Please just go away

With spygate rearing its head again, I need to just share my thoughts.

First of all, if the Patriots are found to have done more than they admitted to back in September, then I will be the first one to say that the punishment should be severe. But I think it should be severe for the coach, the owner, and his staff, not the players. More draft picks. Fines. Suspensions of even a full season would not be out of order. But do not punish the players or the fans by doing something like banning them from the post-season.

Secondly, I return to my original argument that even if the Patriots had video tape of signals and knew exactly what the defensive calls were, I do not see how that would help the Patriots own defense that performed so amazingly in the Super Bowl against the Rams. I also remind everyone that just knowing what someone is going to do does not mean you will be able to beat it. Tom Brady still has to make throws. David Patten still has to catch the ball. Adam Vinatieri still has to kick a 48 yard field goal. In the Super Bowl and 3 weeks earlier in a driving snow storm. No knowledge of signals caused that ball to sail through the uprights.

Finally, I offer this. We know that 5 days before the 2007 season started a memo was sent clearly stating that video taping was illegal. We know that the rule had been present since the 2006 season. What I have never heard is whether or not the rule, in any form, existing during the Super Bowl years.

It is quite easy to say that they video taped the Jets and that was bad, but to retroactively go back and say everything they did before that has been called into question is jumping the gun. While Belichick's claim that he mis-interpreted the rule from 2007 is ludicrous, if the rule was not so clear in 2001, 2003, or 2004, then let's not question those victories.

Illegal contact was not a point of emphasis until the 2004 season. The rule was there when aggressive defenses like the 2000 Ravens and 2002 Buccaneers won Super Bowls. We do not now go back an diminish their accomplishments because the rule is now 'emphasized'.

I am not saying that the Patriots were not breaking the rules in the Super Bowl years. They were video taping and I am assuming that the specific rule has been unchanged since those years. However, the specifics of the rule and the importance of it may not have come to light until the last couple years. So do not cast doubts on preceding years.