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POSTED 10:17 a.m. EDT, September 18, 2007
BILLICK COMPLAINTS JUST THE BEGINNING FOR MANGINI?
A league source opined to us on Tuesday morning that the recent comments of Ravens coach Brian Billick are "only the beginning" of the backlash that Jets head coach Eric Mangini will face after blowing the whistle on his former employer, the New England Patriots.
On Monday, Billick claimed that Jets defensive players illegal simulated the snap count, causing three illegal procedure penalties in Sunday's game between New York and Baltimore.
Some folks in league circles are troubled by the notion that Mangini violated the code of silence among coaches, doing so not because it was "the right thing to do," but because he thought he could gain a competitive advantage by pointing out a competitive advantage that he previously used to his own advantage, culminating in the head-coaching position he now holds.
If, some believe, Mangini believed that it was wrong to videotape defensive signals, he should have taken a stand when he was working for the Patriots.
So, as a result, anything that the Jets do that technically constitutes "cheating" will likely now be the subject of public complaints from other coaches.
With that said, guys like Billick should pick their battles carefully. Things that happen as part of the action on the field are extremely different, in our view, from secretly (or, as in the case of the Patriots, blatantly) videotaping defensive signals. As to the former, guys in black and white uniforms are in place to police possible rules violations. So if the Jets are calling out phony snap counts in an effort to rattle the Ravens' young offensive linemen, the game officials need to be flagging it.
It's no different, in our estimation, than holding or pass interference or anything else that happens on the field. It's only a penalty if a penalty is called, and guys surely get away with stuff in each and every game that is played.
Still, the message to Mangini is clear. He hurled a boulder in a cul-de-sac of glass houses. He can now expect plenty of rocks to come flying his way from the neighbors.
