FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Bill Belichick is ready for his close-up.
The New England Patriots coach escaped suspension for using a video camera to spy on opposing coaches, with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell deciding instead Thursday night to fine him $500,000 and dock the team $250,000 and a first-day draft pick next year.
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It was the biggest fine ever for a coach and the first time in NFL history a first-round draft pick has been confiscated as a penalty. But Belichick will be on the sideline Sunday night, as planned, when the Patriots play the San Diego Chargers.
Belichick was peppered with questions on the scandal Friday morning, when he seemed bemused by the repeated attempts to get him to expand on his earlier statement in which he accepted "full responsibility for the actions" that led to the ruling.
"It's over, and we're moving on," the coach said. "All my energy and focus and attention is on the San Diego Chargers and that game."
Belichick did allow that he would change the team's videotaping procedures. Patriots video assistant Matt Estrella, whose camera was confiscated while he was on the Jets' sideline, will not be on the sideline.
Goodell found the Patriots guilty of using videotape to try to steal the New York Jets' signals during Sunday's game. He ordered New England to surrender next year's first-round draft choice if it reaches the playoffs, and second- and third-round picks if it doesn't.
"I specifically considered whether to impose a suspension on Coach Belichick," Goodell wrote in a letter to the team. "I have determined not to do so, largely because I believe that the discipline I am imposing of a maximum fine and forfeiture of a first-round draft choice, or multiple draft choices, is in fact more significant and long-lasting, and therefore more effective, than a suspension."
Both the NFL and Belichick stressed that the camera was seized before the end of the first quarter and had no impact on the game, which the Patriots won 38-14.
"This episode represents a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid longstanding rules designed to encourage fair play and promote honest competition on the playing field," Goodell wrote.
The NFL statement said Goodell believed owner Robert Kraft was unaware of Belichick's actions. But the commissioner penalized the club because of Belichick's "substantial control over all aspects of New England's football operations."
"His actions and decisions are properly attributed to the club," Goodell said.
Reached at his home, Kraft declined to comment.
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