>Do you have a link to back up these Bud Grant allegations? I can't find anything through google and I'd like to see what part of this story, perhaps, isn't being told.</div></p> Bud made a joke in a postgame press conference after a game in '82 or '83 and got fined for it because he expressed the frustration that the rest of the coaches in the NFL had to be feeling playing the game on an uneven playing field.</p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ehmunro)</div><div class='quotemain'> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DolfanDale)</div><div class='quotemain'>Do you have a link to back up these Bud Grant allegations? I can't find anything through google and I'd like to see what part of this story, perhaps, isn't being told.</div></p> Bud made a joke in a postgame press conference after a game in '82 or '83 and got fined for it because he expressed the frustration that the rest of the coaches in the NFL had to be feeling playing the game on an uneven playing field.</p> </p> </div></p> That's your and/or Bud's slant on things, but I still would like a link to the story because there may be more to this story. Don Shula may have served on and even chaired the competition committee, but that didn't make him all powerful. Rule changes would have had to have been voted on to be changed and Shula is just one vote. Why didn't the rest of the committee vote against him? (This being a good point will probably be ignored. It was the first time I made it.) </p> </p>
I think it is ridiculous that to take attention away from teh cheating the patriots have and continue to commit, this thread got directed towards grossman and shula. Only people who are wrong, and completely wrong defend themselves by attacking something else to draw attention away from the wrong they did.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BearsFan1)</div><div class='quotemain'>I think it is ridiculous that to take attention away from teh cheating the patriots have and continue to commit, this thread got directed towards grossman and shula. Only people who are wrong, and completely wrong defend themselves by attacking something else to draw attention away from the wrong they did.</div> I'm sorry, what cheating did they do against the Chargers again? Frankly it wouldn't have really had an effect against the Jets, either, as the coaches would have to study the film before they could actually see if they could read the hand signals. That would mean that by default it would be of little to no use until the second half at the earliest, by which time the game was long over.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (DolfanDale)</div><div class='quotemain'>That's your and/or Bud's slant on things, but I still would like a link to the story because there may be more to this story. Don Shula may have served on and even chaired the competition committee, but that didn't make him all powerful. Rule changes would have had to have been voted on to be changed and Shula is just one vote. Why didn't the rest of the committee vote against him? (This being a good point will probably be ignored. It was the first time I made it.)</div> No, that's the reality, Bud Grant was fined, and fined for his remarks in the post-game press conference. I'm not sure what the account of the game has to do with anything. If it will help you narrow your search it happened right before his first retirement and the margin of victory was seven or eight points, so you can track down the boxscore if you'd like.If you wish to pay the New York Times fee for access to their archives to dig up the newsblurb, feel free. But 25 year old newspapers aren't online free that I know of.</p> Don Shula was the active coach on the competition committee, the others were not necessarily team representatives (the Competition Committee was nothing like the Board of Governors) and some of them were his friends. The ultimate approval rested with his friend, Pete Rozelle, who sometimes accepted his decisions (as he did after the snowplow incident) and sometimes rejected them (as with the Gary Lewis situation, which he reduced to a mere fine). Hilariously you Miami fans can remember exactly half of most of these incidents (forgetting the fact that Shula was notorious for changing the rules after the fact and trying to apply them to incidents where he felt he'd been outsmarted), but forget completely the Gary Lewis and Bud Grant stories. Lewis, in fact, saw his NFL career ended by Shula's spite, because blocking field goals was really his only salable skill and Shulaoutlawedhis means of doing it.</p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ehmunro)</div><div class='quotemain'><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BearsFan1)</div><div class='quotemain'>I think it is ridiculous that to take attention away from teh cheating the patriots have and continue to commit, this thread got directed towards grossman and shula. Only people who are wrong, and completely wrong defend themselves by attacking something else to draw attention away from the wrong they did.</div> I'm sorry, what cheating did they do against the Chargers again? Frankly it wouldn't have really had an effect against the Jets, either, as the coaches would have to study the film before they could actually see if they could read the hand signals. That would mean that by default it would be of little to no use until the second half at the earliest, by which time the game was long over.</p> </div> </p> obviously we havent had time to get to the bottom of all the cheating the patriots did for chargers games. Might take some time. Doesnt matter. We have already PROVEN the patriots are CHEATERS and CHEATERS are Child molesters.</p> Obviously cheating in jets game made no difference, thats why they did it! LOL</p> You are operating under the assumption (cuz you are a patriots fan who wont see the truth) that they hadnt already cheated to know what the signals meant, which they obviously had. Thus, having cheated previously, and in that game, and in the chargers game, and in all games every coached by belichek, all they have now accomplished is the taint. Gratz on the taint.</p> </p>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BearsFan1)</div><div class='quotemain'>obviously we havent had time to get to the bottom of all the cheating the patriots did for chargers games. Might take some time. Doesnt matter. We have already PROVEN the patriots are CHEATERS and CHEATERS are Child molesters.</div></p> I think your tinfoil hat is slipping off.</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BearsFan1)</div><div class='quotemain'>Obviously cheating in jets game made no difference, thats why they did it! LOL</div></p> As the Jets security personnel seized the camera early in the first quarter we know for a fact that it didn't make a difference that game. The coaching staff wouldn't have even had a chance to look at the tape until halftime, by which point it was gone (and the game was over anyway). If the Jets were using the same hand signals the next game and New England had the tape, it might have made a difference. But they didn't.</p> <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (BearsFan1)</div><div class='quotemain'>You are operating under the assumption (cuz you are a patriots fan who wont see the truth) that they hadnt already cheated to know what the signals meant, which they obviously had. Thus, having cheated previously, and in that game, and in the chargers game, and in all games every coached by belichek, all they have now accomplished is the taint. Gratz on the taint.</div></p> I am operating on the assumption that the Jets seized the camera early, which according to the Commish and the Jets themselves they did, and therefore the Patriots' coaches never had the chance to analyse the tape. If they stole signals it was through still photography, which is actually legal. (Check if you don't believe me, that's why every NFL team keeps the bank of monitors and printers on their sideline). What they've accomplished is three Super Bowl victories. We New England fans will take that all day every day. Enjoy your sour grapes.</p>
