Why the Patriots suck... (not a rant)

[SuaSponte]

@John DiFool

I hate the Patriots too, but “suck” is the last term which would come to mind.

Actually, I don’t hate the Patriots. They’re my wife’s home team, and as they are in the AFC I can safely root for them, at least during the regular season. So I’m at least half a fan.

But god, they are soooo boring this year.

Sua

[SuaSponte]

@Trunk

Still, I think this weekend is a toss-up. I’m surprised at how heavily people seem to be leaning towards the Pats.

How I wish. But it’s not going to be. The Pats are just going to crush them - and it’s not going to be any fun to watch.

Sua

[mhendo]

@Intelligently Designed

Tell me when was the last time a Super Bowl defending champ with a 7-0 record and playing at home was a 5-point underdog.

Probably never.

What’s your point?

[Flander]

@Intelligently Designed

Tell me when was the last time a Super Bowl defending champ with a 7-0 record and playing at home was a 5-point underdog.

Seriously? HA!! I didn’t know they were underdogs. You almost want Indy to stomp the shit out of the Pats so it will shut everyone up.

[Intelligently_Designed]

I think my point was pretty clear.

[Lord_Ashtar]

@Intelligently Designed

Tell me when was the last time a Super Bowl defending champ with a 7-0 record and playing at home was a 5-point underdog.

Tell me when the last time was that a head coach was found to be cheating the way Bellichick was.

[Noone_Special]

[Pet Peeve]Between the Pats and the Red Sox, I just wish the **Celtics **would put together something even *resembling *a team, for a change… (I don’t give a rat’s ass about Hockey :p)
[/PP]

[DudleyGarrett]

@Noone Special

[Pet Peeve]Between the Pats and the Red Sox, I just wish the **Celtics **would put together something even *resembling *a team, for a change… (I don’t give a rat’s ass about Hockey :p)
[/PP]

You may get your wish this year…!

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

@Noone Special

[Pet Peeve]Between the Pats and the Red Sox, I just wish the **Celtics **would put together something even *resembling *a team, for a change… (I don’t give a rat’s ass about Hockey :p)
[/PP]

They did go out and get a guy named Garnett in the off season.

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

@Lord Ashtar

Tell me when the last time was that a head coach was found to be cheating the way Bellichick was.

I wouldn’t really call it “cheating.” It was against league rules to videotape the signals but trying to decipher signals is part of the game. That whole thing was overblown, in my opinion and I think that’s part of the reason he’s running up college scores against everyone he plays right now, so there can’t be any question about his or his team’s legitimacy.

[pepperlandgirl]

@Flander

Seriously? HA!! I didn’t know they were underdogs. You almost want Indy to stomp the shit out of the Pats so it will shut everyone up.

I have a mostly irrational hatred for the Manning. I was sad when he finally got his ring last year because it meant I could no longer mock him. It was truly an end of an era.

But goddamn, I hope he has the best game of his life on Sunday.

[mhendo]

@Intelligently Designed

I think my point was pretty clear.

I assume your point was that the Patriots are a very good team. Which i haven’t seen a single person in this thread dispute.

It still doesn’t guarantee them a 16-0 season, or a Super Bowl win.

[Telemark]

@Noone Special

[Pet Peeve]Between the Pats and the Red Sox, I just wish the **Celtics **would put together something even *resembling *a team, for a change… (I don’t give a rat’s ass about Hockey :p)
[/PP]

Power Rankings | NBA.com

It’s a start. Several analysts are picking the Celtics to make the finals.

[Smooth_Jack]

@Diogenes the Cynic

I wouldn’t really call it “cheating.” It was against league rules to videotape the signals but trying to decipher signals is part of the game. That whole thing was overblown, in my opinion and I think that’s part of the reason he’s running up college scores against everyone he plays right now, so there can’t be any question about his or his team’s legitimacy.

Since when is breaking the rules not cheating?

Running the score up on winless and otherwise weak teams isn’t proof of the best football team in history. The Pats are a good team, but they won’t have a patsy to push around this Sunday.

[Lord_Ashtar]

@Diogenes the Cynic

I wouldn’t really call it “cheating.” It was against league rules to videotape the signals but trying to decipher signals is part of the game. That whole thing was overblown, in my opinion and I think that’s part of the reason he’s running up college scores against everyone he plays right now, so there can’t be any question about his or his team’s legitimacy.

I disagree. I think there’s a lot more going on with this, and Gregg Easterbrook of ESPN.com thinks so, too.

On Sunday, Sept. 16, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell went on national TV and promised he would get to the bottom of the Patriots’ sign-stealing. Four days later, the NFL announced all videotapes and other spying materials compiled by the Patriots had been obtained by the league and destroyed. Goodell, who until then had been very upfront in addressing the Beli-Cheat scandal, didn’t go back on television to say what the tapes contained; the commissioner has been in radio silence about the Patriots since the files arrived at the NFL’s Park Avenue headquarters. The league acted in a hurry to dispose of damning documents, but has not revealed what was in the tapes and notes, nor said why there was a rush to get rid of them.

The lack of answers leaves several questions hanging out there. Chief among them: Is it possible the Patriots’ tapes showed some evidence of New England cheating in a Super Bowl?

<snip>

[NFL spokesman Greg] Aiello said the heavy penalties assessed the Patriots on Sept. 13 were for “the totality of the conduct” in multiple instances of sign-stealing over several years, not for “one tape seized at the end of one quarter of one game,” meaning the tape taken from the Patriots in their season opener at the New York Jets.

If they have been cheating for years now, then they could have built up quite a library on all the teams in the NFL. I also don’t think Bellichick is the type of guy to give up an advantage like that, so I doubt that he gave his only copies to the NFL to be destroyed.

All in all, I’m very disappointed at how this has been glossed over by so many analysts. Bellichick was caught cheating. He claimed that he didn’t interpret the rules that way, even though the other 31 teams seemed to understand the NFL’s September 2006 letter just fine. It’s like they couldn’t get back to kissing his ass fast enough.

[Telemark]

@Lord Ashtar

If they have been cheating for years now, then they could have built up quite a library on all the teams in the NFL.

As far as I can tell, it’s perfectly fine according to league rules to tape the opponents signals as long as the camera isn’t on your sideline. So they could have quite a legally obtained library anyways; all the teams can. Can someone confirm that this is correct?

I’m not saying the Bellichick didn’t do something wrong. He clearly did, it was stupid, and he should have been much more humble about it. It put a black mark on him and the organization. But I think people are blowing the significance of the damage out of proportion.

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

There’s nothing wrong with deciphering signals. Deciphering signals isn’t “cheating.” It’s illegal to videotape signals, but it shouldn’t be and it doesn’t give any team a particular advantage. They were videotaping something which was in plainsight anyway and which could not yield any particular advantage in the game that was being played. Any suggestion that the Patriots won 3 Superbowls because Belichick videotaped some defensive signals is absurd and I think it smells kind of like sour grapes. They broke a stupid league rule which had nothing to do with their success. This whole season is proof that it had nothing to do with their success.

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

@Telemark

As far as I can tell, it’s perfectly fine according to league rules to tape the opponents signals as long as the camera isn’t on your sideline. So they could have quite a legally obtained library anyways; all the teams can. Can someone confirm that this is correct?

I heard Lincoln Kennedy saying that every team in the NFL videotapes signals and he thought the whole “Beli-cheat” flap was ridiculous.

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

@Smooth Jack

The Pats are a good team, but they won’t have a patsy to push around this Sunday.

I think that all those holding out hope that Indy will make a game of it on sunday are going to be very disappointed. I predict that the Pats will win by at least 20. The only thing that will stop NE from having a perfect season is if they rest all their starters in the last couple of games before the playoffs.

[Telemark]

@Diogenes the Cynic

There’s nothing wrong with deciphering signals. Deciphering signals isn’t “cheating.” It’s illegal to videotape signals

Here’s an interpretation of the rules (I can’t find the actual rules online):

NFL rules prohibit video recording devices in the coaches’ booth, on the field or in a locker room during the course of any game. These rules also state that video for coaching reasons must emanate from places enclosed on all sides with an overhead roof.

On top of that, the NFL’s executive vice president for football operations sent a recent memorandum to head coaches and general managers that made clear that videotaping of any kind, including taping of an opposing team’s offensive or defensive signals, is not permitted on the sidelines, in a coaches’ booth, in a locker room, or from any other place available to a team’s staff during a game.

http://technology.findlaw.com/articles/00006/010977.html

I don’t believe that videotaping the signals is against the rules by itself, but the way the Patriots did it clearly was against the rules.