Quote :

"yeah, get over it. who cares if they cheated and won by just 3, they had to execute even with knowledge of the D's plays"

ahahahaha speaking of cheating homer, I seem to recall something about steroids surfacing right after that particular Super Bowl.....lol

9/14/2007 10:18:39 AM

I can't wait until the video surfaces on youtube. The cameraman probably talks shit the whole time about how stupid the Jets' playcalling is.

9/14/2007 11:02:23 AM

fuck the patriots...fuck their coach....fuck their fans....they fucking suck...fuck

9/14/2007 12:18:14 PM

^^^I dont think John Fox went out and bought the steroids though... Plus, dont forget about Rodney Harrison, he is in that boat too.

It is just the arrogant 'we are better than everyone' attitude that makes people hate the pats, and now it surfaces that they have had knowledge of the other teams plays this whole time. how sorry is that? there should be more punishment coming than this. Hopefully they crash and burn a bit without one of their cheat mechanisms in place.

9/14/2007 12:30:25 PM

peyton should have more rings

9/14/2007 12:33:24 PM

i already had a slight distaste for the Pats but after this shit i put the team in the same category but just below my hate for the yankees

9/14/2007 12:59:53 PM

Christ, you people are bitchier than NC State fans..........

9/14/2007 1:54:12 PM

for page 3

9/14/2007 2:07:47 PM

It wouldn't be as bad, I think, if they had been stealing signals against a team that they weren't going to beat the hell out of anyways - but the Jets???? Seriously, they didn't need to cheat against the Jets. That's just pathetic, and I do hope that they get smashed several times this year (though it probably won't happen).

9/14/2007 2:34:36 PM

I just wonder how long its been happening

I would have liked to have seen them keep the picks but suspend Bill for ever how many games they had been doing it.

9/14/2007 2:43:22 PM

Quote :

"PHILADELPHIA -- Sheldon Brown and the Eagles hoped a blitz would rattle Tom Brady. One problem: Every time the Eagles rushed Brady in the Super Bowl, the Patriots nullified the defensive attack with screen passes. Lots of them. On almost every play defensive coordinator Jim Johnson called for a blitz, the Patriots used the short pass to confuse the Eagles. After the Patriots beat the Eagles 24-21 in 2005 to win the Lombardi Trophy, Brown thought the Patriots beat them with nothing but sharp offensive playcalling. Now, he's not so sure. With spying accusations leveled this week against the Patriots, some of the Eagles left from the NFC title team are wondering if New England used bootleg film to their advantage in the Super Bowl. "Do I think about it? Mmm hmmm," said Brown, their starting cornerback. "It's crazy. I just don't know how far back it goes. Something's not right about that." Pro Bowl safety Brian Dawkins found the accusations troublesome. "Now there's always going to be questions about the situation," Dawkins said Thursday. "Was it great adjustments at halftime or what?" Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward said this week that he suspected the Patriots had some type of inside information on the Steelers before at least one of the teams' two AFC championship game matchups since the 2001 season. While Ward said the Patriots knew a lot of Pittsburgh's calls, none of the Eagles could offer any type of solid proof of any shenanigans. "For me to think back two years ago about something they may or may not have done, it's not worth my time," running back Brian Westbrook said. New England beat the New York Jets in last Sunday's season opener in which an on-field video camera allegedly focusing on Jets coaches was confiscated from a Patriots employee. On Thursday, New England coach Bill Belichick was fined the NFL maximum of $500,000 and the Patriots were ordered to pay $250,000. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell also ordered the team to give up next year's first-round draft choice if it reaches the playoffs and second- and third-round picks if it doesn't. "I would like to think it's just one team doing it, but it doesn't shock me that it happened," Dawkins said. Some Eagles said occasional signal-stealing is an accepted part of the game. But they believe what the Patriots are accused of doing crosses the football morality line because it threatens the integrity of the game. "It's different if you're talking about recording it," Dawkins said. "What can you do if you try to signal a play in?" Eagles coach Andy Reid steered away from questions about the alleged cheating other than to say he has no doubts New England's victory was legitimate. "That's something Bill and the Patriots are working through," Reid said. Brown said he noticed a difference in New England's playcalling in the second quarter. After the Patriots gained only 45 yards in the first quarter, they had 286 over the next three. Brady hit running back Corey Dillon and gained 29 total yards on a pair of screens to open New England's first full drive of the second quarter. They didn't score on that drive, but did on four of the next five drives. The Patriots went to the screen pass again on the decisive drive early in the fourth quarter, this time with Brady connecting with Kevin Faulk on two passes for 27 yards. "I was like, 'Man, I never saw that many screens,' " Brown said. Brown wonders if it was normal playcalling from a team good enough to win three Super Bowls in four seasons, a Patriots team that used a strong scouting report to gain a fair edge, or was somebody picking up the Eagles defensive calls from a sideline camera that deprived them of a fair shot? "I think they should forfeit, man," said punt returner Reno Mahe, smiling. "We won the Super Bowl. I think we should get it. I'm going to go trade my NFC championship ring for a Super Bowl ring." The headline over a picture of Belichick on the back page of Thursday's Philadelphia Daily News might have said it all: "Counterfeit RING: Spy Scandal Helps Explain Birds' Super Bowl Loss." Hey, maybe the illicit tape would show once and for all if Donovan McNabb really did get sick in the huddle late in the game. Remember, that was Philadelphia's first excuse for losing. McNabb -- who insisted the Eagles would never stoop to those kind of tactics -- was surprised to hear the allegations against the Patriots. But he said the suspicions might be overblown. "One thing people are forgetting is that even if you have the answers to the test, you still have to take the test," he said. "If they have an idea of what's coming, those guys still have to be able to execute the play." That doesn't mean McNabb won't clear some space in his jewelry box. For a city that last saw a pro team win a championship nearly 25 years ago, the Eagles might accept a retroactive one. "Maybe we'll get our ring back," said a chuckling McNabb. "Maybe we'll get the real one.""

9/14/2007 3:19:17 PM

There was another story somewhere on charlotte.com where they said the Patriots supposedly had spies at the Panthers’ practice field the week before the Superbowl…Brentson Buckner was on a radio show today and he mentioned that they had plays in the Superbowl that they had never run during the season and he said Brady was at the line calling out what their defense was going to do!

9/14/2007 3:28:18 PM

Quote :

"Sheldon Brown and the Eagles hoped a blitz would rattle Tom Brady. One problem: Every time the Eagles rushed Brady in the Super Bowl, the Patriots nullified the defensive attack with screen passes. Lots of them. On almost every play defensive coordinator Jim Johnson called for a blitz, the Patriots used the short pass to confuse the Eagles."

That should read:

One problem: Jim Johnson runs a blitzing defense and almost always on 3rd down. It's predictable as hell and generally not very effective against good QBs. Luckily, Philadelphia plays in the NFC where good quarterbacks are few and far between.

9/14/2007 4:32:22 PM

They get a lot more time to go over the 1st half game footage at the Superbowl where halftime is a lot longer...definitely figured out how to beat the Rams, Panthers and Eagles...each by a whopping 3 points

9/14/2007 4:36:40 PM

Quote :

" But the reports are even more damning than that. They suggest that this problem goes deeper than Sunday's game. They suggest that the Patriots have stolen signs from several opponents dating to last season, including from Green Bay in a 35-0 blowout win. Minutes after that game, Green Bay cornerback Al Harris told the Boston Herald: "It's almost like they knew what we were doing, you know?" Harris said on Nov. 19. "You have to tip your hat to them. They ran plays designed for us. They ran plays that made us check out of some things. I don't know who calls their plays, but Belichick is pretty good. Honestly, he's pretty good." "

9/14/2007 4:44:47 PM

It wasn't hard to beat the Packers last year if your QB had a good arm and your receivers were even remotely fast.

Our safeties were bad.

9/14/2007 5:03:48 PM

What makes me wonder is if they are doing this week one against the jets, who's to say what they did in the playoffs

o, and the tuck rule still irks me

V fair enough

[Edited on September 14, 2007 at 10:47 PM. Reason : efh]

9/14/2007 10:40:39 PM

if they were cheating in the AFC championship game last year, they did a shitty job of it. They blew a 15 point lead in the second half.

[Edited on September 14, 2007 at 10:45 PM. Reason : and to a shitty defense at that]

9/14/2007 10:45:39 PM

Donovan wants his ring back

9/16/2007 7:47:20 PM

they dont ever play that clip long enough but a guy in the crowd is like "WELL U NEVER HAD IT!" and he's like "yea ur right we have had it ehe"

9/16/2007 7:48:07 PM

this is blown out of proportion so bad

it would be one thing if they were dismantling teams like 100-0, but because they have good play calling/execution, it's all attributed to recording signals? give me a break

9/16/2007 7:50:35 PM

i would think cheating would be considered worse if you barely win

if you're winning 100-0 then obviously you don't need to cheat

9/16/2007 7:52:16 PM

well they did win superbowls on FGs

9/16/2007 7:52:56 PM

exactly

9/16/2007 7:55:44 PM

they also did alot worse in the 2nd half of those games didnt they?

also, i hope ldt talks about cheating more tonight well not saying a word about his D that has at least two Roiders

9/16/2007 7:59:16 PM

haha NBC is probably gonna try to find a sponsor for the "search for sideline cameras cam"

9/16/2007 8:04:04 PM

The worst part about this thing (other than the fact that it's been completely overblown) is that now every team that has lost to the Patriots over the past several years is going to be like "Yeah, it did seem like they knew what we were going to do....that must be why they won!"

9/16/2007 8:32:21 PM

the patriots just stole rivers signal

9/16/2007 8:33:27 PM

Kraft looks very genuine there

9/16/2007 9:52:28 PM

Kraft's a punk

9/16/2007 9:53:53 PM

So uhhh...is that sidelines camera there tonight? 24-0 at half.

9/16/2007 10:04:19 PM

wooahhhoooohhh FUNNY GUY!

9/16/2007 10:04:54 PM

the actual video

9/17/2007 7:38:17 PM

LOL

"If the Patriots are America's team, shouldn't they be allowed to spy on other teams under the Patriot Act?" - Email on MNF

9/17/2007 11:08:07 PM

Quote :

"i would think cheating would be considered worse if you barely win if you're winning 100-0 then obviously you don't need to cheat"

Either that or you are really, really good at cheating.

Just put an * beside all their Superbowl wins.

9/18/2007 7:30:48 AM

somehow i doubt the cheating begins and ends with signal taping. They just haven't been caught yet with whatever other shit they might be doing.

9/18/2007 8:57:10 AM

Good article on this from espn.com

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/bostonblog

Yes, I realize Simmons is a huge homer for his team. But he makes a lot of good points. If you honestly think the Patriots are the only ones that have tried to cheat like this, and that they've been doing it for the past 6 years without someone pointing it out to the league, then I don't know what to tell you.

9/18/2007 10:36:25 AM

might as well ask Peter Gammons to speak about the BoSox vs Yankees without any bias

9/18/2007 10:50:06 AM

^^

Ever got a speeding ticket and argued to the cop that everyone else speeds, so why is he picking on you?

9/18/2007 10:51:38 AM

^No, but once I already gotten my ticket and paid my fine, I would argue that I shouldn't be executed for it as well.

I would also argue that my insurance rates shouldn't go up retroactively to the past 10 years that I've been driving under the logic of "Well, if he was caught speeding now, that means he was probably speeding for the past 10 years, and we just didn't catch him."

[Edited on September 18, 2007 at 11:14 AM. Reason : cuz]

9/18/2007 11:05:11 AM

Everyone here is already convinced the Patriots won XXXVIII because they cheated, nothing is going to change their minds now. They are going to continue believing that a bunch of people who get hit in the head for a living were able to keep a secret cheating conspiracy hidden for six years.



(btw, I am a Panthers fan, and you are all stupid)

9/18/2007 11:07:14 AM

Quote :

"We live in a world in which global-warming activists charter private jets to take them from speech to speech, then tell people not to use so much toilet paper. We live in a world in which American kids are getting killed every day in the Middle East and nobody will mobilize a valid protest until the President finally decides, "We're having a draft lottery." We live in a world in which you can Google the female star of the most popular Disney TV movie ever and see her naked, and NBC runs a popular show in which they trap potential child predators and film the confrontations on TV. We live in a world in which high school kids can decide they don't like another high school kid, so they can build an anonymous slam page and libel the hell out of him, and even though this happens and keeps happening, we still don't have any set-in-stone Internet laws to prevent this. We live in a world in which Perez Hilton and TMZ.com get their own TV shows, but "Friday Night Lights" is two months away from getting canceled. We live in a world in which every home run record from the past 10 years has to be taken not just with a grain of salt, but an entire salt shaker."

9/18/2007 1:10:49 PM

Quote :

"the Patriots won XXXVI, XXXVIII and XXXIX because they cheated"

they won 3 superbowls by 3 points each...but lets just ignore this...even when they got caught last year...and the nfl told them not to do it again...and they did...and they didnt even apologize...etc

"I misinterpreted a rule" bullshit bellicheat

[Edited on September 18, 2007 at 2:12 PM. Reason : .]

9/18/2007 2:12:10 PM

i watched that and saw like 4 different guys doing 4 different things. it would give me a major headache trying to decipher that crap.....although i'd be willing to do it for what the patriots are likely paying

9/18/2007 5:33:01 PM

Quote :

"Everyone here is already convinced the Patriots won XXXVIII because they cheated"

Not saying that they won because they cheated, but there are 2 indesputable facts here:

1. The Patriots won Superbowl 38

2. The Patriots cheated

9/18/2007 5:37:43 PM

3. the panthers cheated IN THE SUPERBOWL

[Edited on September 18, 2007 at 6:22 PM. Reason : the pats are only guilty of cheating in game 1 of this season]

9/18/2007 6:19:50 PM

Quote :

"3. the panthers were cheated"

AMEN!

9/18/2007 6:21:51 PM

this is actually the more relevant simmons column:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070912

Quote :

" Unless you want to retroactively remove Gaylord Perry from the Baseball Hall of Fame and force the San Diego Chargers to forfeit any game Shawne Merriman played before his positive steroids test last year. Simmons: Merriman had a positive steroids test last year? Whaaaaaaaat??? I thought LaDainian "I stole Lawrence Taylor's nickname" Tomlinson just told us the Patriots were the cheaters. I'm so confused. The next thing you're going to tell me is that Luis Castillo failed a steroids test right before the 2005 draft or something. Schatz: I loved how Tomlinson told reporters today that the Patriots' motto is "if you're not cheating, you're not trying." What's Shawne Merriman's motto? "

Quote :

"Hey, remember a couple years ago when the Steelers accused the Colts of piping in crowd noise at the RCA Dome? Remember when the Broncos broke salary-cap rules in order to build the 1997-98 championship team? Remember when Jim Haslett said there was rampant steroid use by the Pittsburgh Steelers during their dynasty years of the '70s? Remember when Herm Edwards admitted to breaking NFL rules by using Stick-Um even after it was banned in 1980? And remember when Lawrence Taylor said he used to send hookers up to the hotel rooms of opposing running backs while he sat at home doing blow? I mean, are we taking away the '86 Giants' Super Bowl championship too? Come on, already. This stuff happens. "

Quote :

"That Broncos story remains the best analogy. The Broncos broke the rules. They were punished by losing two third-round draft picks. However, fiddling with the salary cap didn't hand them the championship, and anybody who says that the 1997 and 1998 Broncos did not deserve to win two Super Bowls is an idiot. Come to think of it, if the public does decide that cheating renders your Super Bowl championships void, do we get to start making fun of John Elway because he could never win a ring? Simmons: We can't make fun of Elway in this space, ESPN is still operating under the "No More Elway Jokes For 10 Years" umbrella that went into effect after Norm McDonald humiliated him at the '98 ESPYS. But I'm with you. If we're going to stick an asterisk next to the '01, '03 and '04 Pats, don't stop there -- it needs to extend to Elway's Broncos (cap cheaters), DeBartolo's Niners (cap cheaters), the '90s Cowboys (drugs and hookers), the '86 Giants (coke), the '85 Bears (Tony Eason was on the other team), the '70s Steelers (steroids) and pretty much everyone who ever won a Super Bowl. "

9/18/2007 6:26:23 PM

Individual players cheating is not the same as an organization cheating.

Nobody said the Patriots superbowl wins were bogus because Harrison was on HGH, because that was a player. Not "The Patriots".

9/18/2007 7:34:43 PM

Quote :

"the pats are only guilty of cheating in game 1 of this season"

and of course last season when they were CAUGHT and TOLD NOT TO DO IT AGAIN, which they of course continued to do

OMG EVERYBODY IS CHEATING THEREFORE CHEATING IS PERFECTLY ACCEPTABLE

9/18/2007 8:22:25 PM