Patriots/Chargers

I'm with Cat on this one all the way. Kraft let me down, honestly, I expected him to at least put a on better act. Compare his 'tude and handling of the situation with Blank's in the Vick case, for instance.

A difference was that BB did not have to lie to Kraft, because Kraft was okay with it.

I remember hearing Kraft and Big Cat were good friends, wonder if they still are. I'd be pretty pissed.

And the steroids: yep, some of our players were outed and we the fans had to take shit from every other teams' fans. Even though I am pretty damned sure they were only doing what guys all over the league were doing. Yet no one ever wanted to admit it.

Sure, no Pats were doping when we played them in the SB. Just like they weren't spying.


Whatever.

 

my first question is:

If they are this good, why do you need someone on the sidelines videotaping defensive signals?

A couple of other points:

1. One regular season win that was decided before halftime does not make the camera meaningless. if those videos gave them an advantage on as little as one play a game, it is a competitive advantage that is against the rules. period.

2. The Patriots won all three Super Bowls by three points. the margin of victory is razor thin and any and all advantages are critical. Whether you like it or not, the fact that they got caught in the act will make many people question those wins. Will the Lombardi trophies leave Gillette Stadium? No, and they shouldn't in my opinion. But i think those questions are justified.

3. I was in boston late last week as this story was breaking. Every Patriot fan that i spoke do does not agree with you. They see this as embarassing and they question Bellichick's motives.

4. Jay Glazer's piece on the Fox pregame show yesterday exposed footage of the actual video. You continue to say that other teams try to steal signals...and you might be right. but no one has been caught in the act. This was a blatant disregard of the rules. It can't be argued.

 

Obviously he's an asshole who moved down here from up North. One of them "Damn Yankees". The kind that come down and don't go back.

BTW, that doesn't apply to the other damn yankees here.

 

Thanks pal.

 

Think about this. Had the Panthers won that Super Bowl and then the steroid issue come out we'd be getting shit from every fan and a lot of us would also be questioning whether the drugs had any effect on the outcome. And that SB win would ALWAYS be questioned by some/many just as Bonds home run record will always be tainted in some minds.

When Smitty sent Bright to the hospital, Panther fans caught shit for having such a thug on their team and a lot of Panther fans (me) were JUST as upset about the situation.

Bottom line is, right now the Pats are the ones who got caught POSSIBLY taking spying to a higher level then others (maybe not all but we don't know) and whether anything they've done helped them either get to or win a SB, it will now always be tainted in some people's minds both fans and non fans throughout the league. That's the plain and simple truth of the matter. Many will believe it's meaningless, many will not. It's not a Pats fan vs/ Panther fan issue at all. I'm sure there are fans of every team who feel it DID give them an unfair advantage and many who feel it didn't matter.

 

If that video in Glazer's piece IS legit, then it's not POSSIBLY. It's caught red handed.

 

I am in charge of taking attendance if I want to be, douchebag.

If you want to talk about cheating lets discuss the majority of the Panthers superbowl team being on steroids. Lets face it, the Panthers have been nothing but a constant embarrassment to the league since their arrivial. On top of the steroid scandal lets revisit the Collins racial slurs, Murdering Ray Caruth and Dead Fred Lane. All of this in what 10 years? That's a fucking joke.

The Patriots are the class of the NFL from top to bottom so why don't you worry about your own tarnished image before you go trying to tear down another.

The sideline cameras are a joke. When Phil Simms, Jimmy Jones and Sean Salisbury all agree with me you will have to excuse me for dismissing your opinion and those of everyone else here that thinks signal stealing is cheating or a big deal.

According to Salisbury and Simms, signals are tracked by every team but rarely usefull since the offensive play is called in first. Also, most teams change their signals at halftime and every team changes them every game. What this means basically is that stealing the signals may give you an opportunity to recognize a formation a couple times per game max and even then it isn't always usefull since the defense adjusts pre-snap.

It's just something every team does incase it may help them recognize something once or twice/game.

Those of you that equate it to having a copy of the opponents play book or feel it is an advantage on every play are football-morons.

Again, I will take the words of Salisbury and Simms over any of you clowns all day.

 

Fred Lane was a signed and sealed Colt when he was murdered - been to mini camp and the whole deal. And no, most of the team was NOT on steroids at the SB - only I believe 7 some of whom were no longer with the team (Wesley Walls for one) at the time of the SB.

Collins' racial slurs were only an issue with his teammates. He wasn't talking about the whole league, nor was the whole league present.

Rae Carruth was almost immediately suspended by Richardson and as soon as the league allowed, cut from the team. And what he did really had nothing at all to do with the team. It was HORRIBLE beyond words, but he didn't get that notion from anything that happened within the bounds of the team. It's rather a ridiculous example to toss out.

And basically even if everyone does it, cheating is indeed cheating and wrong even if the Panthers are doing it.

 

Actually, I agree with 49er on this one. BFD. They did it cause they could. Did they need it, probably not.

Yet they broke a rule and paid the fine, let's move on.

 

Parity means that all it takes sometimes is a tiny edge to tip the balance. Breaking rules to gain just a tiny bit of an edge is cheating.

The Patriots got caught red handed. People will now always question the Patriot's success. The record books just got an asterisk.

30 years from now, when people are discussing football dynasties, the Patriots name will be tossed around, and you can bet the infamous "video camera" incident will get mentioned again.

DEAL WITH IT, CAUSE IT ISN'T GOING TO GO AWAY.

It is going to discussed all season long. It will be discussed in the post season. It will come up again next April when they discuss which pick(s) the Patriots are losing. It will come up in the owner's meeting, and next preseason, when the Patriots play their first game, it will come up again.