Yet Another Patriots Article

I am an avid reader of ESPN's Sports Guy, Bill Simmons. Anything that he puts up, I try to read. He's interesting; sometimes insightful; an unabashed fan of the Patriots, Red Sox, and Celtics; and more often than not, right on with his opinions. However, sometimes that fan-dom can cloud his judgment. Such is the case with his latest article about the Patriots filming scandal. I think we can all agree that there's been a lot to talk about in the world of professional football lately besides what happened in week one of the NFL season with the cameraman from the Patriots being caught filming the Jets coaching staff. I think we can also agree that much has been said and written about the penalty that Commissioner Goodell handed down to the New England Patriots this past week. The penalty was given after the Patriots had video taped the New York Jets, which was in clear violation of the rule after all teams were warned by the NFL front office against doing exactly that. Everyone has been weighing in with their opinion about the harshness or leniency of those penalties. Here's what I think should have been done immediately by the office of the commissioner: absolutely nothing.

I'll explain that in a moment. First, though, I'd like to point out some things that I agree with Bill's (do you mind if I call you Bill?) article and point out some issues that I have with it.

...NBC was too determined to blow out CameraGate. Before the game, Andrea Kramer reported [Charger's Coach Norv] Turner was taking precautions from a secrecy standpoint, refusing to allow any Patriots personnel into his locker room and even handing his players the first 15 plays Sunday morning instead of Saturday night...Kramer was treating the topic so seriously and breathlessly, you would have thought she was standing in Iraq with missiles going off behind her.

Completely agree. This has been a problem with how network TV handles sports for quite some time. They decide on one or two "story-lines" to follow throughout the game and they just...can't...let...go. This is one of the reasons why John Madden and every other announcer doing a Packers' game spend so much time gushing over Brett Favre. Even if he's having a horrible game, all we can hear about is how he's "having fun out there" and is "a gunslinger." There doesn't seem to be the talent or the producers willing to let the game dictate the line of conversation in the booth. It almost seems like they have a script to read before going on the air. But that couldn't happen, could it?

Look, I know everyone now assumes the Patriots have been cheating for the past six years, even though they hadn't been penalized even once before last weekend; even though no coach or player has left New England since 2002 and blown the whistle on them; and even though the New England players were fired up Sunday night, partly because everyone has been so eager to stick an asterisk next to everything that's happened from 2001-2007.

I agree that there's a bit of a gleam in the eyes of the media and some of the sports-loving public because of the "how the mighty have fallen" syndrome. It's much the same reason why many people enjoy to watch the Yankees, Lakers, and Cowboys struggle. We enjoy success stories in America. We just don't like to see one person/team/group dominate for too long. Success is all well and good, but we like to see fresh faces at the top of the mountain, too. It's just human nature.

Our "evidence" that there may have been a prolonged pattern of cheating last week came from "unnamed sources" and players who had already lost big games to the Patriots and seemed excited to have an excuse after all these years...If this pattern of inappropriate behavior had been happening for six years, wouldn't they have been caught before Sept. 9, 2007?

Um...Bill? They were. In fact, I direct you to your employer's website to read an article almost completely contradicting your statements.

"It's not their first time," a member of the [NFL's competition] committee, who did not wish to be identified, said.

Granted, it's an "unnamed" source, but it's an unnamed source that has to be a team executive or coach, since that is who is on the committee. From the same article (emphasis mine):

Green Bay Packers president Bob Harlan confirmed a similar incident that occurred when the Patriots played at Lambeau Field last Nov. 19. The same cameraman who was questioned by NFL security on Sunday was also the one whom the Packers removed from the sideline and escorted from the field during their 2006 game, according to Packers security official Doug Collins. "From what I can remember, he had quite a fit when we took him out," Harlan said. "We had gotten word before the game that they [the Patriots] did this sort of thing, so we were looking for it."

Hardly an unnamed source with this incident. None of this matters, though. They were caught after the entire league had been specifically warned against employing any sort of recording device in the stadium.

Simmons again:

They got caught, they paid the price. Like every other Pats fan, I hate what happened and continue to be disappointed that our coach pulled a Nixon on us. I don't know how many times I can write this. They are the villains of the NFL. The Belichick era has been tainted.

On to the punishment. Why do I think that Goodell should not have given out any public punishment when so many have been screaming that the punishment should have been more harsh, including adding a suspension of Belichick? Simple: because it's Belichick. The problem with the punishment as it currently stands - $500,000 fine for Belichick, $250,000 fine for the Patriots, loss of a first round pick if they make the playoffs, a second and a third if they don't - is that there is no immediate impact on the season in which the problem occurred. In fact, I find it interesting that all of this happened in a season that some had regarded as Belichick's swan song in New England. I wonder if the extension that he just signed was, to a certain extent, the owner of the Patriots saying, "Clean up your own mess" since the loss of draft picks is normally so crippling for a franchise. See also: The Minnesota Timberwolves and Smith, Joe. However, look deeper. If they lose the first-round draft pick, which most people expect since they should be in the playoffs, they have another one due to a trade with the San Francisco 49ers, which is likely to be higher in the round than their own pick anyway. Is it a loss? Sure, but not one from which the team can't recover. In fact, what all this melodrama surrounding the Patriots has effectively done is provide the team with the dreaded "us against them" motivator. Do you think Belichick isn't going to take advantage of that? Look at the way they effectively dismantled a very talented (but poorly-led) Chargers team. Don't you suppose that Belichick went into the locker room before the game and talked about how the world wanted to see them crumble and fall under the weight of the current scrutiny? He's a master of the us against them mentality. Of course he used it.

Here's how I think it should have been handled. Goodell should not have announced any draft pick removal, fines, suspensions or anything until after the season was over. During the season, he would bring up how fantastic an organization the Patriots are. They've won three Super Bowls this decade. They're the modern dynasty. They're never strapped for salary cap, talent, or intelligence. In fact, he should bring up positive notes about the Patriots even when they're not involved in the line of questioning. "Yes, what Terrell Owens said was a bit over the top. There may be some fines coming for him in the near future. I wish he could be more like Randy Moss has been since he's gone to the Patriots. Moss has been the perfect citizen in New England. I suppose it's being under the influence of such a classy organization from top to bottom. I wish all of our teams could be coached and run more like New England."

Would these sort of talking points hurt the commissioner's hard-line image? Of course. At least, until he handed out the penalties at the end of the year. But it would eat Belichick that he has such a prominent and vocal proponent in Goodell. It would make it that much harder to pull the world is against us bit. Might it cause them some wins? Maybe, maybe not, but it'd be fun to watch if you were in on the "punishment."