Is New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick a cheater?
Jan 20, 2015, 6:08 AM | Updated: 6:08 am
One of the storylines for the upcoming Super Bowl will be Patriots head coach Bill Belichick’s reputation as a guy who bends the rules – if not completely breaks them.
Belichick has been derided as “Beli-cheat” for allegedly cheating over the years to gain an edge. He was most famously fined $500,000 for “Spygate,” the controversial secret videotaping of New York Jets’ defensive coaches during a 2007 game that cost the Patriots an additional $250,000 fine and a first-round draft pick. It’s the biggest fine ever leveled against a coach.
At the time, Belichick apologized, calling it a mistake and saying that he misinterpreted the rules.
Belichick and the Patriots are now embroiled in a new controversy, this time for allegedly using overly deflated footballs during the AFC Championship game Sunday to make it easier for players to handle the ball in the inclement weather.
Belichick said he hadn’t heard about the accusations until Monday and will “cooperate fully with whatever questions they ask us and whatever they want us to do.”
Quarterback Tom Brady is calling the reports “ridiculous.”
“I think I’ve heard it all at this point … it’s ridiculous. I don’t even respond to stuff like this,” he told WEEI.
710 ESPN Seattle’s Mike Salk has followed Belichick closely during his several stints as a sportscaster in Boston, and says while Belichick pushes the limits, he doesn’t think the heralded coach is a cheater.
“I think he does everything in his power to get an edge,” says Salk. “He’s creative, he believes in pushing the envelope.”
Salk argues Belichick is too good a coach to knowingly cheat and has forged his success, including three Super Bowl titles as a head coach, by being smarter and better prepared than his opponents, which involves in part knowing the rules inside and out.
A good example was in the AFC Divisional playoff against Baltimore last week, when the Patriots unveiled an unconventional but legal formation that caught the Ravens off guard and led to complaints they were breaking the rules.
“I don’t think he’s ever won by cheating,” says Salk.
But 710 ESPN Seattle’s Bob Stelton is one one of many who’d beg to differ.
“He did cheat and he got caught,” says Stelton. “Why else would the league fine him so much and dock them a draft pick?”
It’s not just fans and opposing teams who accuse him of cheating. Even Hall of Fame coach Don Shula, the winningest coach in NFL history, called him “Beli-cheat” in a recent interview with the Florida Sun-Sentinal.
As for the deflated ball accusations, the Patriots certainly didn’t seem to need them for an edge, as evidenced by the 45-7 whipping they laid on the Colts Sunday.
