It appears that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and the league is done handing out punishment to Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots regarding Spygate.
After meeting with ex-Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh for three and a half hours Tuesday and reviewing the tapes Walsh presented, the NFL will not further penalize the Patriots regarding the SpyGate affair.
According to commissioner Roger Goodell, Walsh claimed there was no Rams Super Bowl walkthrough tape, he never saw such a tape, and that Walsh was on the sidelines during the practice in full Patriots gear. Other than filming signals, Walsh said he knew of no other cheating by New England. Walsh did say the Pats allowed players on injured reserve to practice, which is against league rules, and that players scalped Super Bowl tickets. Goodell says the NFL will look into those issues, but has no plans to take action. This appears to be the end of SpyGate, finally.
So the question becomes – was Goodell too soft on Belicheat and the Pats? With the top 10 pick they got from San Francisco in a draft day trade last year, the Pats still made out pretty well despite Goodell stripping them of their first round pick (No. 31 overall). I’m not the right person to determine what the best form of punishment should have been, but from an outsiders perspective, it definitely looks like the Pats got off easy for being caught red handed.
