Guys, I hate the Pats as much as anyone and while I agree Goodell should NOT have destroyed the tapes, no coach on or off the record has said that the Patriots could have gotten any material advantage from the films. The only caveat to that is that one of the Eagles players -- offense ? -- said right after the game that it seemed like the Patriots knew their plays beforehand on some key moments during the Super Bowl. Don't forget, the Pats went 16-0 AFTER Spygate.
I tell you....I still look at that and it looks like a completed pass. Surprised the Ravens didn't challenge.
I just wonder if they are still cheating and if so in what capacity. I think "once a cheater always a cheater." I know now they are doing that hurry-up offense which isn't really cheating but I would say it's not really sportsmanlike, more "cheap" than "cheating" but I wouldn't be surprised if we found out they were up to something else behind the scenes.
How about their clock operator.... Remember how suspect it was during our game against them this year? How about before the end of the two minute warning where John Harbaugh was freaking out. Took a little less time than expected to complete the play.
I dont think its a coincidence. I actually think cheating is what led to the rise of Tom Brady. He is smart, but cheating taught him defensive plays, and there are only so many plays teams run. So he learned originally by cheating and just committed the rest to memory. I dont think they win as many SB with out it. Does that mean Brady never becomes a good QB....No I think he still becomes good. I just dont think he becomes the best evere tho.
I didn't make this connection yesterday...but isn't it ironic, that the commissioners bag Man, Bill Leavy reffed yesterday's game? And who, like the tuck rule...got the benefit of those calls? Any team that faces the Cheatriots in the playoffs has to beat the Zebras too.
Then why do it? Benigno mentioned it on the Radio today...Kraft flat out asked him between 1 and 1000 how much advantage did you get? BB said one. If the next words arent you're fired....you are a co conspirator.
F the Cheatriots. No good cheating scum. Goddell burned the tapes because he knew, if the public saw them, then their 3 super bowls are invalidated. What a crapstorm that would be. So, the easy thing to do, is to just say it didn't help much, give them a penalty, burn the tapes, and move on.
I think it's a coincidence based on what we know the Pats filmed. I don't think it really affected the games. BUT I do think the Pats might be doing other things they haven't been caught for yet. But that's just me thinking Bill is an evil genius he let them catch him taping to deflect attention away from other things he might be doing. "I've always heard, reliably, that the Colts never trusted that they were totally alone in the Colts' locker room in Foxboro, and that when Manning had something of strategic significance to say to offensive coordinator Tom Moore, they both stepped outside into the concourse outside the locker room. So if you're outside the locker room Sunday, don't be surprised to see Manning and his first-year coordinator, Christensen, huddling for a few minutes." http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/sh...nks-the-Patriots-may-bug-visit?urn=nfl-287763 Maybe it's Peyton being paranoid, but why would he be this paranoid? He still isn't the best ever :beer:
How about Brady's Karate Kick to Ed Reeds leg? Ravens got alot of unnecessary roughness calls but when Pitta got walloped it was overlooked and a good hit. Call the game fair
Maybe, who knows. I haven't seen him or Montana play. He is definitely up there. The rules being different now really makes things more difficult to figure out
Yeah that could be a factor. Also seems like they have a good portion of the refs in their pocket seeing how many calls go their way in general, let alone at big moments. Bottom line is that because they've been caught cheating and a lot of the same people are still in place (most notably BB) I doubt that they would go from willing to do anything to win including deliberately breaking the rules to playing the game by the letter. I think they are probably doing something else now in place of Spygate. Maybe not to that level but something that breaks/bends the rules to their advantage.
Kraft's wife was livid when he didn't fire him. She wanted him as far away from the team as he could be. That to me adds even more to the conspiracy.
Care to find a source for that quote? I could be wrong, but I don't think that Ted Johnson ever said that. Looks like OP has his own definition of "fact". Never mind the fact that Johnson sued the Belichick and Robert Kraft for concussions that he suffered while playing. It couldn't be more obvious that he had a bone to pick with Belichick and the Pats (not unlike Matt Walsh, who was fired by the organization).
There have always been rumors about the communication systems there. Headsets shorting out, bugged locker rooms etc... I always thought I heard the rumor about there was more to spygate that had to do with communication but it seemed to have died down shortly after. Something about the NFL was also investigating "wire tapping" or something of that nature. Who knows if it was just a rumor or did happen and the NFL knew it was much bigger then people video taping signals. Goodell took some heat for burning the tapes but had this been say a Federal investigation as opposed to say an NFL investigation then my guess is Spygate would have ended very different then it did. To pretend like it couldn't happen just look at what happened with Juventus in Italy, they are one of the richest soccer clubs on the planet, probably make more then most NFL clubs and have been much more succesful then only a handful of other franchises in any sport on the planet yet they got caught up in a match fixing scandal. They didn't need to cheat, they had the best players, the most money and a league that would bend over backwards for them yet they still cheated to gain an advantage.