Time to Get Serious

Ok people, it's time to lighten up about this whole Patriots spying on the Jets ordeal. It's being blown way out of proportion by a combination of people who don't know what they're talking about and people who need reasons to hate the Pats. To say the Patriots were "cheating" is a little unfair. You would also have to call any player who takes an offsides penalty or pass interference penalty a cheater as well. Reason being they were attempting to gain an advantage in an illegal way. The fact that the were trying to steal signals isn't in question. Stealing signals isn't even illegal. The only thing they did wrong was use a video camera. If a Patriots player had stood on the field and watched all the signals made and then relayed them to the sidelines so they could be recorded, there would be no issue as it's perfectly legal and for the most part accomplishes the exact same thing. They just attempted to skip a step and get those signals a little easier. Wrong? Yes. The same way jumping offsides to try and get a step on the defensive player is wrong. You are punished for it with a 5 yard penalty and the game moves on. There's no talk of going back and reviewing all you previous plays to see how many times you might have jumped early in the past, you aren't labeled a cheater. The advantage the Patriots were trying to obtain was not an illegal one, just their method was. Everyone in the NFL knows this happens and anyone who says they don't is a fucking liar. Team's regularly change signals and throw out false signals because they know any of the 70,000 people in the arena can see what they're doing. Belichick didn't hide a camera in their locker room, he didn't sneak in and photocopy the playbook, so get a life people.