If you’re somebody like Phil Simms, it’s easy to dismiss all the accusations, many proven, of the cheating leveled on the New England Patriots, but for the rest of us, it’s not so easy. There have been articles posted all over sports sites in the past few days talking about how the Patriots are “the most hated team in football” and speculating on why that is. Why haven’t they formed a more national fanbase as other sports dynasties, especially in the NFL, have in the past?
The answer is cheating. The New England Patriots broke the rules, especially in the early part of their “dynasty,” and that gave them an unfair competitive edge that cost other, non-cheating, teams Super Bowl championships. It’s that simple.
Me in 2 weeks: "Fu** the cheating mother f***ing Patriots. F*** their Spygate tapes. F*** Brady and Belichick. F*** Tony Eason. Go Falcons."
— The Chip Reiderson (@ChipReiderson) January 23, 2017
There are two main Patriots scandals that have resulted in punitive punishments against the team, and in the newest case, against their best player; Tom Brady. SpyGate and DeflateGate are easy terms to Google. New England was fined for both and lost draft picks. For DeflateGate, they also lost Brady for four games this season.
I’m going to talk about DeflateGate first, because, and this is the part that New England fans never understood, the only reason it became a “scandal” was because the Patriots got away with SpyGate.
DeflateGate was a nothing of a crime. Tom Brady preferred the grip on a football below the allotted 12.5 PSI as regulated by the NFL. He felt it made it easier for him to throw the ball accurately and he paid a couple of locker room stooges in signed merchandise to knock the inflation of each game ball down a little.
When you go from Deflategate to Inflategate. pic.twitter.com/FNR39WGthm
— Trash Talk NFL (@TrashTalkNFL) January 23, 2017
Brady did this to get a competitive advantage. Did he get one out of it? No. No he did not. The lower inflation on the balls was just a placebo for Brady. Since being forced to play with a properly inflated ball beginning in the 2014 AFC Championship game after he was busted at halftime, and every game since, Brady has been a better quarterback. There was a point in that 2014 season where people thought Tom Brady might be done. Since DeflateGate he’s been arguably playing the best football of his career. And it’s not because he’s in “F-U” mode. It’s because he’s playing with a properly inflated ball.
You can throw a properly inflated ball farther. It’s why Aaron Rodgers joked he liked to try to sneak some extra air in the ball. Before he got busted for DeflateGate, Brady was one of the worst deep-ball passers in the NFL. Since DeflateGate, he’s been one of the best deep-ball passers in the NFL. In fact, this year he finished tied at No. 2 in the league for the most 15+ TD passes.
Tom Brady didn’t need under-inflated balls to be good. He just thought he did. In fact, he was hurting his performance and his team. DeflateGate is the best thing to happen to Brady and the Patriots.
BTW, Tom Brady now has thrown for 10,066 yards and 78 TDs since halftime in the #Deflategate game. #Patriots #NFL
— Sean Glennon (@SeanGlennon) January 23, 2017
So the truth is, the Pats Super Bowl victory in 49 was legit, at least as far as we know, as was their appearances in 2007 and 2010. And this year. They earned this.
But those first three Super Bowls, they are the problem. Because as silly as DeflateGate was as a scandal, SpyGate was the real deal. It was hard-core cheating that gave the Patriots a significant competitive advantage.
ESPN did an excellent piece on it and you can read it here.
The short of it is this. The Patriots were guilty of all of it, and likely recorded the St. Louis Rams’ walkthrough before Super Bowl 36. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell helped the Patriots cover up the extent of the scandal, destroyed evidence and leaned on opposing team’s coaches to get them to sign affidavits exonerating the Patriots of anything beyond taping signals.
How much can knowing the other team’s signals help? Here, let NFL films tell you.
Yeah. It’s kind of a big deal. It’s why it was all so illegal to do.
Goodell covered it up because he owed Patriots owner Bob Kraft for his job. And he didn’t want to do what would have actually been required as punishment for cheating on this scale; stripping the Patriots of their three Super Bowl titles in 2001, 2003 and 2004 and banning head coach Bill Belichick for life. Goodell’s primary job, he thinks, is to protect the league. He covered it up, thinking that the real deserved punishments would hurt the NFL brand. Hell, he may have been right.
Jeff Hartings on the Spygate scandal. #Steelers pic.twitter.com/TQxUs3Mq1o
— Blitzburgh (@Steel_Curtain4) January 20, 2017
So here we are. On shows and in articles with sycophantic writers and close ties to the actual NFL, you get glowing reports of the Patriots dynasty. A dynasty that has won four Super Bowls by a combined total of 13 points. And the first three thanks to their SpyGate cheating.
The Patriots are one of the best teams in football and were even without the SpyGate help in those days. But it matters and it matters for two reasons. There are a lot of missing rings in the early 2000s because of SpyGate. The Rams, the Panthers, the Steelers and the Colts can all make a claim on their own dynasties and victories derailed thanks to clandestine video taping and, likely, spying on practices and walkthroughs.
You'd think the Patriots would have a little loyalty to Goodell for letting them off the hook with Spygate https://t.co/S9dcS0ON0J
— Michael (@MichaelARamz) January 26, 2017
The real Patriots, the non-systemic cheating version, are currently 1-2 in Super Bowls and were the dumbest playcall in Super Bowl history away from being 0-3.
Those first three titles, they come with an asterisk*.
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