Oh, and the punishment should somehow require Belichick to give a hug of apology to Mangini after he shoves a cameraman.

Morty is rolling in his grave.

Um......they were jokes

you know like ha-ha!!

Kinda like the Jets offense?

The one who got caught?

That would work!

I can't believe there are 45 posts about this.

It's not as though you can gain a real meaningfull edge in the game by doing what NE was caught doing.

I would think it is something that might help them against that team when they meet them down the line.

To me, it's much ado about nothing.

Though, it goes to show what silly lengths NE will go to in order to try and gain the ever so slightest of advantages.

This one is a no brainer Hoss......You need to do something that punishes Kraft as much as the other Mr B.

THE PATRIOTS PLAY TWO GAMES AT NEW YORK JETS NEXT YEAR!!!!!

The punishment is both financial and psychological by giving a playing advantage to the team wronged while avoiding the dreaded punishing by draft picks which just means the Patriots use that money on free agents. Mr B would never really serve a suspension as he would still manage the team secretly. If you force the Pats to lose millions in concessions and parking revenue plus try and concentrate before the hostile crowd from hell X 2 you have a quid pro quo where the offense occured. A home game is huge!!!

I think the Patriots offense should have to give the Jets their plays beforehand in the next two games. Picture Brady at the line..."I'm going to throw it to that guy..."

Patriots still win by 14...

Or Browning Nagle.

Glenn Foley?

That would work for me, as Brady is 6-0 against the Jets in the Meadowlands
:D

What else would you expect from a steroid trainer? They gunna get rid of that stuff? Seems only the horseracing industry considers that stuff healthfood for horses.

The NFL has made a very big deal about this BEFORE this act. Why is it illegal? Because it gives advantage. Why did the owners and commish vote this rule in?

It is a big deal. Every team and coach knows this is ILLEGAL. No its not a crime outside of the game so comparing it to what Pacman does is irrelevant (not to say you were).

No way they take a game away from Patriots, I just wish they would. That would have a huge effect on Belechick.

Juan Pierre could use a dose

Interesting penalty
Coach must pay 500k fine
Team must pay 250k fine
If they make the playoffs they lose their first round pick in 08

It is.
They put a bit of a hurt on them if they succeed.
Kinda neat idea.

that's a pretty severe penalty.

hopefully the nut cases demanding a forfeit can untangle their panties and get back to life now.

Really its just the draft pick, Kraft will cover the fine. First round pick is a big hit though.

The NFL missed an opportunity to hold Kraft responsible for his team's sins...that was a mistake. The Patriots will find a way to pay Bill's fine and the #1 will just have his money spent on a upper level free agent.

I dont think that it as easy as that...salary cap implications....draft picks are slotted for a certain number while free agents count in a different, more severe cost. I'm sure that the NFL has decreed that the money must come from Belichek and if found circumventing that then the penalty to be even more severe.

Different regime. Safe to say that if the Merriman antics happened this yr, there would be a total different set of punishment levied down.

Kraft pays that fine its easy. Either as an end of season bonus, or in his next contract. Kraft is not stupid, there are so many ways to get around it with him not actually "paying" the fine.

Don't they have two #1s next year though?

Yes, they do, its san fransico's.

Well...since I think making the playoffs is a safe bet, then they are back to square one. Can't count the fines because that is...how do you say it...
POCKET CHANGE to them

The actual check will come from Coach Bill but it will also circle back to him
within the year. The whole thing is a joke and mark my words Coach Bill already knows who else has crossed this line and there will be more "announcement" of new violations that will come from "a source close to the NFL" etc etc

If everyone is doing it is it really a big deal? I mean they were videotaping the other teams signs, not poisioning the gatorade. I guess I may be stupid but I assumed that they were all doing this anyway.

Yes its a big deal. Just because a good deal of people do it does not make it right. Videotaping signs can be a huge deal. If you know what defense they are calling in, you have a massive advantage. It matters not who else or how many have done it. It's illegal to do it and they were caught, they deserve whatever they get.

From what I understand the league covered this specific violation in their yearly training camp tour to review new rules, violations, league policies etc. just a few weeks before the start of the season. I guess it pissed them off that he just thumbed his nose at them.

Dancing in the end zone and wearing loose socks are illegal in the NFL too.

I still think the whole thing is overblown. I dont think there is a massive advantage. There is only so many things a defense can do. Most of what they do is to react to what the offense does. I suppose Indy is cheating too since Peyton seems to change plays about every play.

I wish I could say that the reason the Patriots beat the Rams was because they cheated (although there were something that they didn't show on camera - the receivers were blantantly being held) but it was Get sMartz.
and the completely fabricated tuck rule

$750,000 in fines and loss of a 1st round draft pick.

i agree.

Yeah,but what do you ya do about the fact he is so stupid, though? ...ONE NIGHT,VIN SCULLY said he expected Pierre to be a much better bunter than he is.Atleast Furcal can do that.He squeezed a run in tonight that way.Furcal routinely get hits late in games,because he bunts to the shortstop.If he gets it by the pitcher and the 3rd baseman(and he does,) then there is no way the shortstop can throw him out.We have the dumbest centerfielder/rightfielder combo in all of baseball.KEMP simply can't remember to look at a 3rd base coach.For some reason,he thinks it's up to the runner to decide whether to try to score from 1st or 2nd....2 nice games to get to 1 1/2 games out of the wildcard.Now is when they have usually "let down" routinely this year,and given up games in stupid ways.They can't seem to maintain their intensity(like I said,2 of them are cork-head stupid.)They gotta dump Grady if they don't make the post.Too much young talent to let that Grady be chief.Wouldn't mind getting Joe Girardi next year.Broxton got over the two losses he caused last weekend.All it took was the 2 for $2.22 deal they came out with at Der Weinerschneitzel( a chilly-cheese dog + a chilly cheeseburger ...for 222.)....Hog Heaven.

They are all doing it and it seems a bit nuts that one of Bill's former coaches set him up like this. Having said that the penalty seems excessive but as a Pats fan that shouldn't surprise.

At least the antisoundbite wasn't hit with this penalty.....

http://sports.aol.com/story/_a/mclar...13151409990023

Here's the problem: They all say it had little to no impact on Sunday's game, so why was Belicheat doing it? You know he will not explain what they were doing and why. But we are all supposed to believe that it didn't help, much?
If the Commisioner is truly interested in the integrity of the game, he should have forced a full explanation from Belichicken.
Basically, it's "we have no comment, but take my word for it that it was no big deal". Well, I have a big problem taking Belichump's word for it, especially when he's not talking.

Thank you - that was fun

can the same be said about horse trainers drugging horses?

people are nut cases because they disagree with you on the penalty? Obviously you are a Pats fan. How can you say it did not affect the outcome of the game? A Jets player was quoted as saying, before this came out, that it was like the Pats knew what the Jets were going to do on every play. I wonder how.

That's probably because Tom Brady can read a defence, and Pennington can't. This is my last post on this.
:D

you may very well be right. Problem is, there is no way of really knowing. IMO if the Pats forfeit, there is not much incentive to try cheating like this again as they know they lose if they get caught.