I’m not a big enough football fan to know that this has been common knowledge. But I was always interested in the debate about who the best coaches were and it seemed, after Belichick had such a string of success at New England, that he was being hailed as a big coaching genius and, probably, the real brains behind Bill Parcell’s success at the Giants.
So, I wanted to hear the wise men of FReepdom opine on whether this is telling of something akin to the steroids scandal in baseball. Should Belichick’s coaching record have an asterisk. Conversely, is it no big deal and no worse than watching game film, for example. I really don’t know. It seems to me that it’s a kind of cheating, but I don’t know how serious, how much it affected outcomes, etc.
BTTT
Frankly, I think Belichick would have had a good deal of success in Boston even without the cheating. He is a good coach and has had some great players. But it is impossible to say how much of their success is attributable to the cheating.
The Patriots apparently have a great play-caller in the booth. I do not know his name, but he is, apparently, a genius at detecting defenses and making appropriate adjustments, and Belichick is said to rely on him heavily. I suspect that this man, who's name escapes me at this moment, is the one who made good use of the videotaped signals.
The taping of opposing coaches is expressly against the rules of the NFL, precisely because these tapes can be very useful in just this way. Belichick knew the rule, was reminded of the rule, was sanctioned by the league, but never stopped doing it. This should indicate how valuable these tapes were to his team, that he was willing to break the rules to get them.
What would your Rabbi say if you asked him if it was permissible to use information from a competitor that came into your hands either through his carelessness or by chance? You know what he would say.