SportsGirl

It’s a dark day for any Patriots fan. The league has ruled on the “Videogate” scandal involving a member of the Patriots videotaping the Jets coaching staff as they call their plays. This comes after commissioner Roger Goodell specifically instructed the teams not to engage in this kind of activity. And now, as if it wasn’t going to be torture enough for me to sit through the season listening to how Michigan choked time after time, I’m now going to have to wade through (probably) endless debates of just how big an advantage the Patriots gained from their cheating and how that impacts, or doesn’t, their victories.

I don’t know that anyone is going to be able to determine the magnitude of impact these types of illegal activities had on the overall success of the Patriots franchise. How do you determine exactly how many extra points you gained because you knew that on 3rd and 9 the defense was calling a blitz package? Seriously, if you don’t realize that they’re going to blitz you on 3rd and 9 you probably shouldn’t be a coach. But that brings me to my main point and that is that you could be standing on the other team’s sideline and actually call the play for them while simultaneously sending an ESP message to your coaching staff to be prepared for Reggie Bush to run it up the middle and Bush could still gain 20 yards because it’s all about execution on the field.

Al Michaels spent much of the telecast on opening night reminding us how drastic it would be for the Colts if Joseph Addai had actually been injured on the first play of the game instead of just having the wind knocked out of him. And the reason, according to Al, it would have been so devastating was because Indy doesn’t really have a backup plan at running back. Addai is the only guy, pardon the rhyme. So if you know that Indianapolis is going to hand off to Addai and almost exclusively to Addai, and yet Addai can still gain 100 yards a game, what good would it have done you to know exactly the play being called? If your blockers miss a block, and Addai finds the hole, what advantage was gained?

Now, this is not to excuse the Patriots from committing an ugly offense in cheating by stealing signals. I just don’t think there’s a place for this kind of “competitive advantage” in sports. Just play the damn game! But to all of the people who want to say that the Patriots, or more specifically Bill Belichick’s, legacy is tarnished or that the Super Bowl wins are invalid, I just don’t think your argument has merit. It’s a shame that a sharp guy like BB resorted to these kinds of tactics, but I don’t think it diminishes just how good Tom Brady is, because that’s all about execution.

I’m hoping that the Pats score a big win against the Chargers this weekend to prove to everyone that, in the height of scrutiny, they are still the team to beat this season. Especially since I’ve got my doubts that Michigan will be able to accomplish a similar feat and I refuse to spend my weekend talking about how much they both stink!