Goodell makes cheating message loud and clear with latest memo
"We don't anticipate the Patriots' situation repeating itself," Tennessee coach Jeff Fisher said, "because of the clear message the commissioner sent to the organization and the head coach."
Terrific, except Goodell doesn't sound all that convinced.
He talks about requiring team employees to report "actual or suspected" violations and an honor system whereby club owners, GMs and coaches would swear under threat of league discipline that they complied with the rules.
I don't know if that's a good-faith gesture to appease Sen. Arlen Specter or a warning to Belichick wannabes, and I don't care. What matters is that Goodell felt compelled to issue another warning, and it makes you wonder why.
You'd think the penalties levied against Belichick and the Patriots last fall would've sufficed as a deterrent, just as Fisher said, but not so fast there, folks.
"I think there are a number of steps that should be taken in advance of the start of the 2008 season to improve and strengthen the enforcement procedures designed to preserve the procedural integrity of the game," Goodell wrote.
At the scouting combine, Fisher insisted that electronic survelliance of opponents is not widespread throughout the league and that outside of the Patriots' incident he knew of no one who practiced it.
Apparently, Goodell doesn't share Fisher's faith in his colleagues.
That he issued another edict tells me he not only wants to make himself loud and clear on this subject but that he's not sure his message is getting through. So this time he brings a hammer along to get attention.
One NFC coach I spoke to recently said he was tired of the Spygate fallout and wanted it "put behind us." However, he also said he wanted the scandal investigated completely and wouldn't be satisfied until it was.
"I want to know what happened here," he said. "But you hear all sorts of things, and if any of them are true then we have a problem. So I want this thing addressed, investigated and completed."
Goodell wants something more. He wants it prevented from happening again, which means somebody at league headquarters must suspect it could.
It doesn't matter what you can or cannot gain through the videotaping of, say, an opponent's signals. In fact, I've heard critics of Spygate suggest the scandal isn't all that significant because it didn't benefit the Patriots all that much and, after all, it comes down to the players making plays, right?
Right, except they forgot one detail: IT'S ILLEGAL!
San Francisco offensive coordinator Mike Martz had it right when he said it didn't make a difference what the Patriots could or could not have gained from their alleged videotaping of the Rams' walk-through prior to Super Bowl XXVIII. It was against the rules. Period. End of conversation.
Goodell just joined the chorus. I'm not sure what provoked his latest memo, but he must believe somebody's not paying attention in class. Otherwise, why threaten stiffer penalties for something that is supposed to be an isolated incident?
Unless, of course, it isn't.
