ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
02/03/2008
Super Bowl XXXVI
GLENDALE, ARIZ. — Only the New York Giants can apprehend them now. But if the New England Patriots vanquish a 19th consecutive opponent to win the Super Bowl and complete their perfect season, they'll be handed the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
The question is, will the trophy be dusted for fingerprints?
Will the Patriots be accused (again) of stealing it?
You just never know with these guys. The Patriots could be to the NFL what Barry Bonds is to Major League Baseball: a discredited champion. With Bonds, it was a tarnished home-run title because of his suspected use of performance-enhancing steroids. With the Patriots, it's a matter of performance-enhancing surveillance.
Are you ready for "Spygate" the sequel?
According to a report in the Boston Herald, citing an unnamed source, a member of the team's video department filmed the Rams' final walkthrough before Super Bowl 36 in New Orleans. The next day, the Patriots upset the Rams, 20-17.
The Patriots issued an official denial Saturday, calling the allegation "absolutely false."
We could believe that except the Patriots damaged their credibility earlier this season, in the original "Spygate," where the Patriots were caught using a video camera to steal the New York Jets' signals. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell fined coach Bill Belichick $500,000, fined the organization $250,000 and ordered a first-round draft choice forfeited.
Was that the only incident? The Patriots' previous three victims in close Super Bowls — the Rams, Carolina and Philadelphia — surely had to wonder if they were bamboozled by Belichick's dirty tricks.
Matt Walsh, a Patriots video assistant from 1996 through 2003, dropped this hint to ESPN.com: "If I had a reason to want to go public, or tell a story, I could have done it before (Spygate) it even broke. I could have said everything rather than having (the Jets) bring it out."
After a four-day "investigation" following Spygate, Goodell penalized the Patriots and declared the matter closed. He even ordered the confiscated videotapes destroyed.
Goodell's rush to justice raised more questions than it answered.
As Walsh told ESPN.com, "If they're doing a thorough investigation ... they didn't contact me, so draw your own conclusions."
This is why Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., wants Goodell to explain before Congress the disposing of evidence. Goodell will likely go into full Roger the Dodger mode. After all, how devastating would it be to discover that the NFL's three-time (or four-time) Super Bowl champions slimed their way to those rings and trophies?
As is, we know that Belichick and his defensive players flouted the on-field rules in Super Bowl 36 by holding Rams receivers with illegal downfield contact, because they correctly assumed the refs wouldn't call many penalties in the Super Bowl showcase.
Hey, the Rams screwed up enough times in that game to put the Patriots in position to snatch the dramatic win. Coach Mike Martz didn't give Marshall Faulk enough carries against the nickel-dime defenses, offensive right tackle Rod Jones whiffed on a block that led to an interception returned for a touchdown, and Ricky Proehl lost a fumble late in the first half to set the Patriots up for a 14-3 lead.
That said, if the Patriots did secretly tape the Rams' walkthrough, then their win should be contaminated by scandal.
But it won't be. This is the NFL.
In baseball, players merely suspected of cheating by using performance-enhancing drugs are swiftly condemned, their reputations ruined. In the NFL, cheaters roll on without much of a hitch. San Diego pass-rusher Shawne Merriman was suspended for four games in 2006 after flunking a steroids test; he was rewarded with a trip to the Pro Bowl. Patriots safety Rodney Harrison was nabbed in a human-growth-hormone ring this season and received a four-game suspension. There was little howling from outraged columnists, pundits, fans or congressmen.
But think about this: If the Patriots cheated the Rams, the act carried beyond the outcome of a game. If the Rams had won that Super Bowl, it's two in three seasons. And two Super Bowl victories instead of one strengthens Pro Football Hall of Fame credentials of Faulk, Kurt Warner, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt and Orlando Pace.
The Super Bowl loss also marked the starting point of Martz's deteriorating relationship with Rams executives Jay Zygmunt and John Shaw. That upset had a direct impact on Martz's fragile state of mind, and his future in St. Louis.
If the Rams were cheated in Super Bowl 36, they lost more than a game. They were cheated out of their legacy, and lost their place in history.
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