Patriots and the Media

[DJnVa]

Read this transcript and tell me BB doesn't give actual thoughtful answers to football questions: http://www.patriots.com/news/article-1/Bill-Belichick-Press-Conference-Transcript/7557e981-a985-4c15-94f2-bacb3fa8b551
 
In just this one press conference he talks about:
 
--the evolution of the kicking game and specialists and how much more important they are.
--He talks about Robert Neyland and and the strategy behind punting and how teams sometimes punted on first down way back when.
--He talks about Sammy Baugh and the single wing tailback and about Gino Cappelletti.
--He talks about how he doesn't like that XP are converted at 99% and there are so few KO returns now and how they discuss with their returners about when to bring it out.
--How they won't always get to the 20, but that's the trade-off they have for the chance at a big play (like LGBT's returns) and how they look at the hang-time of kickoffs and why certain kicks are a better bet to be run out of the end zone and how certain teams play certain types of guys on KO coverage teams.
--He then gets into a dissertation of play-action and how it's more than just faking a hand-off and how they do it for multiple reasons--slowing the pass rush or getting just one guy on defense to do something so they can take advantage of that.
 
His answer on KO returns is just great.

 

[Al Zarilla]

Read this transcript and tell me BB doesn't give actual thoughtful answers to football questions: http://www.patriots.com/news/article-1/Bill-Belichick-Press-Conference-Transcript/7557e981-a985-4c15-94f2-bacb3fa8b551
 
In just this one press conference he talks about:
 
--the evolution of the kicking game and specialists and how much more important they are.
--He talks about Robert Neyland and and the strategy behind punting and how teams sometimes punted on first down way back when.
--He talks about Sammy Baugh and the single wing tailback and about Gino Cappelletti.
--He talks about how he doesn't like that XP are converted at 99% and there are so few KO returns now and how they discuss with their returners about when to bring it out.
--How they won't always get to the 20, but that's the trade-off they have for the chance at a big play (like LGBT's returns) and how they look at the hang-time of kickoffs and why certain kicks are a better bet to be run out of the end zone and how certain teams play certain types of guys on KO coverage teams.
--He then gets into a dissertation of play-action and how it's more than just faking a hand-off and how they do it for multiple reasons--slowing the pass rush or getting just one guy on defense to do something so they can take advantage of that.
 
His answer on KO returns is just great.

1. I kind of feel for the reporters who are trying to come up with questions that are anywhere close to matching Bill's knowledge of the game. 
 
2. He shows a lot of patience and obviously puts a tremendous amount of thought into these types of conferences and doesn't get credit enough. I mean, some people probably only remember the times he's gruff or closed mouth in post game pressers and don't take the time to listen to these kinds of conferences.
 
3. How many other coaches have ever gone back to study the game's nuances well before their own playing/coaching periods? Neyland retired from coaching in 1952 and Sammy Baugh last played in 1952. Bill was born that year.
 
What a thorough guy, and we probably don't see another one like him.

 

[DJnVa]

I kind of feel for the reporters who are trying to come up with questions that are anywhere close to matching Bill's knowledge of the game.
 

 
But that's just it. The questions were very basic, but they were actually about football.

 

[Super Nomario]

--How they won't always get to the 20, but that's the trade-off they have for the chance at a big play (like LGBT's returns) and how they look at the hang-time of kickoffs and why certain kicks are a better bet to be run out of the end zone and how certain teams play certain types of guys on KO coverage teams.

This makes a lot of sense. It's super-frustrating when they take it out and only get to the 16-17, but they only lose 3-4 yards in that scenario, and with a good block or a broken tackle there are so many more yards to be gained on the other side. This year, the big plays have been in short supply so it's hard to see the upside, but we certainly saw it against the Bills.

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

That was a fascinating press conference, but he's still Bill Belichick:
 
Q: Do you coach when the right time is to take a risk like you said with the touchback being so common that somebody is eight yards deep in the end zone, now might be the right time or look to take it out? Do you and Scott O'Brien coach that? 

BB: Yeah, we do. Of course we do, we definitely, yeah. It's not just do whatever you feel like doing. 

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

 
But that's just it. The questions were very basic, but they were actually about football.

 
He'll always answer football strategy or history questions, often in great length and detail. Always.
 
He will never, ever ever answer injury questions, or questions that dismiss the upcoming opponent, or his current depth chart ("How's Ridley's fumbling coming along?", "Can we get an update on Gronk's health?" etc). It's amazing the reporting pool either doesn't know this, or knows it but persists in asking qustions they know won't be answered.

 

[crystalline]

Interesting comment about how hang time is what matters, and end zone depth is overblown.

Also I read the section on misdirection plays and thought about Polamalu. Belichick discusses how most misdirection plays are designed to get a certain player to move a certain way, based on their film tendencies.

 

[GBrushTWood]

That was a fascinating press conference, but he's still Bill Belichick:
 

 
Maybe I am missing something, but he answered the question.
Q: "Do you coach your players how to handle situation X?" 
A: Yes.
 
I don't see what he failed to do there. He even elaborated on the logic about when he coaches players to take the touchback instead of attempting to run it back. Seemed like a great response to me.

 

[DJnVa]

Interesting comment about how hang time is what matters, and end zone depth is overblown.

Also I read the section on misdirection plays and thought about Polamalu. Belichick discusses how most misdirection plays are designed to get a certain player to move a certain way, based on their film tendencies.

 
Yep.
 
The entire play-fake could be to get one certain player to move a few yards closer to the LOS and drop someone in behind him.

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

 
Maybe I am missing something, but he answered the question.
Q: "Do you coach your players how to handle situation X?" 
A: Yes.
 
I don't see what he failed to do there. He even elaborated on the logic about when he coaches players to take the touchback instead of attempting to run it back. Seemed like a great response to me.

 
He didn't "fail" to do anything.  He initially refused to answer a dumb question, and later gave a full and illuminating answer to a better, follow-up question, but in between he couldn't stop himself from taking a potshot at the intelligence of the question asker with a sarcastic remark.
 
I love him for it, but his ornery-ness never goes away, just lurks below the surface sometimes.

 

[Reverend]

 
Honestly in a strange way I wonder if Brady's good looks don't end up hurting him on this front. Regardless of where he was drafted, he looks like a quarterback right out of central casting. Factor in a supermodel wife and a coach widely seen as  a ruthless sonofabitch, and he checks off a lot of the boxes for "the antagonist from an 80's movie who gets upset by a ragtag band of misfits." 

 
 

 
Brady doesn't go out of his way to give interviews, do commercials, or buddy-up to the media like Manning does. And when he does do it, he comes across as awkward (holding a goat?  Crying about being picked in the 6th round?  Wearing Uggs?). 
 
Generally speaking, Manning gets treated like a star athlete by the press, so that's how he's viewed by most neutral fans.  Brady gets treated more like a celebrity, with candid shots of him going down water slides at a resort, hanging out with Giselle in NYC, and the like.  So while TMZ talks about Brady buying a Leed Certified Hollywood Mansion with Giselle, Manning pops up during the commercials in his uniform and a football in his hand to shill for the shittiest pizza chain in the world that fat slobs all over the nation eat on a weekly basis.  Then, to oblige him, Sports Illustrated will publish a photo of Manning in a hottub with his fucking helmet on (why?), studying plays. 
 
That's how the 6th round draft pick gets turned into the Prima Donna Athlete while Mr. Football From Birth gets a pass.

 

 

[DJnVa]

Grantland article about which team to follow in playoffs if your team didn't make it says this when talking about New England:
 

the implied alliance with Nantz 
 

 
Eh?

 

[dcmissle]

This afternoon on local sports radio, a 15-minute segment, including calls, was devoted to: is BB the GOAT? It kicked off with the Cowher interview that aired on CBS Saturday in which Cowher said he is.

One of the hosts, Al Galdi, said that he had studied data much of the day and agreed with Cowher. So did Chris Cooley, who retired from the Redskins last year. Biggest point: you can build a winner in FA era, but it's impossible to maintain what you have built. BB's record blows away all who have come before when this key point is given it's proper weight.

The most interesting take was Steve Czaban's. Czaban also hosts a national show in the mornings and is a snarky, headline grabbing sob. CHB -- or Felger -- but smarter and better informed. His verdict -- Lombardi or BB as GOAT. It's hard to compare across eras, take your pick.

Spygate was discussed, and Czaban made the point that we'll never know what the destroyed tapes would have revealed. BUT, he added, BB has won too much for too long after Spygate, and he pissed all over the no-rings-since-"04 point. Francesa has had a tough week.

Overall, it was a balanced and nuanced discussion. So perspective is changing with time and this remarkable season may be a pivot point. Bill just needs to keep winning.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Spygate was discussed, and Czaban made the point that we'll never know what the destroyed tapes would have revealed. BUT, he added, BB has won too much for too long after Spygate, and he pissed all over the no-rings-since-"04 point. Francesa has had a tough week.

Overall, it was a balanced and nuanced discussion. So perspective is changing with time and this remarkable season may be a pivot point. Bill just needs to keep winning.

 
Ron Borges, of all people, made a good point in the midst of his syphilitic-induced insanity not too long ago: the destroyed tapes likely showed other teams taping signals in the same way the Pats did. The theory goes that Gooddell had the tapes destroyed because he didn't want to have to fine every goddamn team in the league the way he punished the Pats; he wanted to make an example out of the Pats and then pretend that the problem was isolated and then solved.
 
Works for me.

 

[loshjott]

More Pats slobbering from DC media.
 
P.S. I think Logan Mankins may be the happiest guy in New England these days.

 

[Leather]

More Pats slobbering from DC media.
 
P.S. I think Logan Mankins may be the happiest guy in New England these days.

 
Well, it's nice to have him in the playoffs when he's not battling some leg injury. 

 

[bankshot1]

From today's Denver Post
 
 

http://www.denverpost.com/kiszla/ci_24913979/kiszla-broncos-fox-vs-pats-belichick-is-really
 

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is a grumpy genius. He's Gru, the super villain from "Despicable Me." And what to make of Broncos coach John Fox? He's your goofy uncle, with the easiest voice to mock since Foghorn Leghorn.But, truth be told, what does Belichick have as a head coach that Fox does not other than three Super Bowl rings, one Tom Brady and a $500,000 fine for cheating?
 

 

And so, the myth goes. News flash: Belichick is not a mumbling, humorless jerk 24/7. He's also not Don Shula, much less Vince Lombardi.
Here's what I don't get: If cyclist Lance Armstrong has been exiled as a shameless cheater and home run king Barry Bonds feels the wrath from 65 percent of indignant Hall of Fame voters, why is Belichick celebrated despite Spygate, which accused his Patriots of stealing defensive signals from the New York Jets?
 

 

Could it be that Uncle Foxy takes everything in the NFL to heart, while Coach Hoodie drops his football problems at the curb for the garbage man? There's no way of me knowing for certain. Maybe you should ask New England linebacker Brandon Spikes, hurt and feeling abandoned in the Patriots' run to the Super Bowl.
At age 32 and with more brutal blows to the head than he would care to remember, Wes Welker isn't the receiver he used to be.
Belichick let Welker walk from New England.
Fox took Welker off the street and made him feel wanted in Denver.
Remind me again: What happens to nice guys in sports?
 

This guy makes CHB almost readable

 

[Reverend]

 
Ron Borges, of all people, made a good point in the midst of his syphilitic-induced insanity not too long ago: the destroyed tapes likely showed other teams taping signals in the same way the Pats did. The theory goes that Gooddell had the tapes destroyed because he didn't want to have to fine every goddamn team in the league the way he punished the Pats; he wanted to make an example out of the Pats and then pretend that the problem was isolated and then solved.
 
Works for me.

 
I've always liked this theory.

 

[soxhop411]

From today's Denver Post
 
 
http://www.denverpost.com/kiszla/ci_24913979/kiszla-broncos-fox-vs-pats-belichick-is-really
 

 
 
This guy makes CHB almost readable

 

 
https://twitter.com/RochieWBZ

 

[Corsi]

But, truth be told, what does Belichick have as a head coach that Fox does not other than three Super Bowl rings, one Tom Brady and a $500,000 fine for cheating?
 

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

That article's so moronic is barely requires response.

 

[Shelterdog]

 
I've always liked this theory.

 
The "Herm Edwards made a farce of his by doing the chicken dance" theory? At least the chicken dancing has been reported elsewhere.  Here's the first thing I found about it on google.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/4-years-scandal-herm-edwards-waved-bill-belichick-camera-article-1.286462
 
The tapes got destroyed because someone was leaking them and the league wanted the fiasco to end.  Of course Goddell is a hamfisted moron who was on a power tripe so he concluded that the only was to put the issue behind the league was to destroy the tapes and brutally and publicly punish the Pats because, hey, when it's your first day in prison you fight the biggest fucker in the whole yard just to prove a point.

 

[ShaneTrot]

That article's so moronic is barely requires response.

The only thing that matters to me is the difference between Fox and BB is +4-7 points in NE's favor. Fox actually surprised me this past weekend by throwing the ball against SD to close it out. He has been one of the most conservative and cowardly coaches his whole career.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

 
The "Herm Edwards made a farce of his by doing the chicken dance" theory? At least the chicken dancing has been reported elsewhere.  Here's the first thing I found about it on google.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/4-years-scandal-herm-edwards-waved-bill-belichick-camera-article-1.286462
 
The tapes got destroyed because someone was leaking them and the league wanted the fiasco to end.  Of course Goddell is a hamfisted moron who was on a power tripe so he concluded that the only was to put the issue behind the league was to destroy the tapes and brutally and publicly punish the Pats because, hey, when it's your first day in prison you fight the biggest fucker in the whole yard just to prove a point.

 
Some of the tapes got leaked to a NY TV station the day the thing all went down...Gooddell's wife worked at that TV station. The whole thing stunk like hell from the first day.
 
Agreed on Goodell's motivations: he came into office and immediately launched into Pacman Jones and the Pats in a misguided effort to prove he was a tough guy. He's a clown.

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

But, truth be told, what does Belichick have as a head coach that Fox does not other than three Super Bowl rings, one Tom Brady and a $500,000 fine for cheating?

 
youtube links are f'ed up, go here.

 

[lars10]

Michael Smith is basically trolling on numbers never lie on ESPN2 saying BB is getting too much credit for how this team is playing.
 
Ryan Clark says that it is his best coaching performance because Spygate is over.... implying that the only reason they won before 04 was because the Pats were cheating.
 
Someday I'd just like to see more coaches come out once and for all and say that everyone was doing it...or at least explain that the only difference was video taping from field level as opposed to in the stands or press box.  It's frustrating hearing players espousing how this 'cheating' had so much impact on the game when they must know how little effect it could actually have.  OR that they had almost identical information...

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

Jackie MacMullan with a puff piece on Robert Kraft, which is nice albeit overly sentimental and one-sided.

 

[Dehere]

One of the hosts, Al Galdi, said that he had studied data much of the day and agreed with Cowher. So did Chris Cooley, who retired from the Redskins last year. Biggest point: you can build a winner in FA era, but it's impossible to maintain what you have built. BB's record blows away all who have come before when this key point is given it's proper weight.

 
BB has my vote as the GOAT so this is in no way a knock against his record, but people bring this up all the time and I'm not convinced that it's true. Coaches who have a HOF-caliber QB can and have maintained winning teams long-term in the FA era.
 
As long as the Packers had Favre in the FA era, they won. As long as Indy had Manning, they won.
 
I give BB enormous credit for winning with Cassel when he had to, but the whole idea that maintaining excellence in the FA era is impossible has become a little exaggerated.

 

[tims4wins]

Is that really true though Dehere? In 2005 the Packers went 4-12 with Favre starting every game. 8-8 in 2006.
 
Colts went 6-10 in 2001 (Peyton's 4th season). Also the 2-14 disaster in 2011. When BB was faced with a similar situation he went 11-5.
 
Edit: the Pats have won 9+ games for 13 straight seasons. They have won 10+ games for 11 straight seasons. They have not finished with less wins than anyone in their division in any season since 2000. I don't think that is exaggerating BB's case.

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

Is that really true though Dehere? In 2005 the Packers went 4-12 with Favre starting every game. 8-8 in 2006.
 
Colts went 6-10 in 2001 (Peyton's 4th season). Also the 2-14 disaster in 2011. When BB was faced with a similar situation he went 11-5.
 
Edit: the Pats have won 9+ games for 13 straight seasons. They have won 10+ games for 11 straight seasons. They have not finished with less wins than anyone in their division in any season since 2000. I don't think that is exaggerating BB's case.

 
Was just about to point that out.
 
Also, I've said this in another thread, there's no other franchise that can match the consistency of the Pats since BB took over. Even "good" franchises (roughly, PIT, BAL, GB, NYG, IND, DEN, SF) have had HUGE swings in W-L record over the past 5-10 years. Pitt regularly throws up 8-8 years and has missed the playoffs in 4 out of the last 8 years. GB  went 8-7-1 this year because Rodgers got hurt. Baltimore lost Boldin and other pieces from their SB team and crashed to 8-8 after paying Flacco a hojillion dollars. Most teams can't remain elite year after year, either due to injury, age, FA, or whatever. Only one team has pulled it off.

 

[Dehere]

The 11-5 season with Cassel is remarkable, no question. Definitely one of the things that separates BB from other all-time great coaches.
 
The point is just that it hasn't been quite as rare to win consistently in the FA era as I think is often suggested. The 4-12 GB season that you cite was their only losing season in 16 years with Favre as the starter, all in the FA era.

 

[BucketOBalls]

 
BB has my vote as the GOAT so this is in no way a knock against his record, but people bring this up all the time and I'm not convinced that it's true. Coaches who have a HOF-caliber QB can and have maintained winning teams long-term in the FA era.
 
As long as the Packers had Favre in the FA era, they won. As long as Indy had Manning, they won.
 
I give BB enormous credit for winning with Cassel when he had to, but the whole idea that maintaining excellence in the FA era is impossible has become a little exaggerated.

 

I dunno about impossible, but I do think difficult to sustain winning postseason games/superbowls. If you have enough good players to be the best team in the league, assuming the best players get the most money....you pretty quickly run into the cap. I do think the sustained post season success where where BB differentiaties himself.   You can sustain a winning team with a HOF QB.  But many of those teams have not have great post season success, as they couldn't cover up their flaws as the competition stiffened up.
 
I do find it ironic that BB will probalby be looked better on by history if he had won 3 rings and never made it to the game again than if he won three and then lost 3+.

 

[tims4wins]

I think I proved that it IS that rare - the Pats are the only team to have done it!
 
Also, 4-12 is a complete disaster of a season. The Patriots have never even approached something of that level.
 
Edit: one more point: Brady is the only player on the roster from the 2004 Super Bowl. Hell, I think only 2 other guys on the roster even played in the 2006 AFC Championship game. The roster has literally 100% turned over aside from Brady.

 

[SunkToANewLowell]

maybe Bill should just get them pizza
 
Judy Battista ‏@judybattista 1h
An absolutely obscene amount of Papa John's pizza was just delivered to the Broncos media. No bad reviews for Peyton this week!

 

[DJnVa]

Hey you guys, why don't the Broncos ever get good press????
 
http://www.milehighreport.com/2014/1/14/5308764/what-about-us
 
This is like the football equivalent of that Cardinals article that came out in the postseason wondering how anyone could hate the Cardinals.
 

E-NUFF... ENOUGH! I'm sick of all the MSM excuses and love for everyone but the Broncos.
 

 

[Smiling Joe Hesketh]

The 4-12 GB season that you cite was their only losing season in 16 years with Favre as the starter, all in the FA era.

 
They had 7 years out of those 16 where they won 9 games or fewer. Four 9-7 seasons, two 8-8 seasons, and a 4-12 season.
 
The Pats have had only 1 season of 9 wins with Brady as the starter.

 

[Bucknahs Bum Ankle]

maybe Bill should just get them pizza
 
Judy Battista ‏@judybattista 1h
An absolutely obscene amount of Papa John's pizza was just delivered to the Broncos media. No bad reviews for Peyton this week!

 
I'd write exceedingly nasty things about Peyton if that fucker sent me Papa John's cardboard crust/rubber cheese pizza product.

 

[steveluck7]

 
I'd write exceedingly nasty things about Peyton if that fucker sent me Papa John's cardboard crust/rubber cheese pizza product.

For real. if it has the same effect that it does on me, they won't be saying too many nice things about him in about 4 hours.
 
Oh, and isn't Papa Johns doing that $.30 pizza deal thing?  Cheap fucker

 

[tims4wins]

Thank you Bill Cowher!!
 
 
 

“We didn’t lose the game because of any 'Spygate,' because of them having any additional things,” Cowher told 93.7 The Fan on Wednesday. “[If] they’re guilty of anything they’re guilty of arrogance because they were told not to do something but it was something everybody does. They got caught doing it with a camera.”

 
 
 

“Stealing someone’s signals was a part of the game and everybody attempted to do that. We had people that always tried to steal signals,” said Cowher, whose 2004 team won 16 consecutive games before losing to the Patriots in the AFC title game. “What happened when we lost that game is they outplayed us. It had nothing to do with stealing signals or cheating or anything else.”

 
Unfortunately I doubt 99% of opposing fans will ever see this.

 

[mascho]

Hell I just hope Boomer Esiason sees it.  

 

[loshjott]

 
 
Someday I'd just like to see more coaches come out once and for all and say that everyone was doing it...or at least explain that the only difference was video taping from field level as opposed to in the stands or press box.  It's frustrating hearing players espousing how this 'cheating' had so much impact on the game when they must know how little effect it could actually have.  OR that they had almost identical information...

 
Here's one. 
 

 
“Stealing someone’s signals was a part of the game and everybody attempted to do that. We had people that always tried to steal signals,” said Cowher, whose 2004 team won 16 consecutive games before losing to the Patriots in the AFC title game. “What happened when we lost that game is they outplayed us. It had nothing to do with stealing signals or cheating or anything else.”
 

 

[Mystic Merlin]

Jimmy Johnson has done the same, I believe, and Herm Edwards mentioned how he would mock the camera.

The idea that the Pats surreptitiously taped practices or walk throughs is a paranoid dream of fevered, jealous, spiteful morons, as is the idea that one can infer further misdeeds of varying degrees of unethical nature from Goodell's refusal to distribute DVDs to the press.

 

[Dehere]

You can sustain a winning team with a HOF QB.  But many of those teams have not have great post season success, as they couldn't cover up their flaws as the competition stiffened up.

 
The Pats haven't had great post-season success either. Mike Francesa told me so.

 

[lexrageorge]

I've said this before, but I'll say it again:  Belichick and the Patriots were punished because BB pretty blatantly ignored Goodell's memo reminding all teams that video taping along the sidelines was not permitted.  The signal taping itself wasn't the big deal; in fact, teams can do that from the owner's box if they want.  It's the fact that the memo was ignored.  
 
But the whole "they cheated" is just a much nicer sound bite for the mediots.  

 

[dcmissle]

I used to respect the hell out of Cowher, but disliked him. Now he's my favorite football coach behind BB.

 

[CJM]

This may be tangential, but part of the issue is not only the media's love/hate relationship with the Patriots, but it's fascination/annoyance with New England fans. 
 
It's an angle that seems to have come to the fore over the past decade, driven by the narrative of sad-sack loser fandom to triumphalist braggart fandom. I think Bill Simmons is central to all of this. Early on, he captured the zeitgeist of being a Boston-area fan, when his platform got bigger, his schtick got tired, and his writing lazy, more-informed fans around the country got increasingly sick of the Boston narratives. Combine that with the much-trumpeted self importance of the Boston sports media and the region's reputation for demonstrative, heavily-accented, provincial people, and you get things like Kissing Suzy Kolber's Tommy from Quinzee.
 

 
Combine all that with a natural tendency to root against recently-successful franchises, the natural prickliness of Belichick, the handsome superman that is Brady, and you've got a good recipe for anti-Boston/NE sentiment.
 
I live in the midwest, and when I meet sports fans out here they often assume I'm going to be an asshole about sports. After conversations with friends and family over the past five or so years,  I don't even think they're wrong to believe that. We can be insufferable as a fanbase at times. 
 
Things like this:
 

 
 
and this, 
 

 
 
The cheers and, more importantly, the jeers resonate throughout the entire region. And not just during the games themselves, but year round. In inferior sporting cities, your Seattles and Carolinas and so on, just making a nice little run is seen as a moral victory. In Boston, almost making it is rightly seen as failure. In every sporting season there is only one winner, and everyone else is tied for last.

 
don't help. 

 

[Dogman]

I've said this before, but I'll say it again:  Belichick and the Patriots were punished because BB pretty blatantly ignored Goodell's memo reminding all teams that video taping along the sidelines was not permitted.  The signal taping itself wasn't the big deal; in fact, teams can do that from the owner's box if they want.  It's the fact that the memo was ignored.  
 
But the whole "they cheated" is just a much nicer sound bite for the mediots.  

 
Not picking on you at all but I think this is common knowledge.

 

[Reverend]

 
The "Herm Edwards made a farce of his by doing the chicken dance" theory? At least the chicken dancing has been reported elsewhere.  Here's the first thing I found about it on google.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/4-years-scandal-herm-edwards-waved-bill-belichick-camera-article-1.286462
 
The tapes got destroyed because someone was leaking them and the league wanted the fiasco to end.  Of course Goddell is a hamfisted moron who was on a power tripe so he concluded that the only was to put the issue behind the league was to destroy the tapes and brutally and publicly punish the Pats because, hey, when it's your first day in prison you fight the biggest fucker in the whole yard just to prove a point.

 
Yep. It scans for me in large measure because of the silliness of destroying the tapes as though they were samples of the Ebola virus or some toxic substance. I mean, what could they be toxic to, or to whom?
 
Goodell comes in as the new sheriff and when presented with this complaint, makes a huge fuss about the integrity of the game and what a violation this is... and then imagine he watches the tapes and sees some guys who have way more credibility with respect to the game not taking it seriously. That's a fucking problem for him.
 
 

I used to respect the hell out of Cowher, but disliked him. Now he's my favorite football coach behind BB.

 
Speaking of integrity, I agree--I love seeing Cowher dropping his gravitas squarely on the side of Belichick here. Considering he's done it across platforms now, it really speaks to his integrity; he thinks this is just something that should be done.

 

[Norm Siebern]

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is a grumpy genius. He's Gru, the super villain from "Despicable Me." And what to make of Broncos coach John Fox? He's your goofy uncle, with the easiest voice to mock since Foghorn Leghorn.But, truth be told, what does Belichick have as a head coach that Fox does not other than three Super Bowl rings, one Tom Brady and a $500,000 fine for cheating?
 
 
This is not only moronic, but incorrect. Belichick has five Super Bowl rings, not three you dumb fuck.

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

This is not only moronic, but incorrect. Belichick has five Super Bowl rings, not three you dumb fuck.

 
You can't expect him to just go watch BB: A Football Life.  It's not like the guy has any free time.