Last Thursday I went to NFL.com game day to check out the Jets/Ravens match up and found myself in wonderland.

I was wondering if anyone over there had a clue.

Keep in mind that this is this is the official site of the NFL.

To see what I am talking about click here:

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?season=2007&week=REG2&game_id=29222

Look at the left hand side, under "team leaders" for the starting quarterback for the Jets-"J. Pennington".  Who the hell is that?

Is that Chad's new name?  That's not all....

Look below "J. Pennington" at the stats for rushing, it states (correctly) that T. Jones rushed for 14 attempts and gained 42 yards.  Okay, that works, but when you read down the center of the page, under "quick take" skip down to "inside the game" and we see this:

"RB Thomas Jones answered questions about his injured calf by rushing 25 times for 139 yards in his Jets debut"

What the heck are they smoking over there at NFL.com???

Nobody checks this stuff out?

NFL=No Facts Looked up.

See if you can find other errors-make a game out of it.

Whom ever finds the most errors on the NFL web site will get today's prize package-a New England Patriots spy package that includes cameras, radio frequencies and the phone numbers for married women in Jersey who want to cheat.

Let's see in how long it takes NFL.com to make the fixes, or if they either bother to.

It was a sure thing they would win-they had the leadership, the talent and everything was falling their way, so why did Bill Belichick (aka Richard Nixon) cheat?

Insecurity, plain and simple.  And when Rodger Godell warned the NFL teams that this would no longer be tolerated, he decided to do it anyway.

But he had to have help; he could not do it alone.

Enter his best buddy-Robert Kraft (played by Spiro Agnew) the smiling face of the organization, thanking God himself for the Superbowl victories when he should have been giving thanks to the SONY corporation for their wonderful little products.  Even after his organization go caught, the low-lying rat has kept out of the public eye, not issuing any statement or apology for what his little Bill (still played by Nixon) has done.

He has for ever tarnished the reputation of one of the most formidable football dynasties in recent history-and for ever put in doubt all of their recent accomplishments.

To be fair, this type of thing went on in the past, but the new Chief Justice of the NFL decided to put an end to it, many teams were appalled when Belichick tried it in the first game of the season.

For all of his accomplishments, for everything he did to help the Patriots, Bill Belichick does not know how to help himself and is now hurting his team.

We see this all the time when an athlete or other well recognized "star" falls from grace and gets caught red handed.  Some go from bad to worse and they flame out and make it tougher on themselves, some repent and repay.  Here are two recent examples that show how this Bill "Belicheet", "Beliache", "Belicoward", Belichick nightmare may go:

1.   Adam "Pac Man" Jones-although he apologized publicly for the foolishness in his life, he never stopped being a fool, and his own worse enemy.  He continued to carry on with his "posse" and wound up repeatedly charged, over and over again with crimes.  He acts like a child, not an adult and one thing is for sure-it will cost him dearly.  For starters, just imagine what his legal bills must be.  His public image is shot, and his career is in serious jeopardy, yet he never changed, never really understood how his actions affected those around him.  Not to mention that there is an innocent man paralyzed because of his actions.

2.  Michael Vick:  Michael Vick ran a vicious dog fighting operation and small gambling ring through multiple states, convicting him of a serious felony.  Pit Bull fighting sickens most people in this country; many do not care about the gambling aspect.  At some point, because of evidence that was presented (and possibly evidence reported by this blog weeks before) he decided to plead guilty to the charges.  News media reports that he took a plea bargain but that is false, he in fact entered a guilty plea.  There is no deal in place to reduce his sentence to what he pleads to.

So what is the difference between Michael Vick and Pack Man?  Michael Vick has not only been largely unseen and out of trouble, he has publicly asked for us to try to forgive him for his issues.  He accepted blame, stood up to the plate and looked everyone in the eye and said, "I was wrong, I am taking my blame and will accept any punishment given to me, and I will try to improve my self".

Bill Belichick takes no responsibility and tries to lie and weasel his way out of it.  He offers up this piece of mud pie to the press: 

"I explained my interpretation of the rules..."

Okay, just to be clear, here it is:

"The rule is that no video recording devices of any kind are permitted to be in use in the coaches' booth, on the field, or in the locker room during the game.  Clubs have specifically been reminded in the past that the videotaping of an opponent's offensive or defensive signals on the sidelines is prohibited."

But Bill Belichick has his own, arrogant interpretation of this rule, right?  Is that what he is shoving under the NFL's nose?  Take a whiff of this, Mr. Goodell, breathe deep.

Does anybody buy into this?  Even Patriot fans must feel his arrogance.  I don't understand how the players must feel, but I imagine "let down" may only be an understatement.

Imagine you coach feels that he has to cheat in order to win a game.  Blatenly cheat, not some small infraction or something the referee missed, something so arrogant as directly sending a spy to the opposing teams bench with a video camera to record signals and requesting additional radio frequencies to evesdrop on the opponents.  How would you feel playing for that person?  I would rather play for Herm Edwards.

So Michael Vick quietly awaits his sentencing like a man while Bill Belichick decides to go the "Pack Man" rout and bury himself deeper, tarnishing his team, hurting the players and insulting the intelligence of the fans.

There you have it, you decide, Bill Belichick, better or worse than Michael Vick?

I don't care if the Jets win or lose, as long as the game is fair, as long as each team has a chance.

So the New England Patriots were caught cheating.  A team that thought they were the best had to resort to cheating to beat the lowly Jets.

It says a lot about both teams, doesn't it?

About the Pats it says that the coach simply doesn't have enough faith in his team to win fairly.  That is a heck of a message to send to your players, your organization and your fans.  It puts a question mark after every victory-no matter how big, no matter how small.

For the Jets, it means that what we saw on Sunday was just about as telling as a pre-season game.  It doesn't mean we are a bad team, it means the opposite, that we are better than we think.  The Superbowl favored Patriots didn't have the courage to play us fairly.

I have some sense of sympathy for the players on the Patriots who must feel betrayed by their coach.  The prepared to play a fair game, and in their minds it was a fair game, only their coach cheated, and that must be a big letdown.  If I was a player I would ask my coach, "Why didn't you believe in us?  Why didn't you think we could win fairly?"

If I was on the Jets I would be relieved to know that the Patriots felt this was something that they clearly had to do to win the game, talent was not enough.

In order to restore integrity, the NFL has to come down hard on the Patriots.  Every team in the NFL was warned about using cameras during the game and the Patriots chose not to listen, so it should cost them.

At the very least it should cost them the game-make them forfeit, that is a start.  That must be the first step, you simply can not give a team that cheated a win.  Not to mention out quaterback was injured in this game.

Does the NFL have the guts to punish the Patriots enough to make it hurt?  Does the NFL feel our pain?

We may find out as early as Friday.

Jets-Pats Preview (Round One)

Prediction: Jets 24, Patriots 17

There is no doubt that the Jets are a better team this year, but have they done enough to catch the Patriots, who have won four straight division titles?

Here is a look at some of the key players on the Jets to keep an eye on this Sunday.

Thomas Jones-he was a great off-season pickup from Chicago who can help the running game and take pressure off of Chad Pennington by opening up the play action game.

Derrelle Revis-the Jets traded up to get him in the first round, and he has what appears to be all of the skills to be a shutdown corner.  He could spend much of his day covering Randy Moss.

David Harris-our second round pick looks like a natural playing in the 3-4 scheme-who will he be on the field with?  Will he take time from Vilma?

Jacob Bender-replacing Pete Kendal is no small task, and Bender has plenty of room for improving his pass blocking, but he is a very talented run blocker who can open holes for Jones and help improve our running game.

Questions for the Jets:

Can they stop the run?  Run defense has been a focal point of the Jets weaknesses for years now, and with an improved secondary, opposing teams will try more often to run the ball.

Will the defense play like they did in the last 7 games of 2006?  The second half of the season showed much improvement over the first half as the team learned how to play Mangini's defense-now we will see how much was retained.

Can they put pressure on Brady?  Let's hope so-planting Tom Brady on the ground is a great way to diminish his effectiveness.  It is how the Jets beat the Patriots last season and it will work if Ellis, Robertson and Thomas have good games.

Will the fans show up?  With over 5,000 parking spaces eliminated, permit parking initiated and shuttle busses implemented, we will see how it all plays out.

Finally, the Jets have their own cheerleaders so you will never again see opposing teams cheerleaders on my blog.

Say hello to our new "flight crew".