Another chapter in New England Patriots cheating allegations

The New England Patriots can’t seem to get out of their own way when it comes to cheating allegations. They are the kings of “gate”. Spy-gate, Deflate-gate, now “headset-gate”. And it’s week one. Week one with a victory no less.

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The Patriots are one of the best football teams of the last two decades and New Englanders will surely argue the best of all time. Four Super Bowl victories for Tom Brady, four for Bill Belichick, four for Robert Kraft. Are the Patriots that good or is there smoldering embers where the smoke continues to billow?

On the field there is no question. The Patriots don’t cheat. They drive up to that line and stop just short of crossing over it. They know the rule book and they know where the rules are not clear enough to warrant exceptions. Take last night for example. With the Pittsburgh Steelers on the goal line, the Patriots sync their shifts to simulate a snap count causing the Steelers to move. They practice this. They have used it before. Is it cheating? No, not even close. Calling out cadence is cheating.

Instead the Patriots use a simple yet effective way to move the ball back from the line. And they do it well. Watching the Patriots on Thursday night was like watching a team playing 10 games in instead of fresh out of pre-season. Yet I did wonder how they were so often able to get away with contact pick plays. It always seems the Patriots know what exactly they can and can’t get away with. They push the envelope.

Last season they knew enough of the rules to bend formations that allowed ineligible receivers to line up outside. It confused the Baltimore Ravens. It was, stressing was, legal at the time. It isn’t anymore. It’s almost as if the Patriots have someone on staff devoted to reading the rule book to see what is illegal and what can border on that line. Give them credit, whatever their means are they are good at it.

In the documentary, “Do Your Job” that aired this week on NFL Network we saw the preparation that went into one single play. Drawn up perfectly should the Seattle Seahawks run a goal line play that would teeter on a pick play. They practiced that one play over and over again with Malcolm Butler and it paid off. When the Seahawks took to the line in the Super Bowl with a chance to seal a victory, Butler knew what play was coming. That’s the tedious nature of Bill Belichick.

As a Dolphins fan I can’t sit here and say that I respect their tactics and as an NFL fan I would be hesitant to as well. As a football fan in general, I have to appreciate the lengths this team will go to find an edge. Even a simple one, a small one, something that is legal but other teams don’t employ or practice because of how close it is to being unfair.

The Patriots dynasty will be held in very high regard with their fan base but outside there will always be an asterisk. Warranted or not. This latest development of “headset-gate” is something that is far from new. It’s been going on the entire time Bill Belichick has been the teams head coach. The Steelers are not the only ones to complain but like every other team they won’t pursue it. Foxboro is not a fun place to play in and frankly it’s not much fun if you are a fan of the opposing team. I’ve been there.

What is for certain is that the players on the field are the ones ultimately responsible for stopping the Patriot offense and scoring on defense. If the Patriots know the play signals then teams should do a better job of switching them up. I remember playing baseball long ago and one of our players was a freaking genius. He has to be rich now if he simply could curtail his talents into counting cards. He would know the opposing teams 3rd base coach signals by the third inning. He probably isn’t rich because unless he lost his integrity he would never do it.

That’s not a knock on Belichick. I’m not saying the man has no integrity. My opinion on him is simply this. When I compare him to the greatest coaches of all time, I wonder less about the accusations thrown at the team and more about the attempts to cross or come close to the line of fair play. I don’t see him as a great coach, just a damn good one.

The most difficult thing for any fan not in New England is to take a step back and ask yourself, would you feel the same way if he was your coach? Would you feel the same way if your team was the beneficiary of his meticulous nature? I would venture to guess that very few people would feel the same way.

What I respected the most in Don Shula, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Bud Grant, and the likes was the integrity they brought to the game. We are going to line up and beat you with the players we have on the field and we are going to do and then look you in the eye at the end and say, “Good game”. I wonder how many coaches today say that with genuine emotion to Bill Belichick.

This isn’t a backhanded swipe at the coach. I admit I’m not a fan. I wasn’t a fan of his in Cleveland either. But I don’t have to be a fan of his. No more than I have to be a fan of Bill Parcells who i didn’t care for all that much either. Belichick does one thing very very well. He get’s more than 100% from his team even the players that other teams won’t touch. He knows how to coach and he knows how to utilize what he has to work with.

Remember about six years ago the Patriots were the pass happy free wheeling wide-receiver team with Randy Moss and the tight ends were afterthoughts? Belichick evolved and changed to what he thought would work and now other teams are trying to emulate that. It’s sad really that a coach who could likely go down in history as one of the greatest football minds in the history of the sport will forever be linked to cheating. One of the best and brilliant minds in NFL history, Bill Walsh, never had that stigma.

Whether it’s warranted or not, Belichick is not loathed or pestered by what he and his team is accused of off the field, it’s the tiniest of nuances that he employs on the field. The legal ones, the calls and decisions that don’t quite cross the line of good play but instead teeter on it. Just play the game, just coach the game.

Dolphins fans have their own thoughts on the Patriots and I would surmise a lot of that has to do with the Patriots domination of the Dolphins for the last 15 years plus. I remember when I lived outside of Boston many decades ago, Patriots fans hated me because the Dolphins dominated the Patriots for so long.

It’s not Bill Belichick’s job to flounder his team to appease others or the Dolphins. It’s the Dolphins job to knock them off their thrones and then keep it for themselves. The Patriots mentality is “everyone is against us” and they are. Not because they cheat or allegedly cheat, but because they are talented and good. What drives me crazy is that every time ESPN or someone else opts to air a piece of dirty Patriot laundry the Patriots are the ones who benefit on the field. It’s bulletin board material and it confirms that everyone outside of New England is out to get them. Why would you not rally around that?

This year the Dolphins have a good shot at taking the Patriots down but it will be done on the field of play in Foxboro and at the end of the season in Miami. If they can’t then they have no reasons to complain.

Chances are we as fans will never know what exactly the Patriots have done. We only know stories and reports, and hear other teams talk and former players speak out but until someone actually comes up with evidence to prove the Patriots are cheating, hard evidence turned over to the public and not the league office, no one will ever know. 20 years from now no one will really care.

All that matters now is the season and what the Dolphins can do to beat the Patriots. Otherwise we can all sit back and watch them roll through the playoffs and ask why the hell did we hire Dave Wannstedt and not Bill Belichick. Then again why not just continue to ask why the hell we hired Wannstedt over anyone.

On a side note, I have to laugh at the image used for this article. I didn’t have to search for it as the expression on Belichicks face rarely if ever changes. “I don’t know what the refs are talking about, my headset works fine”. Sorry, had to say it.

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