NFL Spy Scandal
Benji Zwain
Issue date: 9/24/07 Section: Sports
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of disguise," meaning that he excels in showing his opponent one thing, and then does
something completely different. This is a big reason why many NFL coaches do not wish to oppose Belichick, because he always keeps them guessing and in a state of confusion. In football, particularly at the NFL level, it is essential to keep one's opposition confused because then they will rarely know what to expect from you, which will in turn affect their play-calling.
In New England's Week 1 game against the New York Jets, Belichick and the Patriots were caught stealing the Jets' signals, meaning that the Patriots knew for the most part which plays the Jets were going to run. Of course, after this scandal was made public, people around the nation immediately started to speculate whether or not New England's success throughout this decade (which includes 3 Superbowls) was fairly earned.
One of the outcomes of this scandal that is already known is that the Patriots will lose
their 2008 1st round pick if they make the playoffs, and will lose their 2nd and 3rd round picks if they don't make the playoffs
(because they will have a higher draft pick if they don't make it). In addition to this, Belichick was personally fined 500,000 dollars.
In the history of the NFL, no team has ever been docked a 1st round draft pick, and nobody has ever been fined as much as a half million dollars. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made his point clear in this matter by issuing these severe consequences to New England; he was also setting an example for the rest of the league.
For this reason, it is probably safe to say that Belichick and the New England franchise won't do this again, at least not the week after getting caught. That being said, all
eyes were on Belichick and the Patriots in the Week 2, Sunday night showdown against the
San Diego Chargers to see if New England could still be as dominant as they usually
are, except this time without cheating. In case you missed the game, I will give you a quick rundown of how it all unfolded. In the opening drive of the game the Patriots flexed their muscles, marching approximately 75 yards down the field on virtually all passing plays and capping the drive off with a seven yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tom Brady to tight end Ben Watson.
On the Chargers' first offensive possession…
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