Does Belichick's Punishment Fit His Crime?

           

In the heat of this "Patriot Gate" going on, the main question is if the $500,000 fine to Bill Belichick, $250,000 fine to the Patriots and possible loss of draft picks is too harsh or too easy on everyone involved.  Does the punishment fit the crime?

We ask because we have no idea the nature of the crime.

All we as fans know is that someone working for the Patriots was caught on the Jets sideline videotaping their defensive coaches.  We know that this guy has been caught before ... and we know that Belichick knew this was going on.

Other than that, we have no idea what is going on.

How was this film used?  Who knew this was going on?  Who saw the film?  Were the Patriots knowingly breaking NFL rules or were they ... as Belichick says ... misinterpreting the rules?

We may never know.

What we do know is that the Commish thought enough to slap down the hefty fines and take away draft picks ... especially since it is believed that Roger Goodell did target New England as a team treading on infringement of these rules.  Belichick and the Patriots are saying nothing but "sorry".

I'm sorry, too.  Sorry to say that the organization owes us more than that.  They, at least, owe their fans an explanation to the integrity of their actions.  After all, these are the Patriots that everyone loved because they were nice guys that did it the right way.  Doing it the right way means owning up to your mistakes and telling the people who support you that you failed them.  Every Pats fan who proudly wears Patriots gear must now endure the tag of CHEATERS for quite some time.  Every other team is thumbing thru their film to see if the Pats had anyone taping them during games.

Apparently, this isn't new.  Eric Mangini, who worked under Belichick, knew to look for this guy.  Former Pats offensive coordinator Charlie Weis gave a chuckling denial of knowledge of anything. 

Maybe as time goes on, we will get the truth.  Until then, the fine and the loss of draft picks is a start.  But if there is an investigation that these films that were taken were used to cheat during games ... I'm all for forfeiting games.  That's something that will be hard to prove and I'm sure that it is a can or worms no one wants to open right now.

But rest assured: if this comes up again ... there will be hell to pay.