A Very Spygate Thursday

Well there's certainly never a dull moment in Patriots nation, hence why bloggers like me consistently have stuff to write about. So by now I'm sure everyone out there has heard that the AGP's tapes have been turned in and the dreaded Rams walk-thru tape is not there (Praise Belichick!). This is the moment hard core Patriots fans have been waiting for. It's time for the mediots to 'pay the fiddler' as Chet from Weird Science would say.

I've tried to be as unbiased as a Patriots fan could be through this whole saga. Look, the Patriots broke the rules, no question about it and they were punished. Significantly. But I think the cries of "cheaters" is a little much.  Anyone who knows anything about the Hoodied One knows how meticulous he is in his preparation. It would be practically impossible to "crack the code" of defensive signals at half time and be able to use that knowledge in the same game. I don't constitute using the tapes after the game to study what the defense was doing as cheating and I truly don't believe that was there ever the intention to steal signals in a later game. No one respects the game of football more than Bill Belichick, for those who don't know he has the largest collection of football books in the world which are stored at the Naval Academy. He will do anything he can to gain an edge, but there's a line between preparation and cheating and I don't believe it was crossed.

So now attention turns to two main places - John Tomase of the Boston Herald and ESPN's Mike Fish and Greg Easterbrook. The AGP's lawyer denies that he he was the source who claimed the Rams walk-thru was taped. So who is Tomase's source? WEEI in Boston was calling for Tomase to come clean this morning and he really has no choice now. The Herald could very well face a lawsuit from the Patriots. Fish was the one mediot to actually say that the tapes the AGP turned over actually makes things worse for the Pats. I don't really see how that's the case but I guess he's got to get hits one way or another.

Rumors came out of Foxboro in recent weeks that ESPN has been completely shunned by the Pats due to their incessant beating of the Spygate drum - with Easterbrook and Fish leading the charge. Did you notice how Belichick was nowhere to be found on the "world leader in sports" on draft day? Based on Fish's article this morning that isn't going to change any time soon.

If we look at the evidence that was turned over by the AGP it includes the signals from the 2002 AFC Championship Game against the Steelers. In 2002 there was even less video capabilities than there are today. Anything that was shot in the first half would have to be digitized in real time before it could be synced up so that doesn't leave enough time for any kind of in-game cheating. So why then would the Patriots tape them? This just proves it was done with an eye to the future to study tendencies. Not to mention if it was so important how did a low level video assistant get a copy of it? The Steelers have already come out and said they consider the Pats taping to be a non-issue but the Pats-haters can't believe that. They only believe what they want to believe. Someone said "Patriots" and "Cheating" once so forever in their minds the Pats are cheaters. Whatever. As Colin Cowherd said this morning they're just like all the other conspiracy theorists out there, still believing in Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and Jay Cutler.

The AGP could still have something incriminating to say when he sits down with the Commish on Tuesday but without video tape evidence to back it up it will be hard for him to drop any kind of bombshell that would result in further punishment. It's not impossible but if he can't prove it I doubt it can be anything that would cost the Hoodied One his job and ultimately that's all Pats fans are concerned with.

So hopefully this is finally the beginning of the end for Spygate. Next week it will be interesting to hear what the AGP has to say, but probably not as interesting as how Tomase and ESPN will cover their asses.

Here's your Spygate Linkage:

Reiss, AP, FOX, PFT, SI, & ESPN all saying the same thing.

Don Banks of SI.com's analysis.

One more - Eric Wilbur of the Boston Globe has a great take.

In non-Spygate news, Reiss has a look at Victor Hobson. Is the picture of him drilling Brady really necessary? I'm excited about the addition of Hobson because he's young, versatile and experienced in the Pats system. If Seau doesn't come back it will be Hobson, Bruschi and young Mayo on the inside and that looks on paper to be a solid group. Hobson and Mayo could be the ones anchoring the Pats D for the next few years as Bru's career winds down.