Suspend Him!!!!!

[MJZiggy]

I think what happened was pretty fair. I would have rather seen a 1st and 2nd but it is what it is I guess.

I think the punishment to the organization is reasonably fair.

but Belichek, personally, should have paid a stiff price. And the coaches who went along with it should be named and fined.

I agree.

[RashanGary]

I'm coming around to the suspension thing. Seems lik e BB got off pretty easy, esspecially in light of guys like Koren Robinson who get year suspensions for a couple DUI's.

[Rastak]

I'm coming around to the suspension thing. Seems lik e BB got off pretty easy, esspecially in light of guys like Koren Robinson who get year suspensions for a couple DUI's.

He was on his thrid strike so I'm guessing a couple of DUI's isn't really acurate at all.

[Kiwon]

Credit an assist to Bob Harlan and the Packers for nailing the camera guy last year and quietly helping to document/verify the Pats practice.

IMHO, this shows that the Packers organization has some class and plays by the rules.

Cheaters should always be exposed whether in academia, business, sports or politics. Set the rules and enforce them. Goodell is off to a good start so far, but we'll see how much support he really has when the players union and some owners start to push back when he steps on their toes.

[Rastak]

Credit an assist to Bob Harlan and the Packers for nailing the camera guy last year and quietly helping to document/verify the Pats practice.

IMHO, this shows that the Packers organization has some class and plays by the rules.

Cheaters should always be exposed whether in academia, business, sports or politics. Set the rules and enforce them. Goodell is off to a good start so far, but we'll see how much support he really has when the players union and some owners start to push back when he steps on their toes.

My big question is why they didn't file a complaint and by not doing so let them continue this practice.

[packinpatland]

The whole Patriot organization got off too easy.
Goodwell had to be aware of situations like this also:


Last year the Lions played the Patriots in Foxboro. At one point their coach, Rod Marinelli, phoned up to the press box, "There's a camera pointed right at our defensive coach making his calls. Is that allowed?" A Lions' employee called the NFL booth. No, it certainly was not. So the videotaper was stopped. Then after a while he began again. The same process was repeated and he was asked to stop again. Now that's dedication.

"You don't really know for sure," Marinelli said. "I mean you don't know whether he might be doing something for NFL Films or a coaches' show or whatever."

"At one point we had a good drive going against the Patriots," said one Lion who doesn't want his name involved in this mess, but was willing to talk about it. "Mike Martz really had 'em going. They were getting fouled up, lining up wrong, we were moving the ball. Then boom, the headset from the sidelines to the coaches' booth goes out.

"Next possession we were moving the ball again and the same thing happened. You know it only takes two or three plays to mess up a drive."

Matt Millen, the Lions' GM, was talking to Bengals' coach Marvin Lewis at the league meetings. He started telling him the story.

"Yeah, I know," Lewis said. "Headset went out. It happened to me in Foxboro, too.

This taken from Dr. Z's article today.

[KYPack]

I heard the Marvin Lewis story today on Cincy sports talk radio. The stories have been drifting out that this shit has been going on for years. In addition to headsets "failing", there have been instances of jammed radio signals and other kinds of subterfuge. One of the problems has been that teams have complained, but the charges were tough to prove. How do you prove your QB's radio has been jammed?

Thats why the videotaping scheme was key. That can be proved and caught red handed. BB's cred is severely damaged, but he might have the goods to win it all.

If he does, he should be made to "retire".

[packinpatland]

An exerpt from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20752339/

I dislike this team, from the top down.


One thing that isn’t likely to change is the arrogance of the Patriots’ organization. That begins at the top with Robert Kraft, chairman and CEO of the franchise. The team may belong to all of New England but Kraft and his son, Jonathan, weren’t afraid to use the state of Connecticut when the Patriots needed a new stadium. The Krafts forged a deal with former Connecticut Gov. John Rowland and promised to move the team to Hartford if a new downtown stadium was built. It was nothing more than a way to gain leverage in Massachusetts and the Patriots instead got Gillette Stadium and stayed in Foxborough. Rowland, so busy with his own cheating of the Connecticut taxpayers that he eventually went to prison, was used by the Krafts and made to look like a fool.

Just another example of the way business is done in the NFL.

And just another example of how the Patriots will do anything to get what they want.

[esoxx]

All the more reason why I'm happy as hell this is the team the Pack beat in Super Bowl XXXI. Kraft can suck that one big time.

They should have a dispersal draft of the Patriots 53 man roster after the season and be made to start over.

Clear the decks.

Drain the swamp.

Systematic cheatin' bastards..

[Cheesehead Craig]

Credit an assist to Bob Harlan and the Packers for nailing the camera guy last year and quietly helping to document/verify the Pats practice.

IMHO, this shows that the Packers organization has some class and plays by the rules.

Cheaters should always be exposed whether in academia, business, sports or politics. Set the rules and enforce them. Goodell is off to a good start so far, but we'll see how much support he really has when the players union and some owners start to push back when he steps on their toes.

My big question is why they didn't file a complaint and by not doing so let them continue this practice.

Here's my thoughts on why other teams didn't file complaints:

The owners still have to deal with the Patriots on the high level end, the politics of the NFL. If you start accusing them of cheating, you start burning bridges and suddenly you have a powerful, pissed off owner out to block anything you want to do. You'll never be able to trade with him and likely that owner starts bad-mouthing you to other owners he's good friends with and thus, instead of pissing off 1 guy, you now have 4-5 enemies.

Plus, unless you have some hard evidence, the owners would be going out on a big limb and if they are found to be crying wolf, well, you know how that story ends.

It's a huge risk the clubs would take when doing something like this. The Jets and Pats hate each other so the Jets went for broke to take down their bitter rival. They were the perfect team to do it.

Also, think about how the team would look if they did cry "cheater". They look like whiners and in the macho NFL land, that's a big hit to the pride of the players that they won't take. They would rather try and beat the cheating straight up to prove that they can overcome it, rather than cry foul.

Just my thoughts.

[KYPack]

The talk radio climate is Cincy is nasty. The locals (not Packer fan knowlegeable, but who is?) are restless. They all want a more severe penalty for Bill B. Most are screaming for a '07 suspension and multiple draft picks, including the #1.

I must be mellowing. I thought the #1 (not conditional, BTW) was sufficient. Seems this has really struck a nerve & AFC fans are even more up in arms than we Pack Backers.

[Bretsky]

The talk radio climate is Cincy is nasty. The locals (not Packer fan knowlegeable, but who is?) are restless. They all want a more severe penalty for Bill B. Most are screaming for a '07 suspension and multiple draft picks, including the #1.

I must be mellowing. I thought the #1 (not conditional, BTW) was sufficient. Seems this has really struck a nerve & AFC fans are even more up in arms than we Pack Backers.

Completely agree about the #1 pick being plenty to pay for; I just don't get it I guess. Teams try to steal each other's signals all the time and border on cheating if they don't do it. That's why the teams are not in much of an uproar while the fans go crazy. But he got caught.

[wist43]

Belicheck and the Pats got off easy... I hate cheating. It's one thing to skirt the rules to your advantage, as long as you stay on the right side of the law, but this is out right cheating.

I would have suspended Belicheck for a full calendar year, and stripped the Patriots of all of the '08 draft choices - including the one they acquired from the 49'ers.

Goodell wimped out.

[Badgerinmaine]

I heard the Marvin Lewis story today on Cincy sports talk radio. The stories have been drifting out that this shit has been going on for years. In addition to headsets "failing", there have been instances of jammed radio signals and other kinds of subterfuge. One of the problems has been that teams have complained, but the charges were tough to prove. How do you prove your QB's radio has been jammed?

Thats why the videotaping scheme was key. That can be proved and caught red handed. BB's cred is severely damaged, but he might have the goods to win it all.

If he does, he should be made to "retire".

I remember an incident years ago about headsets--I think it might have been at Milwaukee when the Packers still played some home games at County Stadium, but I'm not certain. Anyway, the road team's headsets malfunctioned, and the referees told the home team they had to give up their headsets until the other team's were functional. The announcers said at the time that this was an NFL rule that the home team had to do this in this type of case. So, if the Millen and Lewis stories are true, is this rule no longer in effect, or was it just something the refs did on their own? In my opinion, such a rule would make sense because it would ensure no gain for hte home team in messing with the equipment of the visitors.

[Kiwon]

The talk radio climate is Cincy is nasty. The locals (not Packer fan knowlegeable, but who is?) are restless. They all want a more severe penalty for Bill B. Most are screaming for a '07 suspension and multiple draft picks, including the #1.

I must be mellowing. I thought the #1 (not conditional, BTW) was sufficient. Seems this has really struck a nerve & AFC fans are even more up in arms than we Pack Backers.

Completely agree about the #1 pick being plenty to pay for; I just don't get it I guess. Teams try to steal each other's signals all the time and border on cheating if they don't do it. That's why the teams are not in much of an uproar while the fans go crazy. But he got caught.

I'm a bit more in the Bretsky camp on this one.

The news cycle is still early and we will not get the full story until some investigative reporting is done but the punishment relates to what they did in one game - the Jets game. There might have been allegations before, but now there is proof and punishment is in order.

Also, what's the big difference between a guy on the sidelines with a video camera and a guy sitting 20 feet behind him with a good pair of binoculars and a cell phone? I must be missing something here. What actually was their set-up?

The punishment is significant because it damages the reputation of Belichek as this genius in the same league as Bill Walsh. The spillover on the assistant coaches and former assistant coaches who are now head coaches is also important. It's like Fred Thompson's line from the Watergate hearings....."What did you know and when did you know it?" Has there been a widespread cheating scheme going on for years that everyone kept mum about?

It’s also a hit to the Patriots organization. They lose draft picks and they leave themselves open to all kinds of accusations of unfair play. They have had absolutely remarkable success and maybe we now know one key reason for it. Don’t you think that Peyton Manning has to be wondering if they were cheating during the big games they played and that New England usually won?

I assume that if further dirt turns up that Goodell can always revise and add to the severity of his penalties. However, as it stands right now, the penalties are significant for cheating in one game.