Pneumonic

The last two drafts have been excellent for the Patriots and look to be starting to pay huge dividends but, you are right, the draft classes previous to them have been less than impressive. However, the 08 and 07 drafts were largely poor throughout the league so I'm not sure it's fair to single the Pats out. And don't forget the Pats traded two of their 07 picks for Moss and Welker so if you include them then one could argue that their 07 draft was about as good as it gets.

Belichick and Brady are two of the greatest HC's and QB's respectively to ever stand on a NFL sideline. For as long as they remain capable the Pats will be super bowl favourites and thus a thorn in the Bills side. Just gotta accept this part. How then do the Bills close the distance between them and the Pats. By being superior to them in areas such as drafting, free agent acquisitions and coaching. This will be easier said than done however as you know the Pats will excel in such areas themselves. So, maybe the best plan of attack is to hope for an incredible string of good luck!

That Belichick ordered the taping of the Jets game. I don't recall anything confirming this. The watching the tape part is moot as the Jets tape was confiscated prior to anyone being able to view it and any prior tapes aren't relevant as Godell said so himself when handing down the penalty and fine. Scarnecchia was employed by the Jets during the Pats/Jets spygate game.

Do you have any official NFL documentation supporting claimed facts? Or are you simply speculating in order to support your "cheatriots" "Belicheat" claim?

If anything it minimizes the impact of video cheating due to the fact the Broncos were penalized so lightly. Further, some might point out that the huge discrepancy in the penalty might also indicates Godell had it out to unfairly penalize the Pats.

I read it. The irony is we know for a fact that Belichick didn't view the tape (the league confiscated it during the game) and thus wasn't able to gain a competitive advantage as a result. All we know about McDaniels is that he said he didn't view the tape. As for instruction to go do taping goes ..... like McDaniels (or any coach in the NFL after the spygate affair for that matter) would do so without a "wink wink" in place.

Just a guess but probably because he'd have to penalize all the teams in the league in doing so.

I might point out that, like McDaniels, Belichick never did watch the tape in question nor was he involved in the taping of it. Further, when handing down the penalty Godell said it was for the Pats taping of the Jets in that game and not for any previous discretion's. Godell's point was that all teams were given the same memo emphasizing that video taping oppositions signals was not to be done and the Pats didn't adhere to said rule emphasis so were being punished accordingly. Presumably, this current Broncos penalty stems from the same memo emphasis. If so, why the huge discrepancy?

So why didn't Godell give the Broncos the same punishment then? Seems like a significant discrepency in fines levied to each team wouldn't you say?

Godell penalized the Pats not for taping but for knowingly disobeying his instructions not to tape as was being done. Thus the harsher %650k fine and 1st round pick given to the Pats compared to trivial amount handed out to McDaniels.

The Patriots appear to have hit platinum on the last 2 draft classes. From the 09 haul they ended up with Chung, Brace, Butler, Vollmer, Tate, Ohrnberger, Ingram, Pryor, Edelman and Richard. All but Ohrnberger and Richard are starters or are in starter packages. From the '10 draft class you have McCourty, Gronkwoski, Cunningham, Spikes, Price, Hernandez, Mesko, and Deadrick. All but Price are seeing starter reps. So, just in the last 2 drafts, the Pats have added 15 players who are seeing starter reps on a team that has posted the best W/L record in the league this season. This has allowed them to re-tool the team, in mid stream, with nary a downturn in performance. Should the Pats hit on the nest draft, with 2 picks in each of the first 3 rounds, watch out!

Not sure if it was him or not but whoever it was they are correct.

It's impossible to tackle "correct" every time because the players involved are each moving, oftentimes at full speed, and making positional adjustments while doing so. A player can be sound technically and be in position to make a form tackle and can end up making helmet to helmet contact. Oftentimes a very fine line exists between a great tackle and a blow to the head. I think the problem is the league hasn't properly defined what's illegal and what is allowed. Is the rule only applicable to a defenseless receiver? And what is a defenseless receiver? Are they only concerned with head to head blows? Is a shoulder or a chest or an arm or a leg blow to the head OK? All can do the same, serious damage to the defender. What if the defender places himself in danger by allowing his head to be impacted by the defender. Should this be the defenders fault and open him up to fine and suspension? And who's to judge the fault in such cases? The NFL. They might not be an exactly impartial party seeing as how the Commish is a former Jet employee. I'm sure that what Harrison did yesterday he's done countless times before and never was penalized nor fined and certainly not suspended. Could you imagine if this incident happened the game before the super bowl and Harrison was suspended for the game because of something he's done countless times in his career? I think the NFL acted hastily on this without properly doing their due diligence.

Now, now. Let common sense prevail. You can't suspend after the fact. Heck, how many games back do you suggest the league go in their suspensions? Just 1, or maybe 10 or how about a year? 2 years? 5 years? Think about for a sec will ya!

The league couldn't suspend him because they hadn't warned him yet. It was only AFTER the games on the weekend that the league took the stance that they'd be suspending players no matter if they had been warned previously or not. If they suspended Meriweather they'd have to suspend other players who hit illegally dating back to who knows when. They fined him, heavily. From here on out the suspensions happen and, maybe in a couple of years, the league will be successful in transforming the game into a flag football event. Only pansies need apply! It's a flippen joke. You wanna know the real hypocrisy in all of this? The NFL is making money off this so called horrendous hit ................ http://www.replayphotos.com/nflphotostore/2010-11-season-print/brandon-meriweather-todd-heap_323924.cfm

Does he get caught behind the LOS a ton like his Dad used too because he jukes and jives too much while looking to make a big play?

Branch and Moss are two totally different receivers to be able to compare properly. Moss is a 1 trick pony deep threat sprinter (a very good one at that) whereas Branch can run every route in the playbook. By the sounds of it the Pats are changing up their offense and eschewing the low % deep ball attack for the higher % shorter game one. With guys like Welker and Edelman and the two excellent TE's in tow this makes perfect sense. Now, you add the wily vet Branch, who has a great connect with Brady, and you can expect the Pats to run that dink and dunk passing attack that Brady's been so successful with all these years.

The difficulty in securing serious compensation for Lynch stems from the fact that he's one mistake away from being tossed out of the league. Not gonna get much return for such a player. Especially a so-so talent like Lynch.

The last team Godell will show favouritism towards is the Pats (Jets of course) so that angle doesn't work well. I wonder why no Packer players are fined for drawing attention towards themselves by using Lambeau stadium and its fans as a prop as they leap into the stands?

"Gailey" and "plan" = Oxymoron. Bills won't sniff a playoff appearance until they spend money on a real head coach.

Obviously, since Belichick taped signals he believed their was potential value in doing so. Afterall he's as anal as they come in not leaving a stone unturned. But, taping opposition signals isn't the issue here. It's the manner in which these signals were taped that's the problem. And, Belichick already addressed the reason why he taped them as he did .... because the by-laws, as he interpreted them, don't disallow the taping of the signals provided they aren't used DURING the game. As Belichick stated, he was using them for future contests. All teams advance scouts future opposition.

The league? You mean the ex Jets employee, Godell, don't you? Not only was he the jury but he was also the judge. I'm sure some other fans harp on this issue don't get me wrong. But, no opposing teams fan base does so to the extreme of those in here. For whatever reason.

Seems like you are guessing plenty ................

Well, Belichick found a loophole in the "spygate" by-laws. The rule disallows taping for use DURING the game. Belichick's point was that the Pats weren't using the tape DURING the game but rather for future reference.

Didn't the Niners also have that USFL system in place with Ed Debartolo's Dad all those years? I am all over the place, visiting other teams fan sites and rarely, ever, is this cheating topic brought up. It's infectious in here for some reason.