YoloinOhio Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 (edited) http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/13533995/split-nfl-new-england-patriots-apart Fantastic article. Very deep work on Patriots line-stepping. Interviews by ESPN The Magazine and Outside the Lines with more than 90 league officials, owners, team executives and coaches, current and former Patriots coaches, staffers and players, and reviews of previously undisclosed private notes from key meetings, show that Spygate is the centerpiece of a long, secret history between Goodell's NFL, which declined comment for this story, and Kraft's Patriots. The diametrically opposed way the inquiries were managed by Goodell -- and, more importantly, perceived by his bosses -- reveals much about how and why NFL punishment is often dispensed. The widespread perception that Goodell gave the Patriots a break on Spygate, followed by the NFL's stonewalling of a potential congressional investigation into the matter, shaped owners' expectations of what needed to be done by 345 Park Ave. on Deflate-gate. Edited September 8, 2015 by YoloinOhio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 (edited) Stolen play sheets! So.much.cheating. Edited September 8, 2015 by YoloinOhio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metal Man Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Ouch, this line hurt. "Looking back on it, several former Patriots coaches insist that spying helped them most against less sophisticated teams -- the Dolphins and Bills chief among them -- whose coaches didn't bother changing their signals. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebandit27 Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 None of this should surprise even a casual fan of the NFL. The Patriots are serial cheaters, and everyone knows it. I will never respect them, their owner, their QB, or any of their tainted victories. Ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Can't wait for the defenders of this organization to come out of the woodwork. Legacy indeed. GO BILLS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metal Man Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 None of this should surprise even a casual fan of the NFL. The Patriots are serial cheaters, and everyone knows it. I will never respect them, their owner, their QB, or any of their tainted victories. Ever. I'm not sure how any objective minded football fan wouldn't come to the same conclusion easily. The one thing I find the most ridiculous in this article, and when this was all going on, is how everyone in the Pats organization insisted that the taping had little if any effect on any games and that it provided very little advantage. Seems like no one asked the most obvious question in response, if it was so useless then why spend resources on it for 6+ years? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 None of this should surprise even a casual fan of the NFL. The Patriots are serial cheaters, and everyone knows it. I will never respect them, their owner, their QB, or any of their tainted victories. Ever. though not a surprise, it makes me very angry. What a farce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne Cubed Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Pathetic organization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I'm not sure how any objective minded football fan wouldn't come to the same conclusion easily. The one thing I find the most ridiculous in this article, and when this was all going on, is how everyone in the Pats organization insisted that the taping had little if any effect on any games and that it provided very little advantage. Seems like no one asked the most obvious question in response, if it was so useless then why spend resources on it for 6+ years? Absolutely. Not to mention the ridiculous lengths they went to in order to achieve the results. Disguising themselves as NFL FILMS personnel? Really? So much to be proud of in that organization. GO BILLS!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
....lybob Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I always suspected the Pats of having a sophisticated PEDs program - I remember in the early 2000s they drafted a couple of good but undersized LBs and between the draft and opening day they had each put on around 25lbs of vein popping muscle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaninATL Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 disgusting and disturbing but not shocking whatsoever; stealing plays/notes from opposing teams' locker rooms & hotels. Can't stand this team..... http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/09/report-patriots-used-to-send-team-employee-to-steal-opponents-play-sheets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoloinOhio Posted September 8, 2015 Author Share Posted September 8, 2015 I don't know how Belichick still has a job. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blokestradamus Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I always suspected the Pats of having a sophisticated PEDs program - I remember in the early 2000s they drafted a couple of good but undersized LBs and between the draft and opening day they had each put on around 25lbs of vein popping muscle. I'd guarantee every team has some kind of PED violation issue. Also pretty sure that the penalty would be much stiffer if the NFL cared about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Hindsight Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 This story is amazing. Even if half of it is true it's pretty damning. Goodell should have banned Belicheat then. He really botched this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 This story is amazing. Even if half of it is true it's pretty damning. Goodell should have banned Belicheat then. He really botched this I said this before. The first response was "protect the sheild!" So it was swept under the rug. So the Pats** figured no matter what they did going forward, the NFL had to cover for them. It was like blackmail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I said this before. The first response was "protect the sheild!" So it was swept under the rug. So the Pats** figured no matter what they did going forward, the NFL had to cover for them. It was like blackmail. It's how the NFL had always treated these issues. This is a great article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heels20X6 Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Can't wait for the defenders of this organization to come out of the woodwork. Legacy indeed. GO BILLS!!! Don't worry, they're coming. They'll use the same old tropes of "well, how do we know that they were the only team doing it!" and "Just shows how committed they are to winning!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALF Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 The man behind the curtain helps https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2015/01/29/mysterious-ernie-adams-patriots-man-behind-curtain/IrNCfgrysUphGpkcIjEaBL/story.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Bills Fan Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 I hate the Pats*********** so much CBF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Big Cat Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 If all of this is true. And IF the Patriots are alone in their culpability, if no other team pulls shenanigans like these, Bellichick should get the Pete Rose treatment: a lifetime ban, blackballed from the HOF, all of his records and wins erased and all of this Super Bowl trophies negated. Yes, the NFL would have to admit that a quarter of the this century's Super Bowl victories were a sham. But that admission defeat would be their only prayer for victory/vindication at this point, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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