How good of a coach is Bill Belichick? How good of a quarterback is Tom Brady? Were the Patriots' 3 Super Bowl titles obtained by cheating? These are the three questions that have come up most often in the wake of SPYGATE. These are all legitimate questions that everyone in the football public would like to know the answers to. I must admit, that as a huge football fan, I have been following this story like a teenage girl follows celebrity gossip. What can I say?, it’s the most interesting sports scandal since the Kobe Bryant “incident,” or steroids in baseball, or Reggie Bush having to take a pay cut to play in the NFL. Ok, there is always a sports scandal, but this one really captured my attention.
There have been two people who haven't gotten their proper due for their roles in this saga. The first person is Matt Walsh. Now, I know that he has been a center piece throughout the majority of this story, but I don’t think we appreciate just how smart of a business man he is. The public became aware of SPYGATE after the New York Jets turned them in for illegally taping their coaches signaling in plays during their week one matchup. I was baffled by the fact that they were taping the Jets. This is because Eric Mangini’s (head coach of the Jets) previous job was defensive coordinator of the New England Patriots. That would lead one to think that he was aware of the fact that the Patriots were taping the opposing coach’s signals. Although Bill Belichick is widely considered a “genius” in the football world, taping the signals of a team whose head coach was once an assistant coach on your staff is pretty dumb. After the Week 1 game, everyone was skeptical of the Patriots' success. This lead to an NFL investigation into the incident. The league found that the Patriots were indeed breaking the rules and took away their 1st round draft pick and fined the organization $250,000. Belichick was personally fined $500,000. After the punishment was leveled, everyone thought the story was over and the NFL was looking forward to it all going away. Not so fast, that is when Matt Walsh saw his golden opportunity. He put out word that he had information and tapes concerning SPYGATE. This immediately made him a very popular man among NFL people and conspiracy theorists alike. Roger Goodell (NFL Commissioner) wanted very badly to speak with Walsh, so that this issue could finally be put to bed. After months of negotiations, Matt Walsh finally agreed to speak with the Commissioner. After his meeting with Goodell, Matt Walsh’s fifteen minutes of fame officially began. He agreed to give an exclusive interview to HBO (there is a good chance that he was handsomely compensated for this interview). In this interview, he detailed how the information on the tapes was used in games. He also gave information that suggested that the New England Patriots knew that they were breaking the rules by filming the coaches. Walsh even discussed the lies that he was told to tell if he was caught or questioned while setting up or taping. One man claiming to know this much about a cheating scandal, could only lead to one thing; A BOOK DEAL, which usually leads to quite a bit of STRAIGHT CASH HOMEY!!!! Book advances can be in the high six figure to seven figure range if the publishers feel the book is destined to top the New York Times best seller list. Just think, eight months ago no one in the NFL really cared about Matt Walsh’s existence, and now everyone is interested in what he has to say, and will be willing to hear it. This is all because he acted as his own PR firm by putting the word out that he has information that everyone will want to hear. Whether you like him or not, he has shown quite a bit of business savvy.
After a conversation on the subject with a “trusted source,” it was brought to my attention that another person has managed to escape all of the attention that he deserves in reference to SPYGATE. That person is Notre Dame Head Coach, Charlie Weiss. He was the offensive “mastermind” of the Patriots during their three championships. Weiss received the majority of the credit for the team’s offensive success. This lead to him getting the Head Coaching job at (as Tony Kornheiser loves to call it, the University of Football in America) Notre Dame. In Weiss’ first season at Notre Dame, he led the Fighting Irish to a 9-3 record (with a roster full of Tyrone Willingham’s players, but that is an issue that I will discuss at a later date). In his second season, the Fighting Irish had a 10-3 record (he still had the benefit of having Willingham’s players, especially at QB, RB, and WR). During this time, Notre Dame never beat a team that they shouldn’t beat. They always beat the less talented teams, and never beat a team with equal or more talent. This fact made people wonder if Charlie Weiss really was a genius. This question was answered in the 2007 season. Notre Dame finished the 2007 season with a 3-9 record (with the players he recruited at the key positions). Immediately following the season, Weiss said that he would spend some time in the off-season with the New England coaching staff to “critique” his coaching. I wonder if he was there to talk about football coaching principles and philosophies, or to discuss the architecture of Notre Dame Stadium and the best place to hide a camera to capture the opposing coaches.
Over the years, several opposing players have said that they felt like the Patriots were “in their huddle” or knew what was coming. It was always dismissed as players being upset because they lost. Now it seems that there could possibly be evidence to back up those claims. Bill Belichick has said that the tapes gave the Patriots little to no advantage on the football field. I have seen the tapes, and I feel as though they would provide an advantage to any NFL caliber quarterback or play-caller. This includes Brodie Croyle and Greg Knapp. Even the genius that is Marty Mornhinweg (he once elected to kick the ball after winning the coin toss in sudden death overtime) could use this information to his advantage. If there was no advantage, then why would you break the rules. Fairly or unfairly this scandal will undoubtedly overshadow the greatness of Belichick (who should not be eligible for the Hall of Fame) and Tom Brady. HOPE IT WAS WORTH IT!!!!
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