Hey boys’ and girls’ aren’t yous guys tired of the “over the edge” coaching methods and the questionable “look the other way” attitude of the NFL brass when it comes to the coaching skullduggery of New England Patriot’s Head Coach Bill Belichick and his chief minion, quarterback Tom Brady?
In a story for espn.com by Jamison Hensley covering last weekend’s 35-31 New England Patriots divisional playoff victory over the Baltimore Ravens, Hensley wrote; ” The Patriots dug into their bag of tricks on their second drive of the third quarter, lining up just four offensive linemen and declaring a normally eligible receiver as ineligible to keep Baltimore off balance.” When Baltimore Ravens head Coach John Harbaugh questioned a “substitution trick” package that was employed by the Patriots during a critical late game drive, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady fired back; “Maybe those guys gotta study the rulebook and figure it out. We obviously knew what we were doing and we made some pretty important plays. It was a real good weapon for us.”
There may be a few fans that disagree with the coaching strategies of John Harbaugh, who by the way the last time I checked, sports a pair of “‘Ravens wings,” not Angels wings but Mr. Harbaugh nor any of his subordinates sneak around doing illegal things to gain a competitive edge and my hat goes off to him and the Ravens organization.
However, Tom Brady or his Head Coach Sir “Belicheat” should be the last two people on the planet to pucker up their lips to give advice about studying the NFL rulebook or any other rulebook to anyone, anywhere at any time!
The Patriots were caught in 2007 allegedly videotaped the pre-game walk through practices of the St. Louis Rams prior to New England’s first Super Bowl victory against St. the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, on February 3, 2002. “I’ll never be over being cheated out of the Super Bowl,” former Rams running back Marshall Faulk told Tom Curran of CSNNE.com. in 2013.
The NFL fined the Patriots and Belichick, $500,000.00 and stripped the Patriots of a first-round draft pick, for taping opposing coaches’ signals in violation of NFL rules. But the separate allegation that the Patriots taped the Rams’ walk-through before the Super Bowl was never substantiated.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league destroyed all the tapes that were confiscated in the investigation of the Patriots’ taping practices, and Faulk is skeptical that the whole truth will ever come out. “Obviously, the commissioner gets to handle things how he wants to handle them but if they wanted us to shut up about what happened, show us the tapes. Don’t burn ‘em,” Faulk said.
On October 12, 2014, Gary Buiso wrote a story for the New York Post titled: “Spygate The NFL cover-up that started it all.” Mr. Busio wrote that; ” Before the start of the [2014] football season, Cary Williams, a veteran cornerback for the Philadelphia Eagles, reminded the sports world about a scandal the NFL would prefer people forget. “One fact still remains: They haven’t won a Super Bowl since they got caught. They are cheaters,” Williams said in August, [2014].
He was referring to Spygate, when the New England Patriots were busted for illegally videotaping the Jets’ defensive signals during the first game of the 2007 season.” Bryan O’Leary, author of the book “Spygate: The Untold Story,” writes that; “And that’s why certain allegations — including that the Pats were using a radio frequency outside the NFL’s purview to illegally communicate information to quarterback Tom Brady during the game — were seemingly ignored.”
They (the Ravens) ought to study the rule book. The Patriots studied it and blatantly ignored and dishonored its tenets for years, smiling, beguiling. skinnin and grinnin in the winner’s circle and would have probably won eight more consecutive Lombardi trophies if they had not been exposed. Heck, the Ravens would have beat New England rather handily last weekend if the “boys’ from bean town” had not stretch….ed the rules and pulled a “David Copperfield” moment.
Hey, it also appears that even the game officials were caught off guard by the seldom, if ever used substitution tactic. Even for me, after more than three decades covering the NFL, it was the first time that I have ever witnessed such an “offensive strategy.” When the Patriots were caught illegally videotaping their opponents signals. I guess that was a first too. However, as my uncle Will Woodson once told my father; “it’s only a fair fight if you win.”
If the late Sen Arlen Specter, R-Pa., would have had anything to say about it, someone from the New England organization or the NFL would have been prosecuted. Mr. Specter was the former top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and like Marshall Faulk questioned why the NFL hastily destroyed all evidence, including tapes handed over by the Patriots.
Let’s compare penalties, guys’ and dolls’. The season ending suspension of Ex-Ravens running back Ray Rice for domestic abuse is projected to cost Rice more than 10 million dollars in income. Also the season ending banishment of Rice’s colleague, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson allegedly for child abuse will cost Mr. Peterson more than 4 million dollars as well. However, after being exposed for years of “cheating by videotape” Bill Belichick was fined a paltry $500,000.00. for violating basic NFL competition statutes for over four and one half years. I guess there is a big difference between “white collar” crime and “black collar crime.” Let’s see, there is domestic abuse, child abuse and abuse of power. You figure it out.
(The sources for this story were the nypost.com, espn.com and nbcsports.com)
Aubrey Bruce can be reached at: abruce@newpittsburghcourier.com or 412.583.6741
Follow him on Twitter@ultrascribe
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