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Recently, a new piece of information regarding accusations that the New England Patriots cheated their way to dynastic supremacy was published and it should cause a lot of people to finally shut the hell up.
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| Herman Edwards didn't seem too bothered in New York by Belichick's spying. (Getty Images) |
Just in case you missed it this weekend, the New York Daily News reported on a scene involving former New York Jets coach Herm Edwards several years ago. Edwards knew that the Patriots filmed the signals of opponents so the Jets coach took precautions to thwart them by altering their system of signaling plays.
I am told the Jets took even more steps to protect their secrecy when they played the Patriots. Security around the team's practice facility was increased during New England week and Jets personnel were on the lookout for strange men with cameras (sounds like a night in Central Park). That's how well-known Belichick was for his electronic espionage.
Edwards, blessed with a good sense of humor and a prankster's genome, changed the team's signals during games against the Patriots, but then added a little spice. Edwards was so aware of Belichick's practices that when seeing the filming equipment, he clowned it, actually waving to the camera.
The year this happened? It was 2004.
Let me repeat that. It was four years ago.
Four damn years.
If what Belichick did, portrayed by Patriots Haters and Belichick Bashers as the end of civilization as we know it, was so advantageous to them and despicable, why were coaches like Edwards mocking it?
Why didn't he turn in Belichick, if what Belichick was doing was so significant and dastardly?
The answer: Because it wasn't.
The Daily News article, to me, is one of the more important pieces of this Patriots Spygate puzzle. It might not seem so but it is.
If a savvy longtime NFL employee (Edwards has been playing and coaching in professional football for decades) did nothing to stop Belichick's spying and even sarcastically mocked it, then how much of an advantage could Belichick have gotten over the years with this practice?
