Pneumonic

Well, it seems that all allegations - real and imagined - are lumped together into 1 big, "they are guilty" stamp in the minds of many Pats haters everywhere.

They weren't proven to have cheated. The Pats were penalized because they disobeyed Godell's orders on where they were allowed to film the opposition.

I'm not sure it's so odd. Better teams perform better and much of the better involves them not committing penalties. Especially so for a team that is so well coached as are the Pats under Belichick.

Keep in mind that the Pats weren't fined/penalized for stealing opponents signals. They were fined and penalized for disobeying the leagues order to stop filming from unauthorized areas. It was Bill Belichick's ignoring Godell's directive that brought down such a severe punishment from the league. As for Smith .... he plays for a HC who has probably never made a worthwhile halftime adjustment in his career and he's going up against a guy who has been breaking down and analyzing film for over 50 years and who is widely considered to be the zen master, guru, of adjustments.

Well stated. And it all points back to your previous post about losing culture and overcoming it. For a team like the Pats they not only have a great QB who has proven, over and over again, that he can overcome most anything tossed his way, they also have the same benefit when it comes to their HC, their GM, and their owner. Overcoming adversities for them is akin to taking a dump .... they do it all the time.

How can anyone take what this guy says as serious:

I am not qualified to determine if EJ is capable of being a top NFL QB spot or not but one thing I am certain of; you aren't winning in today's NFL if you don't have one.

SJ is the classic case of a 10 cent mind being attached to a million dollar body. With this comes some great moments followed by frustratingly silly ones. More or less nothing but a big tease.

Linegate? All teams cheat like this but the league needs to take a stand so that it no longer happens. I think the league should penalize Tomlin $500k and the Steelers should be penalized next years 1st rounder. And we all should refer to the Steelers as *Cheatlers* from this day forward.

But still, even after Manning pulls his usual choke job come January, pundits will still favour Manning over Brady next August. It's repeats like groundhog day!

Maybe also people will stop with the rivalry stuff too. Brady is 10-4 against Manning. That's domination .... not a rivalry.

We'll get a very good feel for how things may end up shaping up in the NFC this upcoming weekend.

Seattle may well be the best team in the NFL but, if anyone is going to beat them, it's very likely one that has a premiere QB who has the ability to put up a bunch of points. A team like NO, or the Broncos, or GB, or the Pats.

It's not just the cold, snowy and windy weather that negatively affects Peyton status as a top ever QB ..... it's also his penchant for disappearing and choking in the big game when the pressure is on that is seriously damning to him. Great players perform at their best when the chips are down. This is when Peyton seems to prefer to check out!

Manning is the sexy choice; Son of NFLer Archie, the #1 overall pick, from a big time college program, with as much fanfare as possible coming into the draft. In the pros he's been coddled as much as any player ever, he's been gifted with a hall of fame nucleus of supplementing players to play with and he's played much of his games in the friendly confines of a stadium, with no wind and a steady 72 degrees weather pattern. Meanwhile, Brady was some lowly 6th rounder who has played outdoors, in the northeast, in the elements, with a supporting cast of characters in his career that none of us can even name.

They both are who they have been all of their careers; Brady great when it counts and Manning a choke artist.

This angle better shows where the contact was first initiated in comparison to where the ball ended up being picked off. http://1.bp.blogspot.../s400/f9999.gif Sorry, this GIF The degree of effort shown by Gronk shouldn't come into question.

OK, he pushes him instead of drags him. In either case, Kuechly is draped all over Gronk and impeded his ability to make a play on the ball.

Huh. Look at the GIF above ...... Gronk was being dragged towards the EZ by a 250# LB. Of course he's not going to be able to make a play on the ball. That's why they have PI calls!

The only way to know for sure if Gronk could make a play on the ball, and therefore catch it, is to allow him the opportunity to do so. He wasn't afforded that opportunity because he had Keuchly drapped all over him.

Think of it this way ..... if Keuchly wasn't in the picture, does Gronk catch the ball? Of course, he does.

The play was obvious from the PI perspective; Gronk was clearly and obviously restricted from making a play on the ball. It's the catch-able part that is open to judgement. But, if one looks at the replay of the play, the initial interference occurred right around where the ball ended up being intercepted (Keuchly dragged GronK several yards backwards on the play), I don't see anyone can say that a player of Gronk's ability would have no chance of catching that ball. EDIT: Added GIF

At the least it should have been a holding call and another play ..............