[quote=golfer]Or maybe because they all do it......

The penalties put on NE are a joke. $750k in fines, $500k to Belechik is chump change and the coach's fine will get passed on through a bonus. Wade Wilson got suspended and fined for being a coach who some time ago got some HGH.

Belechik should have got suspended for four games and the team fined $10 million.

What's happened to New England the last several times they played the Colts? Can you say, ass-kicking?? And not by the Pats. The Patriots are sooooo 2003....

In 2003 and 2004 they were the best team and probably would've won anyways. But 2001......they were arguably one of the worst Super Bowl winning teams ever; similar to the Cardinal team in MLB who won the World Series last year. The Patriots were a 14 point dog to the Rams in that Super Bowl although they probably were helped by the fact that Martz is a O-coordinator and not a good head coach. Statistically, they were not in the top 12 either offensively or defensively. They also got away with roughing up Ram receivers back then that wouldn't be allowed now.

I think the Pats are a much better team than the Jets, and this incident
had no affect on THIS game. Do they have past tapes that might have given them an edge in this game (not saying it would have mattered). But the question is how long have they been doing this? and what do they do with the tape? Are they using it as some sort of advanced scouting, meaning they have an idea what the formations and audible calls are. So this confiscated tape just would have updated the Jets catelog. Do they have one for every team? You would think if they were taping the Jets (who are not a good team), you would think that they have tapes against the Colts and Chargers. Basically it just gives them an unfair advantage against every team that they have an illegal tape on. They probably have a catelog on every team in the league. If the NFL could somehow prove this then Mr. Belichek might really be in some deep S#!%.

I think they've already proven that and Mr. Belichek's wallet would have to agree also.

If you get caught cheating once, it opens up a whole new can of worms. Have to wonder if they aren't cheating in other ways. Remember Sammy Sosa with the corked bat? I think even the most naive non-believer in steroids would've had to say, "yeah, it probably was more than weights with Sammy".

[quote=Samarta]the most over-used and abused 'justification' there is....i don't believe everybody does it, just like i don't believe everyone steals from their employer, cheats on their spouse, etc. but the ones who do it seem to think so!

you would have to assume that they didn't just tape the team they were playing currently. did someone tape this weeks opponent last week?

[quote=Danzig]The justification mentioned in my response came from an interview I saw on MSN this morning where a NFL beat reporter commented on the behind the ropes jokes that are going on about this and how it's widely used throughout the league. It reminded me of the interview that Carl Lewis did after he was awarded the gold medal for the Olympic 100 meters because Ben Johnson had a positive drug test. Carl Lewis's comment was that he couldn't believe how anyone could get caught because they all know how to cycle in and cycle out of steriods to beat the testing and when someone gets caught it's simply out of stupidity.

[quote=Samarta]yeah, i've heard several people ask if this does happen everywhere. i hope it doesn't!

IRVING – When Wade Wilson learned New England coach Bill Belichick would not miss any games for his role in "Spygate," the suspended Cowboys quarterbacks coach was puzzled.

"Being told coaches are held to higher authority, my intent was not to create an imbalance in competition," Wilson said. "Presumably, what the Patriots did was try to, so I'm wondering about the consistency."

Wilson has four games left of a five-game suspension and has to pay a $100,000 fine for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing drugs. Wilson, who has lived with diabetes for 24 years, told commissioner Roger Goodell he was using a banned substance to help his quality of life. Wilson said the league cleared him of distributing the substance to players.

Speaking before the Cowboys' season opener against the New York Giants, Goodell said he punished Wilson because he holds coaches to a higher standard.

"As a coach, you understand the policies and you're responsible for leading these young men, and we want them to lead them in the right direction," Goodell said.

Wilson said he will speak with Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones before he decides whether to appeal his suspension. Wilson added that he is unsure whether it's still possible to file an appeal. When the suspension was announced, Wilson spoke with NFL Coaches Association president Larry Kennan about an appeal but opted against it.

"If Jerry doesn't want me to do that, then I'll accept that because of the way he's backed me," Wilson said.

Belichick was fined $500,000 by the league and the organization was docked $250,000. If the Patriots make the playoffs this year, they will forfeit their first-round pick in next year's draft. If they do not qualify for the postseason, they'll lose second- and third-round picks.

Wilson said the fines seem disproportionate when comparing his salary to Belichick's. The Patriots coach is believed to make $4.2 million a year, while Wilson makes a little over $300,000.

"I'm not trying to jump down the commissioner's back or bring Coach Belichick down," Wilson said. "I'd just like consistency from what I was told to what the next situation was."
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Goodell is full of bs. Simple as that. Wilson has freaking diabetes, the league knows he didn't give the drugs to players.....yet they suspend him over a quarter of the season and fine him 1/3 of his salary. People are saying that what Belichick got was sufficient. It was a comparative slap on the wrist. Goodell says coaches are held to a higher standard but punishes a head coach FAR LESS for a FAR GREATER infraction of the rules than he does a position coach. Whether or not all teams do what the Pats did, which I don't think they do, the purpose for doing it is still to gain a competitive edge, to create an imbalance in competion as Wilson said. Perhaps the Pats penalty is not too severe and is justified but then if it is the right penalty, Wilson's was extremely severe and unjust.

I hate the Pat's but I hope they bury the Chargers this week.