Jets Taping the Patriots

“We taped the game, is what we taped, and we taped end-zone copy of the game, and we tape a double end zone, which is standard operating procedure for us,” Mangini said Wednesday. “We request that every single road game, and it’s usually granted if physically it’s possible. And when people request it from us, we do the same thing: We grant it.”

-Eric the Rat

Now, maybe we'll see this more tomorrow, but why is this quote being taken at face value? Why is it that the guy who learned EVERYTHING about coaching from the Anti-Christ, including taping defensive signals, has gone on to a divisional rival and not used the same tactic as his former boss? You could barely even call it an assumption. Everything about Mangini is an emulation of Belichick.

What I really read from this quote is that everyone tapes from the stands and no one asks the difficult questions like "can i see your tape first?" because every team wants to be able to do the same thing. Whether you think taping defensive signals is cheating or not, is separate from the question about whether everyone is operating on the same level playing field.

It would be a big leap to say absolutely every coach does it (or did it until week 2 this year), and god forbid anyone question whether St. Dungy has ever done it, but to say that it doesn't happen and the Patriots are the lone gunmen in this thing is now proven to be insane.

Does Mangini still tape games every week this season? And if you're an opposing team, why would you give the former foot solider of Bill Belichick permission to tape from your stands after his mentor was caught cheating? How many other teams are taping their teams from the endzone?

And how necessary is this for chrissakes? Coordinators are handed faxed photos of the plays from 2 minutes ago on a regular basis throughout the game. There is plenty of game tape to draw from. And what kind of angle are you getting from sitting in the endzone to film your team? Is it a Sony Handycam or an IMAX super-enhanced movie camera?

The whole thing gets more and more ridiculous. Have we reached a peak yet where we can start scaling back the need for technology to analyze the game? They have 10 coaches on each sideline? Can't they watch the game and make notes and compare them to the actual official game tape they each get?

In the end, the Patriots are still evil, hated, and utterly classless to the rest of the NFL. Which is still great. We get to be vilified and vindicated at the same time. What more could you ask for?