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If Belichick violated a rule, there should be consequences, obviously, but the punishment should fit the violation. According to New York Daily News reports (hardly biased in favor of the Patriots or Belichick), intercepting - including videotaping - defensive signals is a common practice. A Green Bay official admitted that the Packers did not report a suspected incident last year because of it being a common practice. An unnamed NFL coach said â�?�?half the teamsâ�? do it. Mangini - according to the Daily News - knew of the Pats practices, because he was part of it for 5 years, as was much of his coaching staff (former Pats assistants). Theyâ�?�?re the ones who informed the NFL, per the Daily News. (Talk about hypocrisy.)

It also seems that videotaping is not necessary to ��?steal��? signs. Drew Brees said that offenses try to decipher signs, and the Dolphins admitted to ��?stealing��? the Pats signs last year, albeit via tv transmissions.

He was arrogant and dumb, perhaps, but this has been blown out of proportion. The league obviously has to impose some penalty, but let��?s hope its reasonable under all the circumstances.

Also, unlike the situations with Pacman, Henry, Bonds, etc, there has been no crime committed here. The league had a rule to make it harder to make a record other teams' signals. Attempts to equate this rule violation with violations of law say more about those trying to do so than about Belichick.

Again, may the punishment fit the offense, taking everything into consideration.

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If Belichick knew than Brady and the rest of the team knew!

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the pats owner ought to make a statement that this is wrong and guarantee that it will not happen again or heads will role. roger goodell ought to bring in the pats coaches and find out what was actually going on, with the threat, that anybody caught lying will be banned from the nfl. the nfl better come down very hard on this. fines, suspensions, loss of multiple draft picks, and probation. anything less would send a message to the players already penalized and the fans that there is a huge double standard. cheating is cheating(thanks yogi). the statement that everyone's doing it(forget the fact that there is no proof of that) means nothing. people rob banks, people steal cars, people break into homes and when you catch them, you penalize them. and if it is not that big a deal(bilichick must of thought it was), have the pats give the teams they play all their signals and check downs. sure the team still needs to execute the play, but who wouldn't like to know run or pass, blitz or cover 1or2. think it might help in blocking assignments, which patterns to run, at a critical point in the game? duh!

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I suspect he may also be referring to Odell Thurman, who is currently in the midst of two years of suspension for a missed drug test and a single DUI.

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This is a joke,mangini is a cry baby maybe if he learned how to coach better he would win more.And as far as the jets fans go they cheered when pennington got hurt a guy with a huge geart is stilloed tried to go out there and play after he was hurt in a game he was getting his butt kicked in,and philly and pitt and all the other teams complaning about there loss to the pats,give me a break you were playing a better team and the best team won,am i upset that the pats did this hell no,the only part i am upset with is they got caught,coaches get fired players get cut when they lose period,marty schottenheimer 14-2 and gets fired and now the charges say they were cheated yeah yeah cheated yourself fired a coach who went 14-2 maybe you would have won if you worked a little harder but instead you fire a coach who you say didnt do enough to win. so mangini you crying wimp pittsburg philly colts and anyone else who now wants to cry they lost too bad.

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gogreek you are a idiot comparing this to robbing banks and stealing cars or breaking into homes,i am 100iq points dummer for reading what you wrote you stupid idiot,every team in the nfl does it maybe not to the degree the pats were but they all did it,did billichik go to far maybe,should he be punished maybe,but comparing to that crap you dummy is stupid. Pats did what they did to win maybe to far but they did it i am glad they did they will do whatever it takes to win and thats what make them special,guy that comes in second is still just the first loser,should pats be punished if found guilty sure,maybe lose a draft pick maybe a fine whatever,but you people comparing what pats did to robbing banks is a joke,and carson palmer saying they should be seriously punished like his team has been maybe if his team was not out killing and beating up the public and getting drunk and doing drugs his team would not have so much headaches,so palmer sit your dumb azz down and lose like you always do and shut up and help your own players stay out of jail.

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I am a female football fan and I have 3 boys that
play football. In my opinion the rule is outdated and should be changed !! The responsibility falls on each team to make sure their signals can not be interpreted. It is archaeic to think that signals would be kept a secret in this day and age of rapidly changing high technology. Tomorrow their will be a better mousetrap to gather intelligence. In baseball the signals are out their for the take and their is no videotape rule. The responsibility clearly falls on the team to protect their intelligence.

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People like Palmer just suck. As Dan Reeves stated, he even had coaches assigned to try and steal signs. The fact that the Pats are alleged to have done it to steal signs (not stated yet) and it was against the rules to video tape means he violated the rules. But CHEAT? The league has no rule that says other teams can't steal the other teams signs! They do it all the time. This has been blown way overboard and the story has not been reported fairly!

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I doubt that turtle has a hundred iq points to spare. If it was no big deal to steal defensive signals why would the Pats and their genius coach go to the trouble to do so?

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Charles:

Its unanimous! Your a complete IDIOT!

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Turtle:

You and your kids are all IDIOTs! Woow 500K fine and a #1 drsft pick lost and Kraft fined $250,000 and losing all credibility. WOW!!!! I guess all you Pats Apologists do not agree we the Commish! Viva Commish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Turtle:

What a great parent andf role model you are! Teaching your kids that CHEATING is OK! Let's just put them in Jail now so they can get used to what life as an adult will be!

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Losing a #1 hurts but not that much. The Pats have two # 1's - the better one (from San Fran) they're keeping. They have a lot of players to resign, so not having a second #1 to sign will free up some money (that could also be used to pay Randy Moss his bonus for 2008.) Belichick probably would have dealt one of the #1's anyway - he referred to it as currency. Currency, perhaps, to stoke the fire under his team as they march to their 4th Super Bowl under Belichick.

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The Jets are crybabies that have to come up with lame excuses why they lost to the Patriots. Carson people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

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I don't think the Jets made up this excuse of the Pats cheating. The cameraman was caught by an NFL official. Pats fans are ridiculous.

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This is response to Turtle and Michael... his comment on the arrested team members of the Bengals killing, robbing banks, stealing cars, beating up people.... obviously you haven't done your homework. Chris Henry's arrest were for giving alcohol to underage females.... DUI.... smoking weed... carrying a firearm... note... carrying a firearm... Cincinnati is on the Ohio river which separates the 2 states.... many of the Bengals players live across the river in the state of Kentucky... which the laws are different in allowing a person to carry a firearm vs the state of Ohio. Note... there is a difference in the term of carrying a firearm than using a firearm or shooting a firearm. It's not to say someone shouldn't drink and drive.... but how many people have had at least 3 beers at a football game watching a game that drove home after that game? These days that would put them in a position of a DUI with the legal limits as it stands these days? As a 49 year old ... I can't say I have never smoked a weed in my younger days.... also I served the Ohio National Guard at 18... those days it was legal to drink 3.2 beer.. now the law states 21.... We have youngster getting killed in Irag at 18 and it would be considered illegal if I gave them a beer, but they can die on the battlefield for their country... so please don't equate... a DUI, smoking weed, giving a drink to someone a year or 2 under 21 to someone doing buglary and killing people... Many young adults and college students have done the same thing as Chris Henry... do these same things make 75 percent of our young adults studying to be doctors, lawyers, accountants, and other professionals thugs.... I think not.... I agree cheating doesn't either... but I do agree... if you punish one under the NFL conduct rule the same should apply to all... KS

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stop crying carson palmer if chris henry wasn't a good 3rd reciver no one would be hearing ur mouth just win games all teams have problems but they get over them plus chris henry needs to grow up

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Job Well done, Mr. Commish! You've found a way to bring parity to the league and appease the "have nots"
by coming down on the Patriots harder than what most would consider reasonable. What HYPOCRISY ! It's so obvious what sour grapes can do to this league.

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There are so many aspects in a footbal game that need to be executed well in order for any team to win a game. A team doesn't win just by deciphering the opposing defenses signals. You could "steal" signals all day long, but if the defense and the special teams suck, then you're not goign to get anywhere. The team has to do well using their own defense and their own special teams. I am pretty sure that the outcome of a football game has more to do with the players then it does the coaches, they are the ones playing the game afterall. They are the ones with the talent to play the game.

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While I agree this has been greatly overblown, there is indeed a rule in the NFL against stealing team signals (which everyone but apparently Michael from above has heard about over the past several days). By the same token, I believe every team makes efforts to do this, though not taking it to the extreme of the Patriots. In MLB, balls get scuffed, people throw spitters, the man on second tries to steal catcher signs. It goes on, everyone knows it, and when you get caught you get tossed. Everyone knows this as well. So yes, everyone does something like this, but the Pats just happened to get caught and were appropriately punished. Hey, if Carson is asked a question he is entitled to respond with his opinion. They asked. He replied. I agree with Carson (as does apparently 90% of the other players I have heard chip in on this issue, so, don't take it all out on Palmer for saying exactly what everyone else has been saying. I think weed smoking, or driving on a suspended license doesn't call the integrity of the game into question quite like what the Pats have done. In that sense Palmer is exactly right and a suspension would not have been so unreasonable (check out the disparity between Belichick's punishment and that of Coach Gailey of Dallas).

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