Except for the cheap jokes I'll be making at the expense of Patriots fans for the next 10 years or so, I'm ready to be done with all issues relating to Spygate and Bill Belichick being a cheater. Belichick's legacy is still up for discussion, but in terms of any further investigation, unless anything new comes to light, I'm ready to let it go.

So when Matt Walsh told Roger Goodell that the Patriots used players who were on injured reserve during team practices, I immediately dismissed it. I didn't care. It's against NFL rules, but I didn't think it was any big deal. And I still don't.

But Ross Tucker, a former NFL lineman and New England Patriot, wrote about the practice last week at SI.com, and appeared yesterday on NFL Live to further discuss the practice, and what was said might be useful in deciding about how you're going to think about Bill Belichick from now until his retirement, and again when he's up for Hall of Fame induction.

Here's the interesting thing to me: Tucker, who played for four teams, said he never saw an IR player used in a practice anywhere except New England. James Hasty and Marcellus Wiley were panelists on the show, and when Trey Wingo asked them about it, Hasty said he played for three teams, and said he never once saw it happen, and Wiley played for four teams, and said he never once saw it happen.

Again, I still don't believe the Patriots gained any huge advantage because of the practice. The idea is that you get a young player some repetitions with the first team, and you get to rest veterans during practice. It's not something that's going to make or break your season.

But the fact that Tucker, Wiley and Hasty never saw it happen anywhere else does cut into the "oh, everybody does it" argument. Tucker's take is that there's so little to be gained by practicing players on IR that it doesn't make sense for a coach to take the risk of getting caught. But Belichick did it anyway.

And on top of everything else that we've learned about Bill Belichick, it helps paint a picture of a guy who has no regard for the rules, no matter how big or small, is willing to do things that other coaches won't, and is hellbent on getting any advantage he can, legal or otherwise. It's not an issue that I'm terribly concerned about in terms of competitive advantage, but I don't know if it can be so easily dismissed in regard to the issue of Bill Belichick's legacy.