The Patriots' Way: Cheating

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by TED MADDEN
WFAA Sports
Posted on October 11, 2012 at 1:15 PM
Updated Thursday, Oct 11 at 3:08 PM

What if, during the steroids era in Major League Baseball, instead of players on every team using steroids, only players from one particular team did? How much of an advantage would that grant them?

That's the comparison I keep coming to after reading "Spygate, the Untold Story." Most of us think Spygate was an open-and-shut case, spanning only a few days in September 2007. The New England Patriots were caught videotaping coaching signals from the Jets sidelines. The NFL found out, fined head coach Bill Belichick $500,000, fined the team $250,000, and took away their 2008 first round draft pick.

Case closed.

And the case was closed, hard. And fast. The league destroyed the tapes, then got the NFL's 31 other owners to toe the company line ("What the Patriots did wasn't really a big deal").

The author of "Spygate," Bryan O'Leary, was never convinced, and finally had enough as he sat down to watch the most recent Patriots-Giants Super Bowl.

"I became so irritated in the run up to last year's Super Bowl, when Bob Costas was telling us that Tom Brady's the next Joe Montana, Belichick is an all-time genius, and they're a model franchise," said O'Leary. "A model? And they cheated incessantly for 6 years? That's what started this book."

O'Leary is a commodities trader who lives in Colleyville; he's not a writer. "Spygate" is his first book, and it reads like a first book. It's not polished, and there is a tone of righteous indignation throughout that you wouldn't get from a more traditional writer.

Get past that, and you'll see where his indignation comes from.

"I think the book is written from an angle of, I'm smarter than this, and you, reader, you're smarter than this too," said O'Leary. "That's the tone in the book: I can't believe I've put in this much time, money and energy (into consuming the NFL) and you're just going to lie to my face."

O'Leary spends 244 pages showing how the Patriots cheated long before and well after the Spygate incident in 2007.

One of the major ways the Pats cheated was by using a 2nd (and illegal) frequency, with which they talk to the quarterback. In the NFL, the communication from coach to quarterback is shut off with 15 seconds on the play clock. The assertion in this book is that Brady was listening to a second frequency and being told what the defense will be (and where the open receiver will be) up until the moment he snaps the ball.

What's also interesting -- and suspicious -- is that in several seasons, the Patriots never even bothered to hire an offensive or defensive coordinator, sometimes both (in 2010 they went the whole year without either). And when they have hired coordinators, they have generally been guys no one else wanted. Former Kent State head coach Dean Pees became defensive coordinator in 2006, after Eric Mangini left to become head coach with the Jets. Pees had a 17-51 record at Kent State. Bill O'Brien eventually became the Pats' offensive coordinator in 2011 after a few years in other offensive coaching roles. His last stop before New England? Duke, where he was offensive coordinator for a team that went 1-22 in 2005-06.

The Patriots haven't needed offensive or defensive coordinators, because they have Ernie Adams. Adams is the "guy behind the guy." He's Belichick's closest confidant, but no one else really knows what he does. This link on the enigmatic Adams is worth a read. O'Leary writes that Adams has a photographic memory and is the one watching the opposing coaches signal in a play, and then, using video from the Spygate tapes, telling the quarterback in his helmet what to do (reducing the role of the offensive coordinator).

After reading the book, I'm convinced this is a HUGE story that got swept under the rug, because NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell recognized how far-reaching it could be if the whole story was told (legacies tarnished, three super bowl trophies fraudulently won, huge contracts to coaches who can't coach -- Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennell, Josh McDaniels, Eric Mangini -- legacies like Peyton Manning's damaged because he was facing an organization that systematically cheated).

We've heard for years that the Patriots continue to win because they do it "The Patriots Way." This book shows that "The Patriots Way" is cheating.

Spygate: The Book the NFL does not want you to read.

E-Mail Ted Madden: tmadden@wfaa.com
Follow Ted on Twitter: @tedmadden

 

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Excerpt from the book:

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The Patriot Way – Black Ops

Chapter 7

“Talk to me, so you can see, what’s going on.” –Marvin Gaye

“The Patriot Way” is a phrase used to describe the “team first” attitude of the New England Patriots. They do not have any big star athletes with bloated contracts; no showboat egotists are tolerated. They are always well below the salary cap with plenty of draft choices on draft day. They typically gain these extra draft choices by trading away successful players who want (or will want) big money contracts. This would be a pure fantasy for any owner or coach, and seemingly impossible everywhere but New England.

But what if “the Patriot Way” was actually a Black Ops system of espionage that greatly assisted the team’s performance? A system, if effective, would explain why the Patriots do things that were considered impossible. That is, until the Patriots starting doing them. If there was a systematic advantage built in to a team’s play-calling process, a system one could use on game day to help win games, then one could perhaps field the league’s best defense with older, washed up players. A coach could create a dynasty with no big free agents and even rookie starters. If that system was effective enough, the players would become interchangeable so the team would not need to overpay anyone. If there is a Pro Bowl player on your team, and he wants more money, show him the door. Let someone else pay him. The next guy in line to take his place can play with equal effectiveness if the system is good enough. Concerning the Patriots, it’s about the system, not the players.

Taken to the extreme, wide receivers could successfully play corner. Quarterbacks with no NFL experience, or college experience, could win eleven games or even the Super Bowl. This may seem impossible, but not in New England. All of the above actually happened in the last eleven years in New England. New England is the Bermuda Triangle of professional football, where down is up and up is down. At the Patriots’ football complex, nothing is as it should be. No one questions why, we just accept it. We suspend our belief system built on forty years of National Football League games played, and say, “Wow, those Patriots are really something!”

Fortunately, we do not have to speculate how the Patriots can do all of this. The Patriots were actually caught using a Black Ops system during the infamous game with the Jets in 2007, outed by a former Patriots coach. They were caught using a system that allows this Bermuda Triangle of football to exist in the great Northeast. However, many fans and media members are not yet convinced that the system amounted to its hype. They wonder how exactly, if at all, this system altered the outcome of the games.

In order to study this thesis, let’s start with the basic assumption that for a system like Spygate to function effectively, a team would have to be highly motivated and committed to using that system. This was not casually done. Let us also discuss what a hypothetical football team using a Spygate system would need to have in place, in order to pull off something so complicated—and clearly contradictory to the rules of fair play.

1. A method of gathering offensive and defensive signals; both video and audio communications if possible.
2. A person whose job it is to decode the stolen signs, and a delivery system to get the matching counter plays called in to the offensive or defensive players.
3. Offensive and defensive coordinators the team can trust. The coordinators must be in on the secret. They need to have their designed plays instantly overridden when the stolen signals call for it. Naturally, once you know what your opponent is about to do, you must then call a play that has the greatest chance of success against that play or formation.

Now let us examine the known facts in evidence to piece together what exactly was going on in New England. Let’s look at each point that a team would need to see if the Patriots have these bases covered. Based on available evidence, the following was likely taking place:

We already know, from Bill Belichick’s own admissions and the testimony of employees, that the Patriots secured video recordings of opposing offensive and defensive players, as well as coaches’ signals for every year, starting from Belichick’s first game as head coach. We know that these gathered signals were given to Ernie Adams. Ernie Adams, the football savant, can instantly spout off counter play after counter set when given an opponent’s play. Adams is hidden from view, like the Wizard of Oz, pulling all the levers that run this amazing machine. It is Adams who enables this shockingly brazen system to tick like a Swiss watch. It is Adams who calls the offensive and defensive plays based on the information he has acquired from the signals others have gathered.

Remember Art Modell and others wondering, “What does this man do?” “Why is he so mysterious?” and “Why is he so important?” Naturally, Adams’ job of game planning involves plenty of work that is within the rules. However, someone playing strictly by the rules should not need to hide. In Wright Thompson’s thorough article for ESPN, “Who is This Guy?” the reporter wrote: “One former Patriots insider said a videotape of signals wouldn’t help the other 31 teams nearly as much [as the Patriots] because they wouldn’t have Ernie Adams there to quickly analyze and process the information.” Thompson continued, “And if any of this happens to be true [in reference to the Patriots cheating], Adams’ love of military history suggests he might see deciphering signals as just part of winning a battle.”

Also from Chapter 1, in the interview with Armen Keteyian, Bill Belichick admitted that Ernie Adams looked at the tapes and “if there was anything there he could use, he would use them.” Logically and realistically, the only way for a research assistant to “use” the tapes is to call plays. There is no other purpose in acquiring stolen defensive or offensive signals.

You can buy it here:
https://www.cdtdigital.com/spygate/items/data.php
http://www.amazon.com/Spygate-Untold-St ... told+story

 

[Selassie I]

Man,,, this shit makes my blood boil. :evil:

 

[-X-]

Man,,, this shit makes my blood boil. :evil:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLjhLaD9Zjw[/youtube]

 

[nighttrain]

Think how members of the 2001 Rams must feel! RAGE!
train

 

[RamFan503]

And there you have it. THE most disgusting franchise in the history of the NFL.

 

[Faceplant]

Only way this is made right is if the Rams, Panthers and Eagles are awarded Superbowl victories......

 

[PowayRamFan]

How was Goodell able to sweep such a huge story under the rug so easily? How do you destroy evidence, like he did, and come away completely unharmed by it? Just mind-boggling that Goodell didn't get taken down over this. I will never understand why the media did not try a whole lot harder to get to the bottom of this story.

 

[Ram Quixote]

How was Goodell able to sweep such a huge story under the rug so easily? How do you destroy evidence, like he did, and come away completely unharmed by it? Just mind-boggling that Goodell didn't get taken down over this. I will never understand why the media did not try a whole lot harder to get to the bottom of this story.

What, and ruin that perfect feel-good story of the underdog Patriots winning SB36? When allegations arise that seem to do more harm than the lies, the thought process becomes, will there be irrevocable harm done by this? People become entrenched in what they prefer to believe, and the media is no different.

 

[Angry Ram]

Still will root for them over Seattle.

Fuck them both. Well, Bellicheat. Said it before...I like NE's players.

 

[Username]

Whoever came up with the phrase "If you're not cheating, you're not trying" needs to be punched in the dick. Just sayin.

 

[RamFan503]

Whoever came up with the phrase "If you're not cheating, you're not trying" needs to be punched in the dick. Just sayin.

I'm sayin' it's Bellicheat. In fact I'm sure of it. Yeah - that's it. That's the ticket. :sly:

 

[Username]

 

[Ram Quixote]

coaches who can't coach -- Charlie Weis, Romeo Crennell, Josh McDaniels, Eric Mangini

There's been a lot questions about the Bellichik coaching "tree" not having any success. If all of these guys have been relying on this cheating savant, Ernie Adams, while working for Coach Cheater, that would explain a lot.

 

[GreeneCounty]

Man Kraft and Goodall are buddies.