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If He Did It, Here’s How It
Happened
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Between arrests, OJ Simpson found the
time to write a book, or like
every other football player with a book, have someone else write a book
for him. He called it “If I did it”. A Fox special based on
the book,
entitled “If I did it, Here’s How it Happened” was supposed to air last
November, but caused such an uproar, they never showed it. The family
of Nicole Brown, Simpson’s ex-wife who he was accused of slaying, calls
it a manual for murder. Oprah (Yes, now that I have to be home at
times taking care of two babies, I sometimes watch Oprah -- But NOT the
“View”, well sometimes) refuses to read it. This made me wonder
if
Belichick would write a similar book about his latest video faux pas.
No one who saw the famous videotape on Fox, of the Jet’s coaches
signaling in the defensive plays then showing the scoreboard with the
down and distance, can doubt it’s intention. The real question
is:
how was this used? Belichick denies that it was used to gain an
advantage during game day, and I have read several analysts say that it
would be very difficult to steal a sign, and then get it to a
quarterback in the 40 seconds between plays.
| The fact
that two of the teams that complained previously about
Belichick’s cheatin’ ways were from the NFC North, Green Bay and
Detroit, sheds real doubt on the contention that he did not use the
information to gain an advantage against the team he was playing that
day. All the teams in the AFC East play the teams in the NFC
North
every 4 years. So if he was using the video to gain an advantage
for
the next time they played, he’d have to wait 4 years, and hope that the
teams did not change their defensive signals in that time. It
seems
pretty implausible to me that he’d put himself and his organization at
such risk for an event that far in the future, and may not be helpful
anyway when it occurs. It seems to me that he had to be using the
information gained from these tapes against the team he was playing
that day. |
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How then did he do it? Any 7th grader with a laptop
computer and a $200 video camera could film the signs and the
scoreboard during the first quarter of a game. One of the
surprising things to me about this latest scandal is that Belichick saw
the need to have a guy on the sideline where he could and was
caught. Perhaps this is an argument for his innocence because it
is so blatantly stupid. If he really wanted to steal the signs
for future reference as he claims, he could easily have had a guy in
the stands across from the Jets bench doing the same thing.
Perhaps he needed the guy on the sideline so that guy could get the
tape to his coaches much sooner. They could then break down the
video and have it ready almost immediately, certainly by the start of
the third quarter. It really wouldn’t be that much more difficult
with a guy stealing signs in the stands. All he’d have to do is
record onto a flash drive. This could then be immediately
uploaded onto a laptop, and emailed to the coaches on a wireless
network. Using a wireless network operating at a relatively slow
10 Mbit/sec, an entire 1 gigabyte card, equivalent to 8 gigabits, could
be transferred in 800 seconds, or about 13 minutes. If the camera
records in normal definition, you wouldn’t even need to transfer the
whole gigabyte. On the other end, the coaches wouldn’t even have
to look at the whole tape. They simply need to look for certain
key defensive plays, such as cover two or blitz, note the time at which
the play occurred, then refer to the tape for the appropriate
signs. Anytime during the game when they see that sign, they can
determine the appropriate offensive response and radio that into the
quarterback’s helmet. I’m probably making the breakdown of the
signals much simpler than it really is. The point is that given
today’s technology, stolen signs could easily be made available to
offensive coaches while the game is being played.
The fact that Belichick was sternly warned last year about this, yet
still took the risks to obtain the stolen signs, underscores his need
for this information. The fact that a highly motivated New
England team dominated the Chargers on Sunday night should not refute
any notion that the Patriots may have cheated in the past to win.
Even without cheating, they are still the most talented team in the
league. This really makes one wonder why they’d need to cheat in
the first place. Perhaps they are not as talented as we all
think, or perhaps they were using information illegally obtained during
the two games the two teams played last year.
One mantra I’ve heard from New England fans the whole past week,
besides “everyone does it”, is “they still have to execute”. This
is absolutely true, the players still have to execute the plays, but it
certainly makes it much easier if they know what the defense will be
bringing. For example, if a coach told Brady before the play,
that a blitz was coming from the left, Brady could then change the
protection and fire to an open receiver who runs to the spot vacated by
the Blitzer. This would make Brady and his blockers look awfully
good. This of course would not explain the success that the
Patriots had on their opening drive, unless San Diego was stupid enough
to go into the game using the same signs from last year.
Ron Jaworski last night on MNF explained how advance information could
be crucial to the success of a play. He gave the example of a
touchdown he threw as a Ram, knowing the defensive back would not be in
that area. He said an offense could gain a great advantage by
just knowing a few of the defensive calls.
Though not as sexy as tanks or guns, information can win wars.
During World War II, the allies gained possession of a German code
machine, called Enigma. The Germans were so confident that the
allies could not figure out this machine, that they did not bother to
change their codes. Of course the allies did figure it out and
used it to great advantage on during the war in Europe. They felt
the information gained was so important, they actually allowed the
Germans to bomb a town which they knew would be a German target rather
than let the Germans figure out that their codes were broken. The
Japanese codes were also broken allowing the Americans to defeat a
superior Japanese force at the battle of Midway, generally regarded as
the turning point of the war in the Pacific. The airplane was not
initially envisioned as a weapon, but rather as a platform for
spying. Even Newman, of Seinfeld fame, new it’s importance when
he boasted to Jerry “When you control the mail, you control
infor-MA-tion.”
This obviously is all complete conjecture, but it is technically
possible, and until we learn exactly what Belichick was doing with
those videotapes, he and his team will be open to this type of
scrutiny, even if they go 19-0 this year.
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