Now that I have had time to absorb the plight of my team's failure to complete a season that would have catapulted them into NFL lore, I have taken time to reflect on the season, the conspiracies, and the abrupt end to any football fan's vision. The Patriot's collapse in Super Bowl 42 was Titanic at best. The team that was the odds on favorite to run away with the NFL title and become the first team in 35 years to post a perfect season lost that chance in the final 60 minutes of meaningful football. Aside from the heartache I experienced (yes\, I have lived and died by this team for over 20 years) I got to thinking of what the loss meant to the league as a whole. Put aside the hater mentality for just one minute and take a moment to understand where I'm going with this. A week prior to the big game senator Arlen Specter let it be known that he wanted to meet with Commissioner Goodell on the "alleged actions" of the Patriots gaining competitve advantage in previous seasons; including Super Bowl 36. He is concerned that the league was not forth coming about all the details regarding Spygate and feels there is substance to an investigation that expands beyond this season. Goodell will oblige the senator and discuss the matter but also wants to speak with the Patriots video assistant turned pro golfer about the information he may have. Now for the part that I have questions about. Does the Patriots losing take away from Spygate as there is no more talk about "perfect season" and they proved they are mortal and a better team won on Sunday? If the Patriots won on Sunday, my feeling is this would have EXPLODED into a huge firestorm. The pressure would be on to see if in fact the Patriots cheated in previous big games using video to scope out and master formations, signals and playcalling. The Patriots would be on the World's stage even more so than now; it would be up for public debate in terms of the legitimacy of the perfect season. Now that they are the runner up the heat gets turned down a degree and the NFL can push the agenda that "They didn't win, where is the relevance?" I'm looking for thoughts as I have heard opinions from other fans of the game and the reaction varies; some say it was the best thing for the league to have the Pats lose, others think the loss will propel the issue even higher. The ramification on the league will be huge if this turns out to be true; coupled with a potential labor war and the league's future could certainly be much different that you or I ever felt it would be. As a fan, staring at the potential the team I have supported and loved for years may have underhandedly gained advantage does strike me deep. I will never quit on this team but even the thought that the success could be tarnished is rather heart breaking for me; there would be no legitimacy only a shroud of unsportsmanlike conduct.. So tell me GIF nation, bad, good, or indifferent, what do you think?
I don't think that a team can gain that much advantage out of taping the opponents. All teams have access to tons of viedo footage off their opponents latest games anyway and a lot of times you can see the D-coordinator sending signals from the sideline. So where did cheating start? Obsereve the oponents coordinators/HC? Taping them? Sending scouts to the practice, if they are open to the public? Where to draw the line? I think this whole thing is way to overrated and doubt that the Patriots season went another way w/o the Spygate affair. Maybe the NFL should allow a defense player speakers in the helmet too, so there won't be any further need for secret signals from the sideline.
Ok...the way I see it is if the Patriots did this taping and such that's the competitive edge they needed to get ahead of the curve so to speak. The one that stands out for me is the accusation of taping the Rams walk through before the Super Bowl.. Even if it was open to the public, it still gave the Pats the chance to run it over and over looking for the key to what play was coming. We aren't talking about college or high school here this is Professional football and with the skills so close they take what edge they can get to move ahead. I also don't think this is going to go away because the Pats lost the Bowl. I think Specter is an Eagles fan and has questions about what might have happened with the Eagles/Pats Super Bowl also. All this being said though, the Patriot players still had to go make the plays and do the work on the field. I think what they have done in the past 5 years or so is great for them. I think the coaches gained an unfair advantage though and passed that on to the players. No....I don't see this going away just yet.
