Good piece on the Belichick taping issue. It's critical of him and I think fair as well.
You'll notice the quote from a head coach. "It's a bunch of nothing. That stuff goes on everywhere."
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/jets/2007/09/13/2007-09-13_manginis_aboutface_on_spying_burns_belic-1.htmlJets coach Eric Mangini may get a ticker-tape parade down Broadway for standing up to Bill Belichick and exposing him as a cheater by using inside information to humiliate his former boss.
The Patriots, with their three Super Bowls this decade, are the NFL's answer to baseball's Evil Empire in the Bronx. It's certainly part of Mangini's job description to take down the Pats. He learned well from Belichick how to use every piece of information to his advantage.
But one source, who was with the Jets during the time Mangini was an assistant to Belichick in New England, is turned off by his self-righteous approach to video spying.
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Here is the sad part," the ex-Jets source said. "When Mangini was defensive coordinator for the Patriots, they were doing it. It's like crying wolf. He was a part of that mess. Now he's on the opposite side. Now he's saying they can't do it. Wait a minute. You were part of that staff. He's on the same team. He didn't go and tell Bill, 'We can't do that.'"
Mangini was a young assistant coach in New England who owed his career to Belichick. He was not about to tell him how to run his team or warn him he was breaking NFL rules. But when Mangini was in position to use it against Belichick, he jumped at it. That's makes him a hero to Jets fans, who will never forgive Belichick for quitting after one day as the HC of the NYJ.Why didn't Mangini nail Belichick when the Jets played the Patriots three times last year, including in the playoffs? Belichick is a master at mind games - what do you think that handshake silliness is all about? Mangini missed an opportunity last year to get inside his mentor's head. But he's made up for it now.
It was foolish for Belichick to continue to try to steal the Jets' signals once Mangini became their head coach. Obviously, Belichick knew that Mangini knew. And why take that kind of chance when Mangini had inside information and the Jets' security director is a former FBI special agent? Try it out on anybody but Mangini, who is getting even with Belichick for the condescending way he has treated him the last year.
"I'll put it this way: That's not the only team that has ever done that," one head coach said yesterday. "It's a bunch of nothing. That stuff goes on everywhere. It ain't like it's something new. Are you kidding me? Half the teams do that crap. We've never done it here, but I've been involved in staffs that have done it."The Jets were aware of Belichick's passion for video espionage long before Mangini came back to the Jets. Crossing the line to find an edge is apparently nothing new for Belichick.
A few years ago, when Herm Edwards was coaching the Jets and Mangini was working for Belichick in New England, the Jets coaching staff noticed a Patriots employee on the sideline pointing a video camera at the Jets coach who was sending in the defensive calls with hand signals.
The Jets coaches reacted by smiling for the Patriots camera and stopped just short of saying, "Hi, Bill."
"At times, we would wave at the guy that was filming over there," a Jets source, who is no longer with the team, said yesterday. "We just gave false signals and waved at the camera. I don't know if they picked up our signals or not. We didn't really worry about it too much. We didn't make a big deal out of it. Sometimes we would just send a guy in with the play instead."It's hard to accept that everybody does it, but only Belichick had the misfortune to get caught. It would be like a player who is caught using steroids trying to talk his way out by saying so many others are beating the test. The NFL has rules against cheating. Belichick, who said yesterday he already has spoken with Roger Goodell, issued an apology to everybody in the Patriots organization without apologizing for anything specific.
"It's childish with the Jets and the Patriots," one coach said. "When the Jets cut a guy, New England brings him in and interrogates him. When the Patriots cut a guy, the Jets bring him in and interrogate him."
Belichick won three Super Bowls in four years. Did he do it by cheating? This is not the NCAA, so the NFL is not repossessing the Vince Lombardi trophies. But if he was stealing the Rams' defensive signals, did that contribute to the second greatest upset in Super Bowl history when New England beat St. Louis, 20-17, after the 2001 season?
"If he did steal signals in that game, he didn't do a very good job," said Lions offensive coordinator Mike Martz, the Rams coach at the time. "Going into the last drive, they had 100 yards of offense. He got the wrong signals. If he had our defensive signals, it didn't help him much."The Patriots actually had 214 yards going into the 53-yard drive for the winning field goal on the last play of the game. Tom Brady's offense managed only one TD, 15 first downs and was 2-for-11 on third down. Belichick won two more Super Bowls in the next three years.
"He won legitimately," Martz insists. "Those players had to line up and play and win those games. And they did."
One good thing for Belichick: He's good with electronic equipment. When he gets out of coaching, he can get a job selling camcorders.
