First things first I am NOT a Patriots fan. Let's just clear that up right off the bat. My wife is a Patriot's fan, mostly because of Tom Brady. If that weren't enough of a reason for me to dislike the Patriots you can add in the fact that I am a lifelong Raiders fan. Remember Tom Brady and the Patriots versus the Raiders and the infamous "tuck rule" play? Well, if you don't I can assure you that Raider Nation does. Raider fans have become very adept at holding grudges (as opposed to trophies). With all that being said I'd like to give you my two cents on the Spygate scandal and the possible repercussions from it.

There has been no shortage of Patriot haters in the last seven years. However, this amount seemingly tripled overnight when Spygate came to light. As if the sports message boards weren't full of enough idiots already we had a sudden mass infestation of morons with nothing to add but intelligent and witty gems such as "Cheatriots" and "Belicheat". Now while I understand how the evidence from this infraction can easily give the Patriot haters a soap box to stand on I still find it hard to believe that anyone would attribute the team's success over the last seven years to cheating. Does anyone really believe that taping another team's offensive or defensive signals gives a team a SERIOUS competitive advantage? The game still has to be played, right? Just because you know a play is coming does not mean you can stop it! Let's take this example: Brady is behind center and notices the defensive signal called in from the Pittsburgh Steelers' sideline. From that signal he KNOWS that Troy Polamalu is coming on a safety blitz. Now what? What can be done now? Does Brady put a receiver or a tight end over to block him? Does he call an O-Line blocking scheme audible? Either option is going to free up someone else on the Pittsburgh defense that can now get to Brady easier. So instead does Brady call an audible for the entire play or for the blocking scheme? Either option would probably get an immediate defensive audible called by the Steelers. Does the chess game just continue in this fashion until the play clock expires?

A lot of Patriot haters have pointed to the fact that the signals being taped were probably analyzed throughout the game and then used in the second half. Doesn't a team make half time adjustments? If the Pats come out in the 2nd half and proceed to light up the opposition's defense don't you think the opposition would make adjustments? A baseball team can change signals between innings, and believe it or not an NFL team can too. My middle school football team would shift the signals used for each playbook up or down at the half. Even a complex NFL playbook can benefit from this simple adjustment without confusing the entire team. Example: "Mr. Roethlisberger, when we call a play you are to look at your wrist coach and run the play listed immediately above the play we indicated." Simple, right? With the large amount of coaches and players saying that signal taping has been occurring around the league for years I would imagine some form of this practice already exists. A team's signals aren't static. They need to be changed when teams lose or change players and coaches, both of which can happen in the middle of the season. Flexibility and adaptability are neccessary traits for a coaching staff to posess, so a team that was being dominated would attempt to make a radical adjustment even in the middle of a quarter. Besides, if the taping of these signals was really that effective would the Pats have needed to win 2 Super Bowls with last second field goals?

Let's not forget that the evidence turned over to the league office consisted of the defensive signals recorder from the Dolphins, Browns, Jets, Bills and Steelers sidelines. The Steelers were the only one of these teams to be a true challenge to the Pats during their playoff runs, but the only Steelers game that had been filmed was the AFC championship match. Did the Pats noticeably start playing better against Pittsburgh in the second half of that game? Actually the opposite happened - Pittsburgh scored more points and held the Pats to fewer scores in the second half. Hmm...I guess either the tapes weren't that effective or an adjustment was made by Pittsburgh... 

Now for those of you who still want Belichick's head on a platter: was a suspension, or as some of you have suggested, a ban really necessary? Shawn Merriman gets busted for steroid use - a REAL competitive advantage - and he gets a 4 game suspension and a slap on the wrist. So in addition to Belichick getting a huge fine (huge by the precedent that has been set, not by the standards of his bank account) AND having the team's #1 draft pick stripped you also want him suspended? Come on people, stop the hating! I don't think Belichick is the second coming of Lombardi and I certainly wasn't impressed with his work in Cleveland. You can't even give the scowling, fashion challenged Belichick credit for Tom Brady's discovery - that was put into motion by the injury to Drew Bledsoe. But you have to admit that given the way the Pats scout, draft, develop and retain talent in recent years that they would have won two or three Super Bowls with or without any tapes! The sheer number of nobodies that organization has turned into superstars and sent packing is staggering. Likewise, so is the number of these same players who have gone on to return to nobody status once away from Belichick and his staff.

Just like all the other great sports dynasties (Yankees, Reds, Spurs, Lakers, Steelers, etc.) the Patriots are widely despised by those who would rather see their own team win. These people will look for any and every excuse to explain why their favorite team lost to the big bad dynasty. Unfortunately, taking a close minded stance against the Patriots and hurling accusations of cheating not only hurts the status of their dynasty, it also hurts the entire league. Lots of people are predicting the Pats to fall flat this year. Let's all hope that does not happen. If the Patriots somehow manage to miss the playoffs it will leave a bad taste in the mouth of almost all of the NFL's casual fans. They will basically assume that the last seven years of football were all a lie. The conspiracy theories and rumor mills will fire up to full force again and the league's carefully polished image could be tarnished. The NFL is a finely tuned marketing and money making machine. The last thing the front offices (and us die hard football fans) need is to have it dragged down to the level of creditability that the NBA and MLB are currently enjoying. In other words, even IF Spygate directly led to all three Patriot Super Bowl victories it would be better for everyone to just look the other way...

Again, keep in mind that this is all coming from a grudge holding Oakland Raiders fan and it might be a little easier to swallow.