Alas, Poor Belichick, We Thought We Knew Him Well!

In the ’70s, President Nixon was on the top of his game, even though the country hated his war. Still, he sent a couple of rookie thugs to break into the democratic national headquaters in D.C. (Watergate Hotel) and steal inside information that would give Nixon the edge in the next election, which he ended up winning before the scandal leaked. Their unprofessionalism and rookie-attitudes that they’d never get caught, well, got them caught. Nixon took the blame and he resigned.

In the ’00s, the Patriots were at the top of their game: a HOF coach, HOF QB, HOF MLB…you name it. The Pats were the team to beat in the first decade of the 21st century. Yet, their coach decides to send a rookie “thug” (of sorts) to illegally videotape their def and off coordinators’ signals and run counter plays to succeed. This right after they beat the pants off of a disfunctional Jets’ squad.

Coach Belichick has been backhanded with a $500,000 from Commissioner Goodell and the NFL. But that doesn’t erase the doubt in everyone’s heads now. Every time the Pats take the field from now until Belichick is gone, everyone is going to doubt their playcalling-prowess, which was especially evident in their Super Bowl win against a tough Iggles team in 2005 when they ran screen passes that “happened” to perfectly counter the Iggles’ defensive blitzes. Take a look at this insightful article where several NFL veterans chime in about this growing “scandal.”

Something’s rotten in the State of Patriots Land, and I find that Belichick’s woes are far from over.