Posts tagged BillBelichick at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Colts coach Tony Dungy recently spoke to students at a high school in Tampa, and the Tampa Tribune reports that when a student asked him if there is anything from the 2007 NFL season that he wishes he could have put in his autobiography, he brought up Patriots Spygate story:

"We talk about how important it is to do things the right way and have integrity so that when you do win, people can never ask that question," he said. "That's the great thing that I'm happy about with our team.

"Yes, we won. But no one is really going to ask, 'Did they cheat? Did they do things the right way?' I think our record speaks for itself and if you're a true champion, that's the way you'd like it to be."

The implication from Dungy seems to be that the Colts are more of a "true champion" than the Patriots because people ask of the Patriots, "did they cheat?" For all the talk that Dungy and Bill Belichick have had rather frosty exchanges when their teams have played, their next post-game handshake could be even more awkward.

Former Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe isn't a big Bill Belichick fan, and doesn't have particularly warm feelings about the way his time in New England ended, with an injury and Tom Brady replacing him.

But Bledsoe takes the side of Belichick and the Patriots in the Spygate story. From the Boston Herald and PFT:

"I've followed it," Bledsoe said. "I've talked to some people about it. To be honest with you, my take now is the same as it's always been. Every team in the league is trying to do everything they can to get ahead. I'm sure most, if not all, are bending the rules in some way, shape or form. This just happened to be one that was very public, and the organization has been reprimanded for it.

"As a player here, I never did see anything other than what was already reported. . . . Was it a violation of the spirit of the rules? Absolutely, it was, but I think all of that has been readily acknowledged."

One of the strongest points in the Patriots' favor in Spygate is that there are several ex-Patriots who don't like Belichick, and none of them have come forward to say they think New England taped the Rams' walk-through before the 2002 Super Bowl. Bledsoe is the latest to take Belichick's side.

Greg Bishop of the New York Times reports that former New England Patriots employee Matt Walsh has sent the NFL eight videotapes showing the play-calling signals of five opponents in six games from 2000 to 2002. But Walsh does not have a tape of the St. Louis Rams' walk-through practice prior to the 2002 Super Bowl.

The most explosive accusation against the Patriots and coach Bill Belichick in the Spygate story was the Boston Herald's report that they taped the Rams' final practice before the Super Bowl. Walsh's lawyer said this about that:

"Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walk-through. Mr. Walsh has never been the source of any of the media speculation about such a tape. Mr. Walsh was not the source for the Feb. 2 Boston Herald article."

We can't say much without knowing the precise content of the eight tapes, but right now, this sounds like good news for the Patriots and Belichick. If all Walsh can show is what we already knew -- that the Patriots were taping opponents in violation of league rules -- the NFL is unlikely to tack on additional discipline.

Those wily New England Patriots continue to dazzle and amaze with their personnel wizardry. At least that's how their every draft-day move is portrayed on the teevees. Unconventional is a term that comes to mind when characterizing the Pats' approach to the draft, and for most of Bill Belichick's tenure it's been a very successful strategy.

Maybe the most interesting selection in recent memory is New England's second third-round pick, quarterback Kevin O'Connell. My first reaction after seeing him name pop up on the screen was WTF? Then NFL Network's Charley Casserly and Mike Lombardi calmly explained what the mad genius might be cooking up:

Casserly: "When I talked to teams ... this was the guy after the first group that everybody said, 'hey, this is the most interesting guy to take.' So they got that guy in the third round. Now, Tom Brady, 30 years old, I'm sure there not looking to replace Brady, but maybe five years from now he'll be Tom Brady's replacement...

Lombardi: "What'll happen with New England is they'll play Kevin in a preseason game and he'll look spectacular. And there will be some team who needs a quarterback and they'll say, 'you know, that O'Connell kid looks pretty good; maybe I'll give up my No. 1 next year for him..."

This, folks, is what happens when you have 500 I.Q. Oh, and if I'm Matt Cassel, I'm not renewing my lease in Brady's pool house just yet.

It's hard to question the Patriots when it comes to personnel decisions since they've had a lot of success in the draft, particularly in the first round. Plus, they have a gaping need at linebacker. And just because none of the mock draft nerds had Jerod Mayo as a top-10 pick, that really won't mean much when the season starts (in fact, it doesn't mean much now, but whatever).

In any event, the addition of Mayo reduces the average age of Pats' linebackers from 47 to 34, so that's good news. And Bill Belichick and his spiffy pink ensemble just told the NFL Network crew that Mayo has experience at all three linebacker positions and can play special teams.

More impressive, though, is that New England was able to work a trade, accumulate a few picks and save some dough to get the guy they wanted. It's certainly not original to suggest that Belichick and Scott Pioli are masterful draft-day tacticians, but you if you're a Bengals fan, you have to wonder what the Patriots saw in Mayo that they didn't see in Keith Rivers.

Actually, if you're a Bengals fan, you're just glad the season hasn't been canceled yet.

Tennessee linebacker Jerod Mayo says he was asked by an NFL team in a pre-draft interview, "When was the last time you cheated on your girlfriend?" He declined to say which team asked him the question, but his answer was that he never cheated on his girlfriend.

Let's hope it wasn't the Patriots who asked Mayo that question, seeing as Bill Belichick is just about the last person who has a reason to be judgmental about such things.

What teams like best about Mayo is his versatility; he can play the weak side, the strong side, or the middle, much like Keith Rivers, who went one spot ahead of him. New England desperately needs a young, fast linebacker, and that's just what it got.

Previously on FanHouse:
FanHouse Mock Draft: New England Patriots Select Cheating No. 31
FanHouse Mock Draft: New England Patriots Select LB Keith Rivers No. 7
Having a Laugh: One Study Claims Matt Millen Drafts Better Than the Patriots
Patriots Will take USC's Keith Rivers or Sedrick Ellis, Everyone Agrees
More Punishment From Roger Goodell On Spygate?

This should be further ammunition for all those creationists who claim that science is wrong. The Chicago Tribune embarked on a "study" using "mathematics" and came up with a dubious result -- Matt Millen is a better drafter than the power duo of Scott Pioli and Bill Belichick. In fact, according to this "study," Millen and the Lions are the 12th-best drafters in the entire league. You know what? Maybe evolution is a hoax!

OK, so let's qualify this "study." The Tribune went through the history of each current regime and counted the number of starters they've drafted, the percentage of starters, and the percentage of Pro Bowlers. Millen has produced a 32% average on starters (17-for-53) and a 1.8% on Pro Bowlers. Pioli and Belichick (15th) are at 31.4%, but pwn the Lions on Pro Bowlers, hitting on 10%.

Now we all know that these results are ridiculous. Here's the rub -- this is the percentage of starters in any one year of their career; those starters weren't necessarily starting for the Lions. And if you needed any other reasons to discredit the results (besides the fact that Rod Graves and the Cardinals are supposedly "the best"), here are two pieces of truth -- the Lions are always picking higher than the Patriots and therefore should conceivably have better options, and the Lions' almost talent-less roster is easier to start for than the Patriots'. If you look at the discrepancy in average draft position between the two teams, and the discrepancy in Pro Bowl percentage, it's easy to see how many light years ahead the Pats are.

Or you can, you know, just watch football.

In a terrific interview entitled "Jay Glazer Owns the NFL," Deadspin's AJ Daulerio finds out how FOX reporter Glazer gets the NFL scoops. Lots of great stuff in the interview, but perhaps the best is Glazer talking about the Spygate videos. He shows them at home to his buddies because he says they are hilarious:

JG: Because it's not just football...it's classic. The tapes go back and forth between... Well, the first part of the tape, the guy recording it , all he's focusing in on are the butts of the Jet City Dancers. He's going from chick, to chick, to chick, and then you see, like, Tom Brady step in and then he'll [the dude taping it] hit the coaches a little bit, but when there's a break? He goes into the stands and then focuses on T and A. It is classsssic. It is like Spygate meets "Girls Gone Wild."

And that's what's on the tapes that everyone's getting upset about? Does that damage the credibility of those tapes at all?

JG: Oh, no, no, no,no - because the rest of it, is damaging. Because they go the coaches, to the down and distance, back up to the coaches, back to the down and distance - it couldn't be anymore clear. They focus in on three guys the entire time, it is soooo brazen it's incredible.

I could see why NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell destroyed the NFL's copies of the Patriot tapes after Glazer was able to obtain leaked tapes. It's embarrassing enough to receive cheat tapes from your repeat Super Bowl champion without the added bonus of minor video perversion. Obviously, I don't have the Spygate tapes, so the YouTube above is just of the Jets cheerleaders.

At FanHouse, one man's trash is another man's treasure. But only the few raise to the level of Notable Moments in FanHouse Commenting.

Ex-Patriots employee Matt Walsh has finally agreed to spill everything he knows to the NFL about Spygate, and eventually we will know the scoop. In the months since Walsh's name first emerged, there's been tons of speculation about what he knows. Is Walsh going to drop the hammer on the Patriots or is this just ridiculously overblown?

And though all thoughtful comments at FanHouse are appreciated, I feel that this comment from Bob deserves special recognition. It is his theory about the delay in working out an agreement with Walsh:

Here's the hold up. Walsh has several tapes that Goodell wants to see. The first shows the Rams Super Bowl walkthrough, including the play where Kurt Warner fumbles in the end zone. Interestingly, the tape also shows Willie Gary wearing Ty Law's jersey when they practice the play where Law intercepts Warner and takes it in for a touchdown. Another tape shows Bill Belichick in Dallas on November 23, 1963. He's just a kid, but the tape clearly shows him holding a high powered rifle running from the grassy knoll. The third tape proves that Tom Brady and Gisele are both aliens sent here to bred and take over the world. The fourth tape is the biggest problem. It shows that Elvis is alive and well and works at a Stuckies off of I-40 in Tennessee. Goodell isn't sure he wants to see this tape, but I think he should. Who knows what they put into all of those peanut logs?

In a meeting with AP Sports Editors today, NFL disciplinarian commissioner Roger Goodell claimed he is keeping an open mind about what ex-Patriot employee Matt Walsh might tell him about the Spygate video scandal. When asked about if there would be further punishment if it is shown that the Patriots taped the Rams walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl, he responded:

"Taping a walkthrough is much different from what I punished them for."

He has already severely sanctioned the Patriots, fining them $250,000 for taping the Jets opener and taking away one of their first round picks in 2008. Patriots coach Bill Belichick received a half-million dollar fine.

So, if Walsh has videotape evidence, what more punishment will the Patriots receive from the commish for taping a pre-Super Bowl walkthrough? There's really no predicting because Goodell seems to be making it up as he goes along.

I would think that the punishment the Patriots already received is deterrent enough from doing more bad stuff. I'm guessing Goodell wouldn't be pleased if it is proven that the Patriots hid stuff from him after the original investigation because well, it makes him look bad.

(This entry is dedicated to KGar to try to explain why Walsh talking matters to NFL fans, particularly Patriot fans).

Yesterday, ex-Patriot Matt Walsh and the NFL reached an agreement that will encourage Walsh to fess up everything he knows about Spygate to the league. I generally prefer to write about sports more than things like "contractual indemnification" and "release law" because sports is much more interesting. But if you are interested in hearing what Walsh might say, this contract sheds a lot of light.

Walsh initially refused to talk to the NFL for fear of being sued. Generally speaking, an indemnification and release agreement like this will protect Walsh from liability and lawsuit because the NFL agrees not to sue him and assumes some of his legal risk. Greg Bishop of the New York Times asked me to comment on the terms of the agreement -- you can read his brief overview here.

Contracts like this are often about fear and paranoia. Each party wants to protect itself and not get tooled over by the other guy. To understand a contract and a contract negotiation, you have to understand the fears of each party.

The NFL has announced that Matt Walsh, the former Patriots employee who has long been rumored to have evidence that the team videotaped opponents in violation of NFL rules, has agreed to meet with Commissioner Roger Goodell next month.

Walsh, who lives in Hawaii, will travel to New York to meet with Goodell on May 13. He has agreed to return any tapes or other items in his possession that belong to the Patriots, and the NFL and the Patriots have promised not to sue him and to pay any legal fees he incurs.

What, exactly, Walsh will say or show is the subject of a great deal of speculation. Some people believe he has evidence that the Patriots videotaped the Rams' final walkthrough practice before the 2002 Super Bowl, which would undoubtedly result in severe discipline for coach Bill Belichick. Others believe he has nothing at all and this investigation will exonerate Belichick.

Today Bill Belichick's name evokes the whole sordid Spygate silliness, but before Eric Mangini ratted out his former boss, Belichick's name was synonymous with successfully running an NFL team, from on-field strategy to personnel decisions in the salary-cap era.

Under Belichick and general manager Scott Pioli, the Patriots have become adept at keeping the payroll manageable, not investing too much money in marquee players, and finding warm bodies at discount prices to fill in the gaps.

Thanks to a 2007 draft-day trade, New England has the seventh-overall pick this weekend, and they could take ... well, anybody. For a team with apparently very few needs, the Patriots might be in the market for an offensive lineman, cornerback or linebacker.

Or, looking to the future, they could draft a defensive lineman. Seems like an odd suggestion, what with Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork and Ty Warren currently wreaking havoc along the line of scrimmage, but that could all change in two years.

There's a video posted at You Been Blinded that comes from South Park, so you should obviously be advised that it may offend you. But it's worth looking at because it's the latest sign that Bill Belichick and Patriotgate have crossed over into pop culture.

In last night's South Park, Cartman stood in front of a class of students, held up a picture of Belichick and said, "This is Bill Belichick, coach of the New England Patriots. He's won three Super Bowls. How? He cheated. He even got caught cheating, and nobody cared. Bill Belichick proved that in America, it's OK to cheat, as long as you cheat your way to the top. ... If you cheat and fail, you're a cheater. If you cheat and succeed, you're savvy."

Cartman further explained that Belichick's "I misinterpreted the rules" excuse is the right way to get away with it when you get caught cheating. Although I don't think anyone actually believes Belichick when he says he misinterpreted the rules, he has, more or less, gotten away with it. So Cartman's lesson may have some merit.

Unlike last off-season, when the Patriots were as active as any team in signing/trading for big-name players, this spring has been relatively slow. Cornerback Asante Samuel (signed with the Eagles), and linebackers Rosevelt Colvin (injured his foot) and Junior Seau (turned to dust) are gone, and New England's biggest needs are on defense.

And while there's not much left to sift through in the free-agency grab bag, that doesn't mean Bill Belichick is done looking. Linebackers Takeo Spikes and Victor Hobson are still available, and Adam Seward's also a possibility. At this point, it's hardly surprising the Patriots would be interested in aged linebackers. Every year detractors point to the position as one of the defense's major weaknesses, and every year New England still manages to win at least 12 games.

The point: you can win without having the best group of linebackers in the league. Same holds for the secondary too. And Belichick understands as much.