Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Sunday, November 15, 2015
A Comprehensive Guide to the New England Patriots Cheating
The New England Patriots cheating is a tradition unlike any other. While they have been one of the most successful teams since 2000, there has been a lot of suspicions, accusations, and times they have actually been caught cheating. This is a comprehensive guide of of all the things the Patriots have been accused of doing. People may say that the Patriots are only accused of doing illegal things because they are so great. Maybe, but what about the Yankees, Packers, and Spurs they have been great for a very long time as well and they aren't accused of cheating at all.
1. Snow Plow Game
The Patriots and Rams were playing each other in the Super Bowl in 2002. Before every game team's go through a walkthrough in which they go through plays that they are going to run. Well before the Super Bowl the Rams created a few new red zone plays that they had not used in a game yet and the Patriots played them perfectly and ended up winning the Super Bowl. Ram's RB Marshall Faulk and QB Kurt Warner believed that the Patriots illegally spied on the walkthrough so they knew what plays the Ram's would run and could defend it. Unfortunately we will never know for sure because NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell destroyed all of the tape that was used when the Patriots were caught during Spygate.
5. Doug Flutie's claim
When Doug Flutie was with the Patriots as a backup in 2005, it was reported that he accidentally picked up Tom Brady's backup helmet during one of his 1st games there. He held the helmet to his ear so he could follow the play call and he was amazed that the coaches kept on speaking to Brady past the 15 second cutoff when the connection between the coaches and players is supposed to shut off. In addition the coaches were describing the exact defense the Patriots were facing.
6. Ted Johnson's Audibles
In 2008 Ted Johnson said that when he was an LB with the Patriots in 2005, he received a list of the opposing team's audibles and he did not know where they came from. He also said he was a little suspicious of how the coaches received the audibles.
7. Spygate
On September 10, 2007 Bill Belichick was accused of filming the Jets defensive signals from an on field location. It was reported to the league office by Jets head coach and former Patriots assistant Eric Mangini. This was illegal because in 2006 the teams were told that videotaping on the sidelines was prohibited. Belichick was later fined 500,000$ and the Patriots were fined 250,000$ and lost their 1st round pick. The Patriots were later told to hand over all tapes or other materials from the incident, and for some reason the NFL decided to destroy them. Later it came out that the Patriots probably filmed the Ram's walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl, and a former Patriots video assistant named Matt Walsh had videotapes that the Patriots used from the 2001 and 2002 seasons. Since then many teams including the Colts and Jets search their locker rooms when they play the Patriots to make sure they aren't spying on them.
8. Headset Issues
There have been a number of times that teams have complained about headset issues while playing the Patriots which could mean that they are tampering with them and haven't been caught. In 2005 in the playoffs Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said the headsets mysteriously malfunctioned. In 2006 Lions offensive coordinator lost the ability to communicate with his quarterback because the communications system went out. It just so happened that it went out on drives that the Lions were doing well on. Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said that this happened to the Bengals too. In 2008 linebacker Karlos Dansby then with the Cardinals said that they had trouble with their coach to helmet communications system. During the 1st game of this NFL season, the Steelers had trouble with their coach to coach communications, and that whenever a league official came over to help it mysteriously started working, and whenever they left it stopped working.
9. Signing players just to gain intelligence about opponents
The Patriots have been accused of signing players just to gain intelligence of opponents. Back in 2005 they signed a player who recently got cut from a team they would be playing and only used them to help them decipher signals.
10. Billy Cundiff scoreboard issues
In the 2012 AFC Championship game against the Patriots in Foxboro with 15 seconds left, Baltimore Ravens kicker needed to make a 32 yard field goal to send the game into overtime. As most kickers do he looks at the scoreboard to see when he should be getting ready. The problem is the scoreboard said 3rd down when it actually was 4th down so he was rushed onto the field by the coaches and was unprepared and he missed the field goal.
11. Jets playbook with Nick Saban
Brown's Coach and former Jets defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said that at Wes Welker's wedding. Tom Brady was bragging to Jets outside linebackers coach Mike Smith who was Welker's college roommate that he had the Jets playbook. Pettine said that Rex Ryan gave one to Nick Saban who is good friends with Bill Belichick, and when he did that Pettine said that he had a feeling that the playbook would end up in New England.
12. Lying on Injury Reports
In 2014 it was reported that Brandon Spikes was put on IR with a knee injury, Spikes did not have a knee injury he was late for practice and his punishment was that he was placed on IR. Also, that same season Aqib Talib was listed many times on injury reports as having a hip injury when he actually had a quad injury.
13. Did not tell refs at right time about trick plays.
When the Patriots played the Ravens in their AFC Divisional Round game last season, they used plays that coach John Harbaugh thought weren't legal but actually were legal. The problem is that the Patriots should have told the refs an hour before game time that they would be using the trick plays and they actually told them right before the game started.
14. Illegal plays against Colts
In the Colts AFC Championship loss to the Patriots, the Patriots were driving down the field and on one of the plays Patriots offensive tackle Cameron Fleming came into the game as an eligible receiver, the next play he stayed on the field as an ineligible receiver and the Patriots scored a TD. According to the rules he should have had to sit out a play before leaving the field.
15. Deflategate
As a Colts fan this scandal really hits home to me because the Colts were the primary team who was victimized from it. Although since we do not know how long the Patriots were deflating the footballs all the NFL teams could have been victims. Deflategate started in Week 11 of the NFL season when just before halftime Colts safety Mike Adams intercepted Tom Brady and as he was going to the sidelines, he felt a sticky substance on the ball. I don't know if the Colts told the NFL or not but either way the NFL didn't do anything. Fast forward to the week before the AFC Championship game where the Colts are facing the Patriots. The Ravens who just lost to the Patriots in the Divisional Round email the Colts equipment manager saying that the footballs felt a little bit deflated. The equipment manager emails the Colts general manager Ryan Grigson who knowing the earlier issue with the sticky substance on the football emails the NFL league office saying that it is well known around the league that the Patriots tamper with the footballs and could the NFL referees make sure the footballs are to regulation so the game is to fair play. A few hours before the game the referees measure the footballs and they are to the correct PSI, then a Patriots ball boy takes the footballs to the bathroom where he spends about 90 seconds in there. There is then some confusion about where the footballs are because the head referee said that it was the 1st time that he didn't know where the footballs were. In the middle of the game Tom Brady throws an interception to Colts linebacker D'Qwell Jackson and as he's going to the sideline a Colts equipment worker notices the ball feels slightly deflated. He calls Ryan Grigson who is furious because he emailed the NFL so this wouldn't happen. On a side note D'Qwell Jackson wanted the football back as a memento and he is still unable to get the ball back. At halftime the PSI of the footballs is measured and all the Patriots footballs were below regulation. The Colts ended up getting crushed which probably had nothing to do with the tampered footballs but the Patriots did not beat them with integrity which should mean something in the NFL. A few months after the season ended the NFL had Ted Wells conduct a report in which he discovered that Patriots ball boys were probably deflating footballs as one referred to himself as "The Deflator", and he concluded that Brady probably knew about the deflated footballs. Brady ended up getting suspended for 4 games, and the Patriots were fined 1 million dollars and lost their 1st round pick this year and 3rd round pick next year. Tom Brady appealed in court and won because Roger Goodell did not have the right to suspend him. The NFL is appealing the ruling and that trial is pending.
16. Julian Edelman Super Bowl concussion
In the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl Patriots receiver Julian Edelman was hit hard by Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor. He appeared disoriented and went to the sidelines two times after the play. However he was never was checked for a concussion and stayed in the game and caught the game winning touchdown. The rule is that if a player sustains a big hit and they looked concussed they should be checked for a concussion and he was never checked.
1. Snow Plow Game
The Patriots have been accused of cheating way before Belichick and Brady were there. On December 12, 1982 the Patriots were playing the Dolphins. Before the game the field froze over and then a snowstorm came in mid game. The refs made an emergency decision that a snow plow could be used and only used for clearing the yard markers. With 4:15 left in the game and the score tied 0-0. Patriots coach Ron Meyer ordered the plow driver to clear a spot on the field specifically to clear a spot for kicker John Smith to kick. People did not think this was suspicious because they thought the plow would go straight across just giving a more accurate measurement. The plow did not go across, it veered left to the goalpost giving Smith a clear spot to kick from. Smith made the field goal and the Patriots won. Hall of Fame Dolphins Coach Don Shula later said that it was the most unfair act that happened in the middle of a football game.
2. Illegal use of IR list
The Patriots lost a 3rd round pick in 1986 for illegal use of the IR list, I'm not exactly sure what they did but in 2001 they were caught having a player practice who was on IR.
3. Patriots go back on Hartford deal
On August 5th 1998, Robert Kraft agreed to move the Patriots to Hartford. A 374 million dollar stadium would be built and the Patriots would move in 2001. In 1999 however Robert Kraft terminated the deal because of delays in construction, however that was probably a lie because Massachusetts offered him a better deal with 70 million in state infrastructure for Foxboro, NFL loan guarantees, and a commitment from the business community for luxury suites.
4. Filming Ram's Walkthrough
The Patriots lost a 3rd round pick in 1986 for illegal use of the IR list, I'm not exactly sure what they did but in 2001 they were caught having a player practice who was on IR.
3. Patriots go back on Hartford deal
On August 5th 1998, Robert Kraft agreed to move the Patriots to Hartford. A 374 million dollar stadium would be built and the Patriots would move in 2001. In 1999 however Robert Kraft terminated the deal because of delays in construction, however that was probably a lie because Massachusetts offered him a better deal with 70 million in state infrastructure for Foxboro, NFL loan guarantees, and a commitment from the business community for luxury suites.
4. Filming Ram's Walkthrough
The Patriots and Rams were playing each other in the Super Bowl in 2002. Before every game team's go through a walkthrough in which they go through plays that they are going to run. Well before the Super Bowl the Rams created a few new red zone plays that they had not used in a game yet and the Patriots played them perfectly and ended up winning the Super Bowl. Ram's RB Marshall Faulk and QB Kurt Warner believed that the Patriots illegally spied on the walkthrough so they knew what plays the Ram's would run and could defend it. Unfortunately we will never know for sure because NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell destroyed all of the tape that was used when the Patriots were caught during Spygate.
5. Doug Flutie's claim
When Doug Flutie was with the Patriots as a backup in 2005, it was reported that he accidentally picked up Tom Brady's backup helmet during one of his 1st games there. He held the helmet to his ear so he could follow the play call and he was amazed that the coaches kept on speaking to Brady past the 15 second cutoff when the connection between the coaches and players is supposed to shut off. In addition the coaches were describing the exact defense the Patriots were facing.
6. Ted Johnson's Audibles
In 2008 Ted Johnson said that when he was an LB with the Patriots in 2005, he received a list of the opposing team's audibles and he did not know where they came from. He also said he was a little suspicious of how the coaches received the audibles.
7. Spygate
On September 10, 2007 Bill Belichick was accused of filming the Jets defensive signals from an on field location. It was reported to the league office by Jets head coach and former Patriots assistant Eric Mangini. This was illegal because in 2006 the teams were told that videotaping on the sidelines was prohibited. Belichick was later fined 500,000$ and the Patriots were fined 250,000$ and lost their 1st round pick. The Patriots were later told to hand over all tapes or other materials from the incident, and for some reason the NFL decided to destroy them. Later it came out that the Patriots probably filmed the Ram's walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl, and a former Patriots video assistant named Matt Walsh had videotapes that the Patriots used from the 2001 and 2002 seasons. Since then many teams including the Colts and Jets search their locker rooms when they play the Patriots to make sure they aren't spying on them.
8. Headset Issues
There have been a number of times that teams have complained about headset issues while playing the Patriots which could mean that they are tampering with them and haven't been caught. In 2005 in the playoffs Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said the headsets mysteriously malfunctioned. In 2006 Lions offensive coordinator lost the ability to communicate with his quarterback because the communications system went out. It just so happened that it went out on drives that the Lions were doing well on. Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said that this happened to the Bengals too. In 2008 linebacker Karlos Dansby then with the Cardinals said that they had trouble with their coach to helmet communications system. During the 1st game of this NFL season, the Steelers had trouble with their coach to coach communications, and that whenever a league official came over to help it mysteriously started working, and whenever they left it stopped working.
9. Signing players just to gain intelligence about opponents
The Patriots have been accused of signing players just to gain intelligence of opponents. Back in 2005 they signed a player who recently got cut from a team they would be playing and only used them to help them decipher signals.
10. Billy Cundiff scoreboard issues
In the 2012 AFC Championship game against the Patriots in Foxboro with 15 seconds left, Baltimore Ravens kicker needed to make a 32 yard field goal to send the game into overtime. As most kickers do he looks at the scoreboard to see when he should be getting ready. The problem is the scoreboard said 3rd down when it actually was 4th down so he was rushed onto the field by the coaches and was unprepared and he missed the field goal.
11. Jets playbook with Nick Saban
Brown's Coach and former Jets defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said that at Wes Welker's wedding. Tom Brady was bragging to Jets outside linebackers coach Mike Smith who was Welker's college roommate that he had the Jets playbook. Pettine said that Rex Ryan gave one to Nick Saban who is good friends with Bill Belichick, and when he did that Pettine said that he had a feeling that the playbook would end up in New England.
12. Lying on Injury Reports
In 2014 it was reported that Brandon Spikes was put on IR with a knee injury, Spikes did not have a knee injury he was late for practice and his punishment was that he was placed on IR. Also, that same season Aqib Talib was listed many times on injury reports as having a hip injury when he actually had a quad injury.
13. Did not tell refs at right time about trick plays.
When the Patriots played the Ravens in their AFC Divisional Round game last season, they used plays that coach John Harbaugh thought weren't legal but actually were legal. The problem is that the Patriots should have told the refs an hour before game time that they would be using the trick plays and they actually told them right before the game started.
14. Illegal plays against Colts
In the Colts AFC Championship loss to the Patriots, the Patriots were driving down the field and on one of the plays Patriots offensive tackle Cameron Fleming came into the game as an eligible receiver, the next play he stayed on the field as an ineligible receiver and the Patriots scored a TD. According to the rules he should have had to sit out a play before leaving the field.
15. Deflategate
As a Colts fan this scandal really hits home to me because the Colts were the primary team who was victimized from it. Although since we do not know how long the Patriots were deflating the footballs all the NFL teams could have been victims. Deflategate started in Week 11 of the NFL season when just before halftime Colts safety Mike Adams intercepted Tom Brady and as he was going to the sidelines, he felt a sticky substance on the ball. I don't know if the Colts told the NFL or not but either way the NFL didn't do anything. Fast forward to the week before the AFC Championship game where the Colts are facing the Patriots. The Ravens who just lost to the Patriots in the Divisional Round email the Colts equipment manager saying that the footballs felt a little bit deflated. The equipment manager emails the Colts general manager Ryan Grigson who knowing the earlier issue with the sticky substance on the football emails the NFL league office saying that it is well known around the league that the Patriots tamper with the footballs and could the NFL referees make sure the footballs are to regulation so the game is to fair play. A few hours before the game the referees measure the footballs and they are to the correct PSI, then a Patriots ball boy takes the footballs to the bathroom where he spends about 90 seconds in there. There is then some confusion about where the footballs are because the head referee said that it was the 1st time that he didn't know where the footballs were. In the middle of the game Tom Brady throws an interception to Colts linebacker D'Qwell Jackson and as he's going to the sideline a Colts equipment worker notices the ball feels slightly deflated. He calls Ryan Grigson who is furious because he emailed the NFL so this wouldn't happen. On a side note D'Qwell Jackson wanted the football back as a memento and he is still unable to get the ball back. At halftime the PSI of the footballs is measured and all the Patriots footballs were below regulation. The Colts ended up getting crushed which probably had nothing to do with the tampered footballs but the Patriots did not beat them with integrity which should mean something in the NFL. A few months after the season ended the NFL had Ted Wells conduct a report in which he discovered that Patriots ball boys were probably deflating footballs as one referred to himself as "The Deflator", and he concluded that Brady probably knew about the deflated footballs. Brady ended up getting suspended for 4 games, and the Patriots were fined 1 million dollars and lost their 1st round pick this year and 3rd round pick next year. Tom Brady appealed in court and won because Roger Goodell did not have the right to suspend him. The NFL is appealing the ruling and that trial is pending.
16. Julian Edelman Super Bowl concussion
In the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl Patriots receiver Julian Edelman was hit hard by Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor. He appeared disoriented and went to the sidelines two times after the play. However he was never was checked for a concussion and stayed in the game and caught the game winning touchdown. The rule is that if a player sustains a big hit and they looked concussed they should be checked for a concussion and he was never checked.
Friday, November 13, 2015
Monday, November 9, 2015
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Sunday, November 1, 2015
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