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Belichick denies Jets had permission to film
Spy games subplot continues to grow as game approaches
By Tom Curran
NBCSports.com
Updated: Dec14, 2007, 03:40 PM EST FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Bill Belichick told NBCSports.com on Friday that the Jets weren’t given permission to post a second camera in the end zone during last year's playoff game between the clubs.
"I was never asked for permission nor was anyone in our video department asked for permission for a second end zone camera," Belichick said after his morning press conference.
Earlier this week, it was reported that, during the AFC Divisional Playoff game between the Jets and Patriots at Gillette Stadium, the Patriots had a Jets cameraman removed from the mezzanine level where he was taping an end zone view.
When asked about the report on Wednesday, Jets head coach Eric Mangini told the New York media, "We had asked for permission, it was granted, then that changed and we respect their decision. It's their stadium."
Asked Friday about Belichick's stance that permission hadn't been granted, Jets spokesman Bruce Speight said, "We stand by our earlier comments that we received approval from the Patriots. We will just have to agree to disagree."
Belichick has kept his agitation with the Jets and his quiet exasperation with the so-called "Spygate" scandal close to the sweatshirt.
But it's clear that, in this case, "It is what it is" doesn't apply. There’s a New England side of things that hasn’t been stated. It may never be. But bad feelings simmer between teams and staffs that know each other well. So many bad feelings for a decade straight that the Jets and Patriots make the Hatfields and McCoys look like the Rubbles and Flintstones.
It began in early 1997. That's when Bill Parcells' dalliance with the Jets began even as his Patriots prepared for Super Bowl XXX. Parcells' eventual hiring by the Jets, the Patriots legal protestations and the wrangling for draft choices (eventually frittered away by the Pete Carroll-Bobby Grier regime) were the foundation. Then came the Jets swooping in to take restricted free agent Curtis Martin by signing him to a so-called poison pill contract. The Patriots' late 90s decline and the Jets ascension -- aided by a boatload of ex-Patriots -- continued.
Then in 2000, when Parcells moved upstairs, Belichick refused to succeed the Tuna. He resigned from the Jets and went to the Patriots. His hiring had its roots in conversations he had with the Kraft family while Parcells was wriggling free from the Patriots three years earlier. The Patriots had to compensate the Jets with a first-round pick, much like New York had to when Parcells left New England.
Then came Mo Lewis.
In the fourth quarter of the second game of the 2001 season, Lewis' hit on Drew Bledsoe landed Bledsoe in the hospital with a sheared artery and put Tom Brady into the starting lineup.
Super Bowl wins in 2001, 2003 and 2004 followed. So did coaching staff defections including Mangini's flight to New York after the 2005 season. The Patriots were OK with Mangini leaving for a better job. But it wasn't long before he was trying to reopen the pipeline from Foxborough to Hempstead, signing away Patriots players and even -- as the Patriots alleged -- tampering with disgruntled Pats receiver Deion Branch during his 2006 holdout. The Jets were cleared, Branch went to Seattle and the new era of bad feelings between Belichick and his former protégé, Mangini was ushered in.
Then came the fateful season opener in 2007 when a Patriots video guy was pinched for taping the Jets defensive coordinator in the first quarter. The fallout from that moment is still wafting down. The context of New England's historic 2007 season is still being grappled with.
Sunday, the two teams meet at Gillette Stadium. Facial expressions, handshakes, sideline comportment and playcalling will be dissected for hidden meaning. It’s not a 3-10 team against a 13-0 team. It's Athens vs. Sparta, the most subplot-laden rivalry in the NFL. It's been that way for a while. And it doesn't seem to be cooling down.
From the Cyberspace Watercooler ...
In a story earlier this week, I described the $750,000 in fines and loss of a first-round pick assesses to the Patriots after "spygate" as aggressive punishment. Now I have to admit, when it was handed down, I thought the Patriots got off easily. But mountains of testimony in ensuing months made it clear just how rampant sign-stealing is. That, and the lengths teams go to in collecting "intelligence," made me view the Pats transgression as aggravated jaywalking.
A friend and colleague of mine, who's involved both with this website and the Football Night in America show, Joe Gesue, disagreed via email, saying, "I know where your coming from on the aggressive punishment -- but keep in mind, the evidence was destroyed. We don't know everything that led to the big fines and draft choice penalty. Do you think Bob Kraft would take an unjust punishment sitting down?
"Until another team gets penalized, the only conclusion to draw is that no one else was doing quite what these guys were doing."
To which I replied, "I think the hue and cry over Belichick flouting rules he was repeatedly warned not to flout led to the penalty. If Roger Goodell didn't hit them that hard, he'd appear to be in Kraft's pocket. If every team got the fine-toothed comb treatment that the Patriots got (and brought upon themselves) there'd be no first round to the draft. They got killed and continue to because of who they are, how they act and what they've accomplished.
The destruction of evidence is just freakin' weird. And it leads to the presumption there was more there than just a guy taping a coordinator's gestures. But I (perhaps naively) view it as Goodell saying, "We're not airing the dirty laundry of one of our franchises. Stuff's gone, that's that."
I see your point. The Patriots have been very stiff upper lippy about the whole thing. I think that's how they are generally -- don't let 'em see you sweat or show them how much it hurts. But for them to be this way when they lose a first-round pick, especially if other teams are doing it, is either the height of nobility or an act of self-preservation. Maybe I'm a sap for believing it's the former not the latter."
Spy games subplot continues to grow as game approaches
By Tom Curran
NBCSports.com
Updated: Dec14, 2007, 03:40 PM EST FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Bill Belichick told NBCSports.com on Friday that the Jets weren’t given permission to post a second camera in the end zone during last year's playoff game between the clubs.
"I was never asked for permission nor was anyone in our video department asked for permission for a second end zone camera," Belichick said after his morning press conference.
Earlier this week, it was reported that, during the AFC Divisional Playoff game between the Jets and Patriots at Gillette Stadium, the Patriots had a Jets cameraman removed from the mezzanine level where he was taping an end zone view.
When asked about the report on Wednesday, Jets head coach Eric Mangini told the New York media, "We had asked for permission, it was granted, then that changed and we respect their decision. It's their stadium."
Asked Friday about Belichick's stance that permission hadn't been granted, Jets spokesman Bruce Speight said, "We stand by our earlier comments that we received approval from the Patriots. We will just have to agree to disagree."
Belichick has kept his agitation with the Jets and his quiet exasperation with the so-called "Spygate" scandal close to the sweatshirt.
But it's clear that, in this case, "It is what it is" doesn't apply. There’s a New England side of things that hasn’t been stated. It may never be. But bad feelings simmer between teams and staffs that know each other well. So many bad feelings for a decade straight that the Jets and Patriots make the Hatfields and McCoys look like the Rubbles and Flintstones.
It began in early 1997. That's when Bill Parcells' dalliance with the Jets began even as his Patriots prepared for Super Bowl XXX. Parcells' eventual hiring by the Jets, the Patriots legal protestations and the wrangling for draft choices (eventually frittered away by the Pete Carroll-Bobby Grier regime) were the foundation. Then came the Jets swooping in to take restricted free agent Curtis Martin by signing him to a so-called poison pill contract. The Patriots' late 90s decline and the Jets ascension -- aided by a boatload of ex-Patriots -- continued.
Then in 2000, when Parcells moved upstairs, Belichick refused to succeed the Tuna. He resigned from the Jets and went to the Patriots. His hiring had its roots in conversations he had with the Kraft family while Parcells was wriggling free from the Patriots three years earlier. The Patriots had to compensate the Jets with a first-round pick, much like New York had to when Parcells left New England.
Then came Mo Lewis.
In the fourth quarter of the second game of the 2001 season, Lewis' hit on Drew Bledsoe landed Bledsoe in the hospital with a sheared artery and put Tom Brady into the starting lineup.
Super Bowl wins in 2001, 2003 and 2004 followed. So did coaching staff defections including Mangini's flight to New York after the 2005 season. The Patriots were OK with Mangini leaving for a better job. But it wasn't long before he was trying to reopen the pipeline from Foxborough to Hempstead, signing away Patriots players and even -- as the Patriots alleged -- tampering with disgruntled Pats receiver Deion Branch during his 2006 holdout. The Jets were cleared, Branch went to Seattle and the new era of bad feelings between Belichick and his former protégé, Mangini was ushered in.
Then came the fateful season opener in 2007 when a Patriots video guy was pinched for taping the Jets defensive coordinator in the first quarter. The fallout from that moment is still wafting down. The context of New England's historic 2007 season is still being grappled with.
Sunday, the two teams meet at Gillette Stadium. Facial expressions, handshakes, sideline comportment and playcalling will be dissected for hidden meaning. It’s not a 3-10 team against a 13-0 team. It's Athens vs. Sparta, the most subplot-laden rivalry in the NFL. It's been that way for a while. And it doesn't seem to be cooling down.
From the Cyberspace Watercooler ...
In a story earlier this week, I described the $750,000 in fines and loss of a first-round pick assesses to the Patriots after "spygate" as aggressive punishment. Now I have to admit, when it was handed down, I thought the Patriots got off easily. But mountains of testimony in ensuing months made it clear just how rampant sign-stealing is. That, and the lengths teams go to in collecting "intelligence," made me view the Pats transgression as aggravated jaywalking.
A friend and colleague of mine, who's involved both with this website and the Football Night in America show, Joe Gesue, disagreed via email, saying, "I know where your coming from on the aggressive punishment -- but keep in mind, the evidence was destroyed. We don't know everything that led to the big fines and draft choice penalty. Do you think Bob Kraft would take an unjust punishment sitting down?
"Until another team gets penalized, the only conclusion to draw is that no one else was doing quite what these guys were doing."
To which I replied, "I think the hue and cry over Belichick flouting rules he was repeatedly warned not to flout led to the penalty. If Roger Goodell didn't hit them that hard, he'd appear to be in Kraft's pocket. If every team got the fine-toothed comb treatment that the Patriots got (and brought upon themselves) there'd be no first round to the draft. They got killed and continue to because of who they are, how they act and what they've accomplished.
The destruction of evidence is just freakin' weird. And it leads to the presumption there was more there than just a guy taping a coordinator's gestures. But I (perhaps naively) view it as Goodell saying, "We're not airing the dirty laundry of one of our franchises. Stuff's gone, that's that."
I see your point. The Patriots have been very stiff upper lippy about the whole thing. I think that's how they are generally -- don't let 'em see you sweat or show them how much it hurts. But for them to be this way when they lose a first-round pick, especially if other teams are doing it, is either the height of nobility or an act of self-preservation. Maybe I'm a sap for believing it's the former not the latter."
