Belichick didn't even think he was doing anything wrong. The rule states you can't film for use in that current game, and he claims he didn't use it for the games he was filming. They were filming for future games.
The penalty was way overboard, because of that. The rule does indeed say you can't film for that game. It doesn't say you can't film at all... Belichick and the Patriots didn't fight it though, they just wanted it put behind them. I think there might have been "extra" motivation by the league to cover their ears, stick to their guns, and make an example of them. How about writing the rule a lot clearer next time, so you don't get this sort of thing?
I think if you hate the Patriots, you tend to let that get the better of your common sense over this.
The people who say they didn't get punished enough?
He got the maximum allowed fine.
I'm pretty sure a lot of cameras around the NFL went into the trash after this.

its sure is funny how every coach from the Belichick tree all suck after leaving. That has to say something is going on.

Look at randy run, i cant see him geting past champ in the playoffs if the patriots make it i know the broncos will hope the pats show up to,that would be a good showdown. go broncos

The pats are better when they dont cheat, or mabe they wonted it to look that way. i dont know, only time will tell. go broncos,, patriot fans love your team no matter what the news says. we have all been down this road befor but a half mil dam thats wrong and your pic thats wronger and youallrety know im a broncos fan so its not pic sides kind of deal the nfl needs to look at drug test to make it a fair game. if you think so let me know and the nfl. help stop the putos from cheating. from mr mile high keepen it real

The Patriots, good or not, are cheaters. Not all teams do this. If you think so, you're wrong. This makes every win, every Super Bowl questionable. It ruins the integrity of the players and the coaching staff. The league was no where near hard enough on the franchise or the coach. The Patriots have just moved under the Browns on my likeable teams list...

I think this whole thing is ridiculous. The fact they everyone is targeting my team for an isolated incident really makes me mad. I vowed to my co-workers that I will investigate the nfl and all the other teams and will gladly publish all the things the other teams have done wrong...INCLUDING CHEATING!! I am gonna expose the nfl as a fraud and a joke. Here are some things I remember from way back when.
(1) Eagles fans blaming santa claus cause their team didn't get into the playoffs, pelting him to near death with snow balls. How mature.
(2) Whiney Rich Kotite whining about how things didn't go his way.
(3) Ref's cheating at a cleveland browns game that caused a riot. Did the nfl punish the ref's.....NO!!!
(4) Owner Jerry Jones making deals with nfl's sponsor's competitors. Did the nfl do anything about it? NO!!!
(5) Instant replay. Gee.....lets all look at the teams who didn't want it back. Hmmm....I know the Patriots voted for it to come back in full swing. Gee...those who didn't want it back had to be cheating.
(6) Green Bay Packer's fans mooning the opposing teams bus. Gee.....How mature. But then they have a quarterback that refuses to retire and will have to be drug out of the stadium kicking and screaming like a 12 year old girl.
(7) Faclon's QB drowns and murders dogs yet my team got a heafty fine. Gee....mayeb instead of video taping the defense, maybe my team should have murdered some dogs.
And the list goes on.
Let's face it. The NFL is a joke and is run by idiots.
I am confident the other teams cheat because I have seen a lot of hits by other teams go unflagged yet if my team did it, the flag comes out. The ref's aren't all that impartial. So to sit here and rail against the Patriots is unfair and uncalled for. Don't blame my team for the fact that they can get the job done and yours can't. Also I like to add the the nfc side of the nfl sucks. Its sad that they can't muster up a real team to play against the afc.
So in closing....if you don't like what I have to say, that's just too bad. Truth hurts. Since everyone wants to be jerks...fine. Like I said, I will dig up a lot of dirt on the other 31 teams and make it known to the world.
And if my teams is such cheaters how comes they have won such a small amount of super bowls compared to the other teams since the nfl's conception.
Before you bad mouth my team and throw stones....YOU ALL BETTER BE SURE THAT YOUR TEAM IS CLEAN CUT!!!!

The whole thing is that the league had no clue that the defensive signals mattered this much. Otherwise, they would have done it the same as the offense, and made it next to impossible to break the codes...at least by sight.
Now they get angry at the guy/team that is the best at "code breaking" the signs. Incompetence by the league, that's what gets the patriots punished?
If it wasn't so much of a screwup by the league, it would be funny.
If the Jets or Giants were caught doing the same thing, the NFL would be noting how clever they are! And saying things like, well everyone gets the same chance. It's just good coaching.
In baseball they need to make the signs more complex with a man on 2nd. It's not cheating if the base runner tries to get the signs!!!!!
I mean in baseball if there was someone in center field with a camera and a radio to the guy at the plate, now THAT would be cheating. But figuring out the audibles in football is TRADITION. Casual fans don't know it, but it is. Every team, even high school teams try to figure the other teams signals out. I've never thought of it as cheating. This is something new, and it's wrong.
Let's face it, in this case "everybody does it" is actually a good excuse.
Every coach asked so far has defended the Patriots. Coaches know more football than you or me, and more than the league officials by a ton. They know this was BS.

It's a case of Bill Belichick being 10 times smarter than anyone else, and the league felt they had to stop him.
Or at least slow him down?
They needed to start inventing rules to slow him down, in order to bring back parity!!
They found out what he was doing, THEN made a rule to stop him.
That's all it is.

Jeremy, they all do this. What do you call a coach who doesn't try to find out what the other defense is doing?
Fired!
I've seen about 10 coaches asked on TV so far, and to a man they all sort of implied that this is, or I guess "was" part of the game. This is probably going to make teams go underground more on how they do it.
What do you think "half-time adjustments" means?
Coaches who do worse in the 2nd half don't last too long. That's why they ALL do it. Mangini was doing it on the Pats, now he's suddenly seen the light?
Please!

Actually the way the Jets are playing, I kind of believe that could be one guy who isn't doing it.... What do we call him?
Fired!
Wait and see.

Manjudas is a punk! The Jets are his followers, and may they all rest in that hell they call Giant (not Jet) Stadium. GO PATS!!!!

TICKLED PINK
I am tickled pink that Goodell was steaming hot mad. He sucks. AND the media sucks. Check out this Yahoo link:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AhxplBuO5wGplfEmOvAr4mBDubYF?slug=ap-jetsfan-patriotslawsuit&prov=ap&type=lgns
Goodell has opened up a big time suit against the Patriot's coach by setting the precedence of a huge fine. I wouldn't be surprised if the head coach ends paying millions and millions of dollars of his personal income toward this frivolous lawsuit, even if he just settles out of court.
Shame on Goodell and shame on the media for blowing it out of proportion. Perhaps the greatest coach in the history of the NFL could potentially be punished for doing what everyone is trying to do: gain a competive edge.
I am just going to laugh now, since it won't ever affect my pocketbook.

Did you see the Jets lawsuit? I love it. A real athlete doesn't cheat. On the field, you get away with a hold, you steal a sign, your hear the play, fine. Videotaping, that is total BS.

Well now you know how a average team beats the league powerhouses, well at least New England is showing its true colors

First of all if you guys think that the patriots were the only team to copy signals from other teams you crazy. I mean come on when jimmy Johnson formerly of the cowboys says that he even did it during his tenure at Miami(hurricanes) and in Dallas does that not tell anybody that if a great coach like jimmy could it whats stopping everybody else from doing it. Fact of the matter is that even though they copied signals from the jets they still have to go out and execute, SO EVEN IF THEY KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING IT DOES NOT MATTER. One more thing to stop all the controversy just put microphones in the middle linebackers helmet. thanks one big brady fan

Crap, that's all this is a bunch of crap. People just cannot accept that the patriots are genuinely a good team. I can pretty much guarentee that if this had been the Worst team in the league none of this bull would have happened, ESPECIALLY this lawsuit crap from jets fans. it's all just so rediculous, NO they are not the only team to do it and yeah they did just get caught, but whatever it happened they were fined move on. Secondly people act like it's such a discrace but like seriously how much other stuff is done in this league to try and gain the advantage? why do coaches cover their mouths when they call plays? tell me what is the difference between using someone to read lips and videotaping? cause i dont really see how that is worse? all this is, is a bunch of whiney crybabies that finally see their opportunity to poke at the pariots for being a good team and its crap, SO SICK OF IT MOOOOOOVE ON. please dont let this ruin the nfl

you know, this loser sueing, is acting like the jets actually had a chance to win the game. the jets dont have a team, this guy's got season tickets and is out for his money back. what a loser? this guy should be sued for jumping on the sueing band wagon.

So you want to sue the Patriots and Bill Belichick huh? We'll just have to wait and see what judge Judy has to say about that..She'll call you a LOSER and she won't be lying!!

why dont you guys just admit that mangini is really an man baby and that you'll never be as sucessful as the new england patriots. now you got lawyers trying to sue the pats!!! this just goes to show what king of idiot would be a Jets fan!!!!!

Billacheat and the cheatriots should have had to forfiet the jets game, and possibly a super bowl,
and last years playoff game in San Diego! after years of Al Davis, and his "Cheatin'" ways, some of
us purest fans are tired of it! enough is enough! if the commsh is going to come down hard on
substance abuse, what's the difference, between that, and CHEATING!!!!!!?

If they were the only team that did this then I would agree but almost every team has recorded the opposition. This is standard practice for pro teams and people should get off their high horse and deal with reality. The Pats are a great team and proved it against the Chargers. Grow up. Plus the courts should stay out of what happens on the field and Jet's fan should also grow up. Their coach does the same thing and got caught this pass week as well.

Now we got scub-bag NY lawyers suing.Give it a rest.Your looking for your 15 minutes of fame I see you as trying to make money and and a name for yourself.Is this a true representation of the NEW NFL fan now??

Cheaters never prosper!!

Cheaters never prosper!!