Good analysis, but he forgot one thing - the "video homework".

"He knows something about how Bill Belichick operates."

-Lovely! How convenient that he omitted the operation known as spygate.

-The only piece of evidence I needed to convince me that Ole' Foxboro Billy was playing with a distinct advantage over The Steelers and other teams, was the fact that those tapes were never ahown publicly and the fact that they were destroyed. If those tapes did not provide any such advantage, the NFL would've wanted to show them all to us so they could say to all of us..."See, no big deal."

-The fact that they did not speaks volumes! Go Giants!

*t was inevitable that "Spygate" be brought up this week, and I agree: the circumstantial evidence is damming. One point I never heard brought up or written about: Spygate and Tom Brady. He had to be the one who got the ill-gotten information, knowing that the blitz was coming from the left or right and reacting accordingly. Does this not cast a shadow over his 'greatness?' I remember Steve Young relating a story. He was sitting next to someone during a game and that person commented, "Everybody guesses right once in a while, but the Patriots always guess right!" Of course ... but it wasn't a guess! Why has the shadow of Skypgate never tainted the 'great' Tom Brady? I, like most, hate the Patriots. Which leads me to ... GO GIANTS!

I hope Goodell does NOT influence the outcome of this game for his best friend, Robert Kraft.

I dont like cheaters.

GO GIANTS!!!

After watching the Pats pull out a lucky win against Baltimore, it reminds me of the luck they had with the tuck rule and won that game leading to the Super Bowl win. I hate to see cheaters win but I have this awful feeling that luck is going to be on the Pats side again. Let's hope I am wrong and that the Giants prevail this day and take the trophy home.

The thing about Belichick is the way he continues to plug new players in around Tom Brady, and the Pats continue to be successful. Even taking "Spygate" into consideration, there is some seriously good coaching going on in New England, and anyone who refuses to admit it is just giving in to their dislike for the man.

Now, personally, I have no use for the man either. My dislike for him is based more on a none football incident, when he tried to make a poor photographer eat his camera for simply doing his job after a game a couple of years back. The poor guy was trying to film Belichick heading for the post game handshake, and he made the mistake of being somewhere near Belichick's path to mid field. Belichick shoved the camera right into the poor guys chicklets.

Then there is the fact that he has a personality somewhere between a dead fish and a live slug. However, with all of that being said you still have to give the guy his dues when it comes to coaching professional football, he gets the job done.

What do you mean no reference to "spygate?"

I think "Bill is about figuring out what the other team is going to do, and just destroying it" is about as clear a reference to this coach's spying impulse as any of his former players has ever put in print.

There are legal ways to gather intelligence about an opponent and illegal ways. The Patriots were once caught doing the latter. But that means that this team focuses on predicting an opponent's game plan "and blowing it up," and Klecko seems to confirm it here.

Belicheat is phony. Sure he prepares and is goal oriented. Nice to have Ernie Adams as a sidekick. . Sorry this guy is tarnished.



What exactly is wrong with having Ernie Adams on staff? -- Bob Smizik

OVER-RATED CLAP CLAP CLAP-CLAP-CLAP
OVER-RATED CLAP CLAP CLAP-CLAP-CLAP
OVER-RATED CLAP CLAP CLAP-CLAP-CLAP

The 'Cheatriots go down hard today, Giants by 20.

Re the 2001 AFC Championship Game: The biggest piece of intelligence was in the newspaper. The Steelers were going to start injured tight end Mark Bruener. The Patriots put a big defensive lineman directly over him and blew up the run game. As hard as this is to accept, the Steelers were outsmarted.

Patriots legacy will be that they outsmarted teams -often by employing wildly unconventional and not illegal tactics (see: starting wide receiver at defensive back; patching together a defense from the waiver wire; trading expensive pro bowlers for draft picks and salary cap room; employing spread offense to neutralize pass rush and exploit weak corners [offense that changed college football]; etc.)

One thing Bellichick has not yet solved: really good 4-3 defense with exceptional pass rushing linemen (i.e. New York Giants). Will be interesting to see what he tweaks today because Giants have Patriots number.

In the 2001 AFCC game, the Pats special teams scored two TDs(punt return and blocked FG). That`s what beat us, not their knowledge of our offensive signals. And Korky played a lousy game that day, especially in Q4.

After Spygate was revealed, the Pats went 18-0 in 2007 and scored tons of points. They have scored tons of points this year.

I`m sorry but you can`t attribute all their success to videotaping, despite the suspicious behavior by Goodell. Belichick is just uncanny most of the time. And if he has a Svengali named Adams, so what? It`s not illegal.

Give the devil his due.



Well stated. -- Bob Smizik

The day that Goodell destroyed the Spygate tapes was the day I didn't trust him anymore.

Funny how all these NFL shills forget to mention spy-gate as if it never happened or didnt matter.
I'll never forget Steeler player commenting on - it was as if they knew what we were going to run.

if belichick coached the steelers we'd have at least 3 more super bowl rings and would be playing the giants for another this evening. and if he were available to coach the steelers next season, who wouldn't advise art II to fire tomlin, hire belichick, sit back and watch the steelers dominate the afc.

The day that Goodell destroyed the Spygate tapes was the day I didn't trust him anymore.

Great point.

Punt returns and FGA's in 2001 AFC Championship had much to do with punting in 2001 AFC Championship and not scoring touchdowns. Pats stopped the run, forced Kordell to pass on third down -- lots of punts and FGA's. Pats outsmarted Steelers. Exposed weaknesses, fair and square.

...
Glad to see people are disgusted by the NFL destroying the Spygate evidence so fast.

Like most of these affairs, the cover-up is a bigger deal than the actual, or suspected crime.

Watergate was about the coverup, not the crime.

Martha Stewart was not convicted of insider trading, she was convicted of lying to the grand jury.

Max will always believe there was some perception, or worse, that the stolen signals "edge" was used by a few bettors, and that's the last thing the NFL wanted to become public.

...
It's pretty interesting reading about Ernie Adams.

Sounds a little like "Rain Man".

Sounds like most teams would like to have a guy with that kind of fanatical ability to notice things helping their team.

Wonder what Ernie would say about the bubble screen?

People can shout Spygate until they are blue in the face, but what Belichick has done with the Patriots in his tenure with the team can't be discounted. I'm always amazed how the Patriots turn undrafted guys and turn them in to NFL players.

But I've never bought into the idea of Belichick being a "genius" or the greatest coach ever. Having a Hall of Fame quarterback can lift the reputation of even an average coach. He is above average, but his time as the Browns coach always will keep him out of the genius category.


Gotta disagree. Holding his time with the Browns against Belichick would be the same as holding the 80s against Noll. --- Bob Smizik

Spygate is as central to the Patriots success as steroids are to Mark McGwire's home runs. Maybe they get to those Super Bowls without knowing the Steelers' calls. And maybe McGwire hits 70 without being juiced. We'll never know. But what we do know is the Patriots cheated wildly to get past the Steelers and that must never be forgotten. My question is why is this so swept under therug everywhere but Pittsburgh? If McGwire will never be in the baseball Hall of Fame, the same should be true for Belichick in his sports HOF.

If I remember correctly, he's Joe Klecko's son, DE for the Jets back in the 80's.

Sorry, but not even Belichick could have overcome the injuries we had this year. We went into the Denver game with starters missing and many playing hurt (e.g, Legursky, Woodley, Ben) but most fans seem to have forgotten that we suffered a number of serious injuries DURING the game. None of those additional injured would have been able to play in the following week. No way we would have beaten NE with eight starters out.

...
For anyone who saw the NFL awards TV show last night -

Didn't Goodell seem a little awkward, a little ill at ease, compared to the young, in-experienced players accepting awards?

Max would expect an experienced, educated, guy like Goodell, who leads a billion dollar industry, who speaks before crowds and cameras more frequently than younger players do, to appear less stiff and uncomfortable.

Goodell looked like the nerd eating lunch at the jock table, and trying to fit in.

Funny how all these NFL shills forget to mention spy-gate as if it never happened or didnt matter.

You want them to beat a dead horse forever?

The fact of the matter is you don't have any idea what was taped, how many times it was taped, how it was implemented pre-game, how it was implemented in-game, and how the Patriots have been as good or better since the incident ended. You can't answer any of those questions and, worse, you can't stand that any team, player, or coach could possibly be better than the Steelers straight-up....they've just gotta be cheating!!!!

One day it'll come out that the Steelers were taping the same things in the same time period and there is going to be a buffet of crow to eat for everyone that cries over this issue.

Oh wait! It has! "On December 3rd, former Steelers head coach Bill Cowher made an appearance on the "Felger and Massarotti Show" on 98.5 The Sports Hub. In this radio interview, Coach Cowher was asked about the taping the Patriots did and the possible effect it had against his Steelers when they played. He also mentions that when he was coach, he did his own share of sign stealing."

"

"We had people out there trying to look at signals," explained Cowher. "We had guys go to games, they would take the signal caller, write it down, and they would take it back. They would match up the signals with certain defenses or the certain plays that were being called - particularly the defenses that were being called - to see if we could come up with some kind of alert for the signals. So what they did with the videotaping of the signal caller, people do it with the people in the stands.

"There's people in the stands that are sitting there looking at the signal, writing the signal down, and then matching up the 1st and 10 - here was the signal. You go back on 2nd and 10 - here was the signal. You do that for a whole game. You'd go back and match up the defenses with the signal, and you can come up with what the signal was. You don't need a videotape to do what they were talking about doing. And people were doing that - we were doing that. Everybody does that, you're trying to gain a competitive edge. There's nothing wrong with that."

From the article that turned me on the subject:http://www.patsfans.com/articles/patriots/3508/SpyGate--The-Most-Overblown-Story-of-the-Decade.html


Would you like that hot or cold?



Thanks for that, Dan. I had not read that before. Very illuminating and, I can assure you, will change the minds of no one in the SteelerNation. --- Bob Smizik

What exactly is wrong with having Ernie Adams on staff? -- Bob Smizik
--------------------------------------
In the movie Rain Man, the Rain Man and his brother were asked to leave the Casino because they had an advantage. Not saying its the same but Belicheat takes advantage.
And if it was no big deal why was he punished? Sure the first playoff loss had special teams go against the Steelers but they shut them down and the cheating gave them an edge. His name and cheating will go hand in hand forever.



Are you joking? Belichick was not punished because Ernie Adams was on his staff. Good grief! -- Bob Smizik

Thanks for that, Dan. I had not read that before. Very illuminating and, I can assure you, will change the minds of no one in the SteelerNation. --- Bob Smizik

The last part was my laugh of the day!

Anybody watching 8 hours of pregame today? How many channels run pregame shows these days? 20?

Are you joking? Belichick was not punished because Ernie Adams was on his staff. Good grief! -- Bob Smizik
-----------------------------
Who said he was? Look, the guy is a cheater... was caught and will be known forever for it .

...

Sorry, but not even Belichick could have overcome the injuries we had this year. We went into the Denver game with starters missing and many playing hurt (e.g, Legursky, Woodley, Ben)

Maybe, maybe not.

But, I'd trade Tomlin for Belichick 7 days a week if I wanted a coach to get my team ready for a big game, for example the second Baltimore game, or the S.F. game, or the Denver Debacle.

And I'd trade LeBeau for Belichick 7 days a week if I wanted a coach who would not find the only way to lose an OT game in 11 seconds.

After footage from the actual tape was aired on Fox NFL Sunday on September 16, former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson claimed, "This is exactly how I was told to do it 18 years ago by a Kansas City Chiefs scout. I tried it, but I didn't think it helped us." Johnson also said, "Bill Belichick was wrong because he videotaped signals after a memo was sent out to all of the teams saying not to do it. But what irritates me is hearing some reactions from players and coaches. These players don't know what their coaches are doing. And some of the coaches have selective amnesia because I know for a fact there were various teams doing this. That's why the memo was sent to everybody. That doesn't make [Belichick] right, but a lot of teams are doing this."

"Bill is about figuring out what the other team is going to do, and just destroying it."- Dan Klecko

Amen!!! Notice the words 'going' and 'destroy'. Most coaches would be termed 'should' do, and 'defeat' it.

That is the difference. Play for perfection from all angles. Don't try to make a good play, make a great play. Don't try to outlast your opposition but obliterate them.

Not because you can, because 90% of the time you won't. You may never have the perfect game amd come close only once.

What that frame of mind does is make sure your totally prepared within your ability- no matter what happens win or lose- to get the best result you can get.

In losing, you always know, you left no bullets in the gun and you opposition was simply better than you overall. In winning, you left no doubt that the final outcome (if close), was more about your opposition being simply a great challenger- more than your mistakes to keep the outcome in doubt for so long.

The worst way to lose is to an inferior opponent because you were not prepared for the things they did. That is what attempting to destroy your opposition is all about. On a bad day you will win because 'destroy' turned into 'defeat' of the opposition.

The Steelers of the 70's are the best example. They did not always win, but won alot. They did not always blow out the opposition but did it alot. They also won more big games than any other team in an 8 year period.

Play to be great and your chances of being good are much more possible.

The fact is that Belichick and his staff violated league rules by videotaping (way, way different from having people write down stuff they saw from the stands). But there was essentially no punishment. The fines were negligible considering Kraft's vast wealth, and even though they were docked a first-rounder, they still had another first-round pick that year, a much higher one than the one they lost. They should have lost both or at least the higher of the two. That Goodell destroyed the evidence was icing on the cake. What possible reason was there to do this? Not only should they not have been destroyed, they should have been preserved, at the very least to give the impression that the matter had been handled properly, even if it wasn't. There could and would be no explanation of what really went down. Goodell protected Belichick. No other coach or player in the NFL could BUY that kind of favoritism. So, maybe I'm denying the man's greatness. So be it. It's greatness tainted by both cheating and favorable treatment by the league. Belichick will get in to the HoF, but his presence will diminish, not augment it.

After footage from the actual tape was aired on Fox NFL Sunday on September 16, former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson claimed, "This is exactly how I was told to do it 18 years ago by a Kansas City Chiefs scout. I tried it, but I didn't think it helped us." Johnson also said, "Bill Belichick was wrong because he videotaped signals after a memo was sent out to all of the teams saying not to do it. But what irritates me is hearing some reactions from players and coaches. These players don't know what their coaches are doing. And some of the coaches have selective amnesia because I know for a fact there were various teams doing this. That's why the memo was sent to everybody. That doesn't make [Belichick] right, but a lot of teams are doing this."

The fact of the matter is you don't have any idea what was taped, how many times it was taped

and why don't we know this information, Dan? Perhaps becasue the Goodell ordered it to be destroyed?

I have no doubt teams try to steal signs during games, but NOONE has admitted or been caught taping practices of the opposing team.
It leaves many questions unanswered, thanks to the way it was swept under the rug and handled



Fining the team a combined $1 million and taking away a first-round draft choice is not exactly sweeping it under the rug. -- Bob Smizik

Fining the team a combined $1 million and taking away a first-round draft choice is not exactly sweeping it under the rug. -- Bob Smizik

Perhaps not, Bob, but, was there ever a reasonable explanation given as to why the eveidence was destroyed by Goodell? That aspect of the whole affair really reeks of favoritism, not to mention turning a blind eye to cheating.