I love this line of logic from Pats* fans--"everyone does it, we just got caught". It's usually followed these days by some kind of "ooh, you all better watch out, because Kraft and BB have stuff on all of you, too". I'll be the first to call BS on that idea. Bring on the investigation, full steam ahead. I suspect when it's done, all we'll really learn is that the Pats* found many, many ways to cheat and that this is the tip of the iceberg. Anyone who's watched their games over the last 10 years or so knows that the officiating they often got late in close games was more than a little suspect, for ex. Just ask the Ravens players who got fined this year, or Andre Reed, who overheard a ref say "just give it to them" in a game in the late '90s on a horrible call that helped the Pats* get a victory late in the 4th and who also got fined for reporting this to the press. I have a hunch this might get a whole lot worse for the Pats* and their "fans" (most of whom started watching "their team" about 2002) before it gets better.....
As mush as I love your logic of denial
Merry Christmas boys
http://www.boston.com/sports/footba...ation_still_swirling_around_mcdaniels/?page=2
Signal from Johnson
Fox studio analyst
Jimmy Johnson reiterated his stance that the NFL's punishment of the Patriots' illegal videotaping procedures this year was overblown. He spoke passionately on the subject.
"The only thing I can say is so many people made such a big to-do about it, and everybody - and I mean everybody - went to the edge on rules in one form or fashion," Johnson said, reflecting on his coaching tenure with the Cowboys. "That's just part of the game, that's stealing the signals in baseball. This stuff has been going on for so long.
"When I came into the NFL, back in '89, I talked to a Kansas City scout and he said, 'Here's what we do, we videotape the opposing team's signals and then we synch it up with the game film.' So I did it."
Johnson admitted it was "borderline" but he ended up stopping because he didn't think the team got much out of it. He then spoke of other rules clubs pushed to the limit.
"When I went to the Dolphins and they talked about how you're supposed to have a 15-second cutoff [in communication] to your quarterback, but here is what we do [to circumvent that]," Johnson said. "They said they've always done this. So I said, 'OK, let's go ahead and do it.' Then the league said, 'Hey, we hear you're doing that, so don't do it anymore.'
"The point I'm making - I'm not trying to say everybody is cheaters - is that you have a rulebook that is so thick and you say 'How far can you go without breaking the rules?' When I coached the Cowboys, we didn't have this kind of scrutiny. But now, the scrutiny, every little thing we do - that's why I said the media blew it so far out of proportion.
"Would the commissioner have fined them and taken a draft pick if it had been the Arizona Cardinals? There is a lot of jealousy in this league. The high profile, it's almost making statement that 'I've got to do it because of who it is.' I know Bill Belichick very well, I know how he loves the NFL, he loves the history of the NFL, he loves the integrity of the NFL, that's why it irritates me that anyone would ever question that."
"There are none so blind as those who will not see"
-Jonathan Swift-
