Ring up another Cheating year... Pats, what a joke

[so-cal dub]

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Source: Pats employee filmed Rams

 

PHOENIX - One night before the Patriots [team stats] face the Giants in Super Bowl XLII, new allegations have emerged about a Patriots employee taping the Rams’ final walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI.

 

According to a source, a member of the team’s video department filmed the Rams’ final walkthrough before that 2002 game. The next day, the Patriots upset St. Louis, 20-17, on a last-second field goal by Adam Vinatieri for their first championship.

 

A walkthrough involves practicing plays at reduced speed without contact or pads. It is common for teams to film their own walkthroughs and practices.

 

When contacted last night, Patriots vice president of media relations Stacey James said: “The coaches have no knowledge of it.”

 

Yesterday, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) stated that he plans to summon NFL commissioner Roger Goodell before Congress to explain why he destroyed tapes that showed the Patriots stealing defensive signals over the last two years.

 

After his state of the NFL press conference yesterday, Goodell was asked if the league’s investigation into the Pats included allegations that they recorded the Rams walkthrough in 2002.

 

“I’m not aware of that,” Goodell said.

 

“We have no information on that,” seconded NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.

 

According to a source close to the team during the 2001 season, here’s what happened. On Feb. 2, 2002, one day before the Patriots’ Super Bowl game against heavily favored St. Louis in New Orleans, the Patriots visited the Superdome for their final walkthrough.

 

After completing the walkthrough, they had their team picture taken and the Rams then took the field. According to the source, a member of the team’s video staff stayed behind after attending the team’s walkthrough and filmed St. Louis’ walkthrough.

 

At no point was he asked to identify himself or produce a press pass, the source said. The cameraman rode the media shuttle back to the hotel with news photographers when the Rams walkthrough was completed, the source said.

 

It’s not known what the cameraman did with the tape from there. It’s also not known if he made the recording on his own initiative or if he was instructed to make the recording by someone with the Patriots or anyone else.

 

The next day, the Patriots opened a 14-3 halftime lead on the Rams, who were 14-point favorites and operators of an offense known as “The Greatest Show on Turf.”

 

The Rams didn’t begin moving the ball until the fourth quarter, when their 14-point rally pulled the teams into a 17-17 tie with less than two minutes remaining. Tom Brady [stats] then led the most famous drive in Patriots history for the winning field goal.

 

The Patriots were fined $750,000 and docked a first-round draft pick for breaking league policy and filming the Jets’ defensive signals from the sideline in September.

 

Asked yesterday if he believed the Pats used similar films to achieve their three Super Bowl victories, Goodell was adamant. “No,” he said. “There was no indication that it benefited them in any of the Super Bowl victories.”

 

From now on, I dont want to hear shit from Boston fans.

 

[NightFire]

If you're not cheating you're not trying hard enough.

[Virginia Giant]

If you're not cheating you're not trying hard enough.

When it comes to that, I agree, though there is a line you can't cross. When money starts changing hands to alter the outcome of games, then we have a problem. but this video taping practice, signals, eh, it doesn't bother that much. I guess what i mean is i can see both sides of the aisle here.

 

 

 

Though i would have liked to see the tapes that got detroyed, something big was going on there and Goodell was doing some major ass covering.

[Sephiroth]

Wow.

 

If they're found guilty by the league on this, do they have to forfeit their Super Bowl victory?

[GreyHoodie]

Here are my questions about this:

 

1) According to various media accounts and Matt Walsh’s current employers bio on him, Mr. Walsh left the Patriots in 2003

 

However, according to his own wedding announcement he left in January 2002.

 

http://www.projo.com/weddings/content/proj...15x.33494a.html

 

The Patriots went to the SB that year, which means he left before the season was over. A year later he gets a job working with NFL Europe. Maybe there was a typo or maybe he lied to his employer so it didn’t look like he was unemployed for a year.

 

2) Speaking of creditability does it bother anyone that he claims to have spent parts of two seasons on the golf team, the college's sports information office has no record of him in its files?

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3226465

 

3) Walsh hints to have copies of said tapes with evidence of Patriots cheating. I doubt Patriot policy would allow him to make copies of tapes for his personal use, so if he did they are stolen. Does he actually claim to have hard evidence or is the media just jumping to conclusions?

 

4) If we are talking about the Patriots spying on the Rams why aren’t we also talking about the Rams spying on the Patriots?

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...751C0A9649C8B63

 

"Halfway through practice, Patriots' linebackers coach Pepper Johnson noticed something in a third-floor window of a house next to the field.

Club and league officials said a telescope was clearly visible in the window, according to a pool report, and that 15 minutes later, a person appeared at the window, and then vanished.

Officials scanned the window with binoculars, but the person never returned."

 

 

5) According to this story. http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3226465

 

"Obviously, Mangini knew what was going on and it had been going on for a while," Walsh said. "They tried to catch them doing it last year and weren't able to. So they were just waiting for them to throw the camera up this year on the sideline. But afterwards, I get the impression the league said to them, 'Hey, kind of back down from this; let us take care of it,' because Mangini probably could have come out and said more, made more of a deal out of it if he wanted to."

 

Mr. Walsh has inside information that the Jets tried and failed to catch the Pats spying in 2006. Whether he left in 2002 or 2003... how does he have inside information about 2006?

 

6) According to http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs07/n...tory?id=3227245

 

The unnamed source we all assume is Walsh claims that a Patriots employee stayed behind and video taped the event

"According to the report, an unnamed source close to the team during the 2001 season said that following the Patriots' walk-through at the Louisiana Superdome, a member of the team's video staff stayed behind and taped the Rams' walk-through -- a non-contact, no-pads practice at reduced speed in which a team goes through its plays.

The cameraman was not asked to identify himself or produce a press pass and later rode the media shuttle back to the Patriots' hotel, the source told the Herald. It is not known what became of the tape, or whether the cameraman made the tape on his own initiative or at someone else's instruction, according to the report."

Yet according to http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/football/...ts_practice_ap/

 

Practices are a closed event so he could not hide among the media....

 

Or maybe someone thought he was a family member of one of the Rams, and he took a tape the equivalent to the Rams family home video....

 

Yeah thats the edge the Pats need...film of the Ram players hugging their kids.

 

7) Specter is Comcast’s lead senator in the fight with the NFL over if it should be part of basic cable or a sport package. According to opensecrets.org his second largest donor is Comcast. How is what the senator doing any different than the shake down of Moss?

 

8) According to http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/...e_sparring.html

 

The senator or his chief of staff attempted to use the office to get tickets for the SB. Is that a violation of senate ethic rules?

 

9) When did the rules about side line video taping go in to effect? Best as I can tell it wasn’t until 2006, but I might be wrong. If it wasn’t in effect when Walsh worked with the Patriots, why would it matter if they taped then?

 

 

[Clarence the Blue Puppet]

I love how the line of morality keeps getting pushed farther and farther back. If a pop warner coach was caught video taping another teams' practice, he would be run out of town. So if it's wrong with kids, why isn't wrong with pros? Pros should have the confidence in themselves to beat a team without having to video tape the other teams' practice. Isn't that what game film is for? And if it's no big deal, then why are tapes being destroyed?

[GreyHoodie]

I love how the line of morality keeps getting pushed farther and farther back. If a pop warner coach was caught video taping another teams' practice, he would be run out of town. So if it's wrong with kids, why isn't wrong with pros? Pros should have the confidence in themselves to beat a team without having to video tape the other teams' practice. Isn't that what game film is for? And if it's no big deal, then why are tapes being destroyed?

 

The NFL has rules.

 

BB was determined to violated an NFL rule, he was punished with a fine of 3/4 million dollars and a first round draft pick.

 

The NFL also has a rule about excess celebrating a touchdown in the end zone, week 17, Moss and Co were determined to have violated that rule when he tied Rice's TD record and he was punished with 15 yards on the ensuing kick off.

 

Neither infraction was overlooked. Both was punished. Neither needs senate involvement, nor should either take away from tomorrow's game.