Patriots Caught Spying?

Has JMO become solely a sports blog? It may appear as much, but fear not, the other topics will return shortly. In the meantime, we do have other sports topics to discuss.

I have a few other thoughts regarding the way that Major League Baseball records the stats for pitchers. For starters, in the 30-3 win that the Rangers celebrated over the Orioles, a Rangers pitcher recorded a save! Yes, a save was awarded when the pitcher had a 27 run lead! Why? Did he somehow allow the tying run to come to the plate without allowing a run to score? Nope, it's because he pitched the last three complete innings. How ridiculous! Also, if it's a pitcher's fault, a save shouldn't be awarded if the pitcher allows the tying run to come to the plate. I'm alright if the pitcher comes in with a four run lead and the bases loaded, but if he allows the runners and then saves the game? You gotta be kidding! It's almost a way for pitcher's to pad their stats. "Let's see, it's not a save for me with a four run lead unless the tying run gets to bat. So I'll get these two outs and then load the bases..." Additionally, if a pitcher allows a runner to reach and then is pulled from the game, if that runner scores because of the performance of the reliever, it's charged to the pitcher who allowed him to reach! So if Petit walks the bases loaded in the ninth after pitching a no hitter, Rivera comes in, allows those three runs to score and then gets three outs. Rivera's ERA for the game is 0.0, Petit didn't allow a hit, gave up three walks, yet his ERA increases by 0.33 and if his team scored 2 or fewer runs, he gets the loss! Some statisticians have begun to record "inherited runners allowed to score" and "holds" (which is when the pitcher prevents inherited runners from scoring when it's not a save situation), but they still score ERA the archaic way. Add these thoughts to my previous ones regarding MLB Pitching stats and you'll see that something really needs to change!

Ok, now for the main reason for this post: The Patriots seem to be in some hot water. It seems that a Patriot's lackey (Matt Estrella) was caught videoing the Jet's Defensive Coordinator as he sent signals into the Jet's D. (Didn't the Patriot act allow this type of activity?) The punishment has already been handed out. $250,000 fine for the Patriots, $500,000 fine for Belichick personally, and the Patriots lose a first round draft pick! (1st round if they reach the playoffs, 2nd and 3rd if they fail to make it to the post season!) This is a huge fine for something that's nearly useless! How is it useless? Allow me to elaborate:

Vous parlez francais? Si vous ne parlez pas francais, cette mots vous n'aide pas. Si le Patriots ne comprend pas le signifacations le Jets avont pour lui "D", le video est aussi inutile! Basically, what I'm saying is that unless the Patriots have the Jet's defensive play book and know what each gesture means, the video is pointless. Our little Full House is learning sign language, his grandmother isn't. She was baby sitting one night and our little guy was trying to tell her that he wanted his stuffed elephant. Grandma didn't know what he was saying and he got his stuffed lamb instead. It's the same situation here. If New England doesn't know what it means when the coordinator bangs his fists together, then videoing him doing it is pointless.

I heard an insider who knows what goes on in the NFL say, "It's no big deal. It's kinda like Bonds: It's not like the Patriots are the only ones doing it." (So where is the punishment for the baseball players who cheated?) Apparently, the flying Elvises on the side of the Patriot's helmets are actually targets (which we all knew were there anyway. You'll notice the only difficult team they play at home is the Chargers, and it's on week 2! (Anybody else remember that Shawn Merriman tested possitive for steroids last year? I guess that means it'll be the New England Stealers vs the San Diego Juicers.)) I bet it stops now. You'll not hear about another team doing this. It's just too bad the Patriots had to be the example.

Even former Patriots players said that they never saw this while they were on the team. And they didn't receive last minute changes from the sideline after their opponent sent in their defensive play. If you are going to video in order to study it and use it later, wouldn't it make sense to actually use it? Wouldn't your players notice the changes at the line? You can't radio into the QB once a certain amount of time has ticked off the play clock. How do you use this information? Why don't any players (current or former) have any evidence of this being footage being used? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Let's say the Patriots were doing this to steal signals. Check out what Mike Shanahan (former head coach of the Denver Broncos) said five years ago: "Our guy keeps a pair of binoculars on their signal-callers every game. With any luck, we have their defensive signals figured out by halftime. Sometimes, by the end of the first quarter."

I think that Aaron Schatz said it best on Bill Simmons column:

"On the other hand ... the negative reaction to this is just completely overblown. The Patriots were breaking rules because they are obsessed with getting every minor strategic advantage, but that doesn't change the fact the strategic advantage is minor. The idea that suddenly all three Super Bowl championships are tainted is ridiculous. If they caught Tampa Bay doing this, would people be suggesting that the Bucs' 2002 championship was tainted? Terrell Davis actually suggested on NFL.com that the league should ban the Patriots from the playoffs for two years. You know, since that's how the NFL became the most popular sports league in America, by sending a message to every sports fan in six states that they should go away and stop paying attention for two seasons."

Here's my final thought on the matter (which is my suggestion that Belichick didn't know that it was happening): The head coach for the Jets is Eric Mangini. He used to be a defensive coach under Belichick. If Bill has been doing this for the number of years that other teams allege, why would he do it against a man who used to be in his inner circle? Mangini would have known that this was something that was a regular practice of New England. Just look at the picture. The guy who's videoing is not trying to hide it! It's not like it's a pen camera! It's a huge shoulder camera! He's on the Jet's side of the field! Why would you do this? Was this a $750,000 practical joke that also cost a draft pick? Mangini was a Defensive coordinator... They only videoed the defense... Was it a gag? Was Big Bill just trying to get into Mangini's head? Did Belichick not know it was happening? (Bill's a big fan of film... was Estrella trying to get into his good graces? Has he been fired?) It just makes no sense.

The Patriots "cheated" in a manner that in no way assisted them for that game. My only supposition (if this were truly strategic) is that they were hoping to review the video of the defensive coordinator with video of the game and try to match them up. It just seems so pointless. I am ashamed that my team acted in this manner and I'm mad that they lost a draft pick. But I also feel that the punishment was way too severe. It didn't help them in that game and didn't guarantee an edge in a future game. (And if they've been doing it in the past, it clearly didn't help last year against Indy in the AFC Championship game.) (Is this why the Patriots don't lose to the same team twice in one year?) All in all, I'm pretty irked.

Don't forget to tune in next Tuesday for week two of JMO:Just the Facts.