Can you read this and STILL honestly claim you feel the Patriots are as bad as you say they are?

Alright... I am going to try to diplomatically lay things out here... no name calling, none of that... just lay out the facts. Lets start with this.... I am a fan of the Pats, so many could say my opinion is bias, but hear me out. I'm also a football coach. Now alot of people argue that this whole thing is cheating... as a coach, I really have to disagree. Every game I have my assistant on the sidelines taking notes and dissecting the signals and relaying back to me tendencies. Now this is legal in highschool ball just as it is the NFL... and it does help. As a coach though taking notes is just as efficient as videotaping. Also in our division you are allowed to tape in the endzones... a few years ago the sidelines as well. Now you look at both those tapes when upon review... you can get the same kind of info, same quality based on the quality of the camera... I am guessing the NFL can afford some pretty good ones.

Now because of this the coaches have tried to rid the MIAA (Massachussetts Interscholastic Athletic Association) of this rule... it's been a hot topic of discussion during the offseason... especially this one from most of us being Patriot fans... haha... some of the MIAA big wigs came off as hypocritical and now they are considering it seeing as they are fans too. The brass tacks here are... ok, the Patriots broke a rule... but how bad of a rule is it to break when you can legally get the same information otherwise? Maybe Belichick was arrogant, but did he cheat... as a coach I honestly can't say he did and my belief is that is why no coaches have gotten upset about this in the NFL... because they believe the same thing, but don't wanna create any waves for themselves.

He broke a rule so its cheating end of discussion

If you break a rule, it's cheating. The Patriots knowingly broke a rule. Therefore, they are cheaters. Get over it already, you're not going to rewrite history.

I knew it was legal to steal signals but illegal to tape them. Fans are pouting and crying about it because Pats are one of the best teams this decade. So they have this to rant about and I guess it makes them happy.

ALL OF YOU PATS FANS NEED TO GET OVER THIS AND QUIT BRINGING IT UP. YOU WHINERS ARE UNBELIEVABLE. THEY CHEATED-THE COACH ORDERED IT AND YOUR OWNER CONDONED IT. THERE IS NO TRUE DYNASTY IN NEW ENGLAND. PATS FANS GET OVER YOURSELVES ALREADY!!!

Another coach and former Div IA player here....

My perspective is that he broke a rule, but, gained little to no competitive advantage.

I;m a pats fan and could care less about the the allegations it's done over. It's like saying people that jaywalk are crimminals when everybody does it.

IF he thought it was OK & didn't understand the rules why would they hide what they were doing? you are in denial

EDIT - since i'm getting hate mail from you......

talk to you like what?

they hid the fact they were filming. did you see the tapes listen to anything? IF he thought that what he was doing was legit, why wouldn't he jst have the cameras in the open?

I'll be just as diplomatic about this. He broke a rule. Anytime you break a rule you are indeed cheating. Holding is indeed cheating, but to a far lesser degree. Can you get the information otherwise, probably, but that is another part of the issue TO ME. I mean if you can do this LEGALLY why do they have to go to the extent of using an illegal method for what 7 seasons or so. Then you have the explanation given by the coach. I think his B.S. comments are what set things off more then anything. I mean the he "didn't understand the rules" was full of garbage. They were very clear that you couldn't videotape and the NFL sent out a memo to REMIND teams, then for another full season and a game he continued to do it. Anytime you use an illegal method to gain a competitive edge(and I think only Patriots fans truly believe he wasn't using the tapes during the game, and not saying you believe it but meaning that as a general statement) you are cheating.

Actually yeah you can get something legally but be breaking a rule getting it the way you do. I could walk in to a store and buy something, or I could walk in to a store and steal it. One is legal the other isn't correct? As you said someone could take notes and do it totally legal, but the Patriots chose to videotape in areas that the NFL didn't approve and that is cheating. It's like the idea that a player will hold on every play. It is simply a matter of if they hold in a way that the ref calls it holding or do they get away with it. The Patriots knew what they were doing was against the rules. Walsh even admitted as much when he said he was told make sure not to get caught. Like the player holding they simply got away with it for awhile. To be honest if you don't see why breaking the rules is cheating, even if slightly different way of doing the same act doesn't break the rules, then I don't know how to make it more clear. I'll accept the notes turned over the first time may have been gotten legally, but the tapes weren't.

If he felt it was well within the rules, why did he hide it from everyone?

Just like Vick: he felt dogfighting was no big deal, but yet, he didn't tell a single soul on the Falcons that he was doing it.

Hmn......you guys are starting to sound like Catholic Priests!

But there's a difference between note taking and video taping. With video taping, you can watch the signals, then watch the play over and over and pinpoint the EXACT signal references by watching the play over and over focusing on each specific position.

And since they taped walk-throughs also, (rams for example) they could have EXACT information ready for Brady at the time of the game. Now one could say that you could do the same just spending a lot of time taking notes. But do you know how many staff it would require to follow each team taking notes and pinpointing everything exactly without the advantage of video review?

I was very diplomatic about my argument and I hope you respect it as much as I respect your strategic aspect of what happened. But nonetheless, it isn't the only reason Belichick is disliked. During the Superbowl, he ABANDONED HIS TEAM. Sure there was little time left on the clock, but a coach should never abandon his team. Back in our pop warner days, we had a coach who was obsessed with winning and our team was losing, he walked out on us. And one of the other coaches was literally about to beat the snot out of him for doing such a thing.

Amen Coach.

I have been bringing up the fact that not one current NFL coach has come out and called Bill a cheat. Other than Mandummy of course.

Ok, he broke a rule...paid a hell of a fine. It is over, move on.

People just want to believe that the Pats had to have cheated to be so good. They want the empire dismantled to give their own team a shot at winning.

As a Charger fan, I say baloney. I want to beat the Pats at their best, as difficult as that is to do. I don't want Bill run out of the league for this rule violation.

Besides....any team could easily put a spy in the stands and radio down to the sidelines what the signals are. If they could figure them out. Teams have to do a good enough job of disguising their signals..that is part of the game. That is why you may see multiple guys sending in signals.

Now the sidelines will be able to broadcast messages into the helmets of the QB and a Defensive guy. This won't completely eliminate this issue, but should help.

I am certain that all the Defensive Coordinators thank Bill tremendously...for causing this communication change.

Bottom line - Disguise your signals.

The rule existed not to videotape the opposing team from the sidelines and was reiterated by a preseason memo to all NFL teams not to do so. For the Patriots to not only violate the original rule but also disregard the memo about doing it from the sidelines shows that they have little regard for the power of the commissioner. It is the commissioner's job to enforce the rules and when the Patriots thought they could get away with breaking one, the commissioner needed to come down strong. Breaking the rules = cheating. If they would have taped from the front row of the stands, they would have been fine.
So the question is, why did they decide to break the rule? Did it give them some kind of tactical advantage? I don't know why they would do so if it did not considering the consequence of being caught. Just seems like a dumb thing to do if it was never used.