If Belichick spied, suspend him
Posted: Wednesday, September 12, 2007 10:23 AM
If Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick is found to have ordered the taping of Jets’ defensive signals against NFL rules, he’s a cheater. And if NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell finds that is the case, Belichick should get the same penalty that players who cheat by using drugs get. He should be suspended for four games for what would be his first offense.
I don’t mean banned from the sidelines. I mean banned from any contact with the team, whether in person or via e-mail, instant messenger, overnight express, phone, carrier pigeon, semaphores or smoke signals.
That’s the rule for individuals who try to get an advantage by taking illegal performance-enhancing drugs. It’s only fair that it should be the rule for coaches who take illegal performance-enhancing videotapes.
In my last entry, I admit I grossly underplayed the incident. On Monday, I wrote that I didn’t think Belichick was involved in team employees taping the Jets’ defensive signals on the sidelines during Sunday’s game against the Jets. I didn’t put espionage past Belichick, but I felt that the method used was too crude and obvious to be his work. I thought he was too smart for such obvious method as standing on the sideline and pointing a camcorder at the Jets defensive coaches.
I was wrong. The NFL has determined that the Pats were taping the signals, a violation of NFL rules, and Belichick has issued a brief apology, although exactly what he is apologizing for isn’t clear. He blames the incident on his own misreading of league rules.
Commissioner Roger Goodell, who’s done little during his brief tenure other than put out forest fires, is reportedly extremely ticked off. He should be. The integrity of many sports is under attack, and the NFL is no exception. Fans want to know that what they’re seeing is legitimate. Stealing signals violates the trust of the fans as well as the basic rules of fair play and sportsmanship. And this incident makes you wonder what else Belichick has been doing during his extraordinary tenure in New England.
It’s not stealing signals that has propelled this past my threshold of moral outrage. Having a coach or employee watch the sidelines and attempt to decipher what they’re looking at is totally within the rules and part of the game. Even recording the action from a seat in the stands might be viewed as somewhat legitimate – you’re not seeing anything that game cameras and other fans can’t see.
But the rules specifically prohibit such taping on the sidelines, and that’s what the Patriots’ employees were doing, and from the apology and the statement, it was done with Belichick’s knowledge and most likely his blessing. With a tight zoom from that vantage point, you can read the play chart and link what you see with the calls being made.
There are ways to counter such espionage, as I wrote Monday. No team should be victimized by such tactics if they take simple precautions. But the action taken was a violation of league rules for the purpose of cheating – at least that’s the indication from Goodell’s office.
Belickick saying he misinterpreted the rules doesn’t wash. It’s the same as a player caught with tainted urine arguing that he didn’t know what was in that supplement he was taking. Ignorance is no excuse. Like players considering a supplement, it’s his obligation to call the league to see if what he wants to do is permitted.
Word is that Goodell is considering docking the Pats several draft choices. That would hurt, no question about it. But why have one set of rules for players and another for coaches? If Belichick cheated, let him suffer the same penalty as a player who does.
Give him four weeks of in-season vacation.
