Harbaugh Says Patriots Titles Are Tainted

[admartian]

I'm with Harbs. And what's wrong with answering with the truth?

IMO, spygate is about as harmful to league parity and not to mention fairnes, as bountygate is to player safety.

The fact that the NFL didn't come crashing down on them (fairly soft punishment) [b]SHOULD [/b]speak volumes on how the league favours certain teams (you can count teams like the Steelers, Giants, Packers) among the "chosen ones".

Pathetic imo.

[berad]

Ugh, why did I turn on ESPN. Bruschi is now agreeing with Harbaugh and now their revisiting the entire Spygate issue.

[757RavensFan]

[quote name='admartian' timestamp='1335901398' post='1069214']
I'm with Harbs. And what's wrong with answering with the truth?

IMO, spygate is about as harmful to league parity and not to mention fairnes, as bountygate is to player safety.

The fact that the NFL didn't come crashing down on them (fairly soft punishment) [b]SHOULD [/b]speak volumes on how the league favours certain teams (you can count teams like the Steelers, Giants, Packers) among the "chosen ones".

Pathetic imo.
[/quote]

I can understand why people are still talking about Bountygate. It's still new and the league hasn't even penalized the players involved yet.

But why keep harping on Spygate? It was years ago and the Patriots were penalized by the league and everyone moved on.

BTW, hard to take you serious after reading your signature. There are 31 other teams to support if you don't like what Oz is doing.

[lgcs27288]

[quote name='Tulobrochill' timestamp='1335897719' post='1069139']
Anybody else wonder why Bruschi got so mad? He was actually raising his voice when he said that Harbs needs to learn loyalty. I think it's just because Harbs isn't drinking the BB water from the Patriots bowl. Keep being objective Harbs, just make sure to keep it to generally accepted theories all over the NFL, no saying Flaaco is the best qb in the league plz
[/quote]

Bruschi is just getting mad because he was a part of those teams. Who just said, "Call a cheater a cheater and they get mad and defensive?" There is your evidence right there.

[PuRock]

[quote name='berad' timestamp='1335902863' post='1069241']
Ugh, why did I turn on ESPN. Bruschi is now agreeing with Harbaugh and now their revisiting the entire Spygate issue.
[/quote]

What else is there to do? The draft was before it even finished. Now they are just sitting waiting for controversy.

[Corvus]

Call the Ravens, Steelers, Giants, Packers cheaters, their collective fanbases laugh it off. Call the Patriots cheaters and their fans, former players, and every bug in the woodwork come out swinging and with expectations of a 50-3 blowout, because that'll really teach them for calling us cheaters. The extremely vociferous reaction to this is all the evidence one needs to come to the proper conclusion that you guys already have: Real cheaters hate being called cheaters.

[The Raven]

Cheating is wrong. That being said, calling them the Cheatriots and Bill Belicheat is just [i]stupid[/i]. They Patriots have been top contenders in the NFL, and probably have (I'm not certain) the best winning percentage [b]before, during, and after [/b]Spygate. Even after Spygate, they have been a dominant team. While they are 0-2 in Superbowls since Spygate, that can be attributed to the fact that they were simply outplayed in both, and the teams from the alleged Spygate years were that much better than recent New England teams. Bill Belichick is the best Head Coach and arguably the best GM in football. New England is a very well run organization. They finished this past year 13-3. They were the one seed. It's quite obvious that they are a well run franchise.

Now, quit crying over something that happened years ago.

[Dnyce215]

[quote name='Bltravens' timestamp='1335899069' post='1069170']
Like I said, legally the Patriots would have absolutely CRUSHED the NFL if the NFL attempted to take away the Patriots trophies. The NFL had proof of [u][i]one[/i][/u] instance of video taping. The NFL acted accordingly. The Saints have MULTIPLE articles of evidence against them, even an audio tape of of their DC telling their players to basically kill guys. With the NFL's stance on player safety now how can you even be remotely surprised the NFL brought the hammer down on them?

SMH at people that think you can just go and take away 3 Super Bowl Championships like it's a refund.
[/quote]
Let me check you here I never asked for there trophies to be taken away, but they won three super bowls they can lose three first round picks simple as that! I don't get where was the taking away of trophies came from? People assume what the penalties we want.You talking about player safety? Players get hurt everyday you don't say anything about that? Player bounties that been going on before we where born. ignorance: you don't know, or ignorant: you don't want to know. Pick one! They don't care bout player safety, be real with your self. They only care bout a hand full of players. You know who they are. None of them defensive players point blank!

[Bltravens]

[quote name='Dnyce215' timestamp='1335906769' post='1069315']
Let me check you here I never asked for there trophies to be taken away, but they won three super bowls they can lose three first round picks simple as that! I don't get where was the taking away of trophies came from? People assume what the penalties we want.You talking about player safety? Players get hurt everyday you don't say anything about that? Player bounties that been going on before we where born. ignorance: you don't know, or ignorant: you don't want to know. Pick one! They don't care bout player safety, be real with your self. They only care bout a hand full of players. You know who they are. None of them defensive players point blank!
[/quote]
Like I [u][b][i]originally[/i][/b][/u] stated. The punishments fit the [b][i][u]proof[/u][/i][/b] the NFL had. The NFL had absolutely NO grounds to punish for more than ONE incident against the Jets for taping. There is no evidence of the Patriots doing the same thing during their Super Bowls. Did they probably do it? Hell ya. But the simple fact is there is no evidence to take anything more from the Patriots. If the NFL had done so, New England would have literally sued the NFL for millions of dollars and won.

[jimmypowder]

Well let's talk about last years champioship game where all down makers and scoreboard had the wrong
down at the very end of the game .is that why Cundiff and the rest rushed so much to get off the kick???

HMMMMMMMMMM!

[admartian]

[quote name='757RavensFan' timestamp='1335903058' post='1069246']
I can understand why people are still talking about Bountygate. It's still new and the league hasn't even penalized the players involved yet.

But why keep harping on Spygate? It was years ago and the Patriots were penalized by the league and everyone moved on.

BTW, hard to take you serious after reading your signature. There are 31 other teams to support if you don't like what Oz is doing.
[/quote]You can't take me seriously because I have an opinion on how the draft went? And your conclusion and solution to that is for me to follow another team?

Stew on that for a little bit before you come back.

[Crabcakes&Football]

“I’m going to get accused of accusing somebody of something.” Best line of the article.

[JO_75]

Ugh... I knew someone would make something more out of nothing. Nobody has brought up the whole point of why he said it and what question he was answering. Harbs was asked about the Saints Bounty Scandal(I have no idea why Harbs would care about that, so I have no idea why the reporters would ask him this) and then he was basically saying that if you cheat, it is going to come out eventually, and he brought up the Patriots spygate issues as an example.

[quote][color=#000000][font=Georgia,]“I answered a question about playing within the rules and referred to the perception that the Super Bowl championships won by the Patriots and Saints have a stain,” Harbaugh said. “My reference was to the perception out there that came as the result of the league’s actions.”[/font][/color]

[color=#000000][font=Georgia,]The question asked to Harbaugh was about the Saints’ bounty scandal.[/font][/color][/quote]

[url="http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/01/john-harbaugh-patriots-earned-those-championships/"]http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/01/john-harbaugh-patriots-earned-those-championships/[/url]

[Cville-Raven]

[img]http://gif.mocksession.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/SPIKES-FLOPPAN.gif[/img]

[tctony]

Who cares.

[hawkprey]

Misinformed topic title. Can we change this?

[raybaby]

[quote name='hawkprey' timestamp='1335913085' post='1069414']
Misinformed topic title. Can we change this?
[/quote]
That is how the media is spinning it and how all the Boston fans are taking it. Gotta love sheep who see Patriots & tainted and automatically get angry lol

[Militant X 1]

in reference to what coach Harbs said about the patriots and spy-gate, i'll take Shannon Sharpe's position when the Ravens had to play the Titans in the playoffs:

[i][b]"Yeah we said it! Whatever they say we said....We said it!!!" [/b][/i]@ 30:00 mins.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU0Fuhu8uKg[/media]

~Mili

[ratedr]

The comments in this post are classic. Steelers fans defending Harbaugh? It's nuts.

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/47401/harbaugh-was-wrong-to-call-out-belichick#comment

[ratedr]

[quote name='hawkprey' timestamp='1335913085' post='1069414']
Misinformed topic title. Can we change this?
[/quote]I was feeling lazy with the title, I'll admit. But I trust everyone on a Ravens site to observe context so I didn't think it was a big deal to clarify.

[GrimCoconut]

[quote name='ratedr' timestamp='1335914783' post='1069429']
The comments in this post are classic. Steelers fans defending Harbaugh? It's nuts.

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/47401/harbaugh-was-wrong-to-call-out-belichick#comment
[/quote]
Leave it to Bill to unite Steelers and Ravens fans.

[WinnipegRaven]

I love this guys post.....

"You are just not terribly bright if you believe the Pats only had success because of some perceived benefit received from filming coaches’ signals.
For there to have been a benefit prior to 2007 there also would also have had to be the opposite after 2007 and yet we see that that is not the case.
If you still believe your own discombobulated logic that the Pats only found success due to filming signals, you are none too bright! The facts speak for themselves, though I imagine facts don’t help some of you very much.
_________________________________
Have you ever REALLY looked at the facts – or just glossed over them?
Before Spygate was revealed – 2000-2006:
Patriots post-season record 12-2
Patriots W/L composite: 173-51
15-1: Steelers
14-2: Rams, Chargers
13-3: Steelers, Broncos, Eagles
12-4: Colts (3x), Jaguars, Titans
11-5; Panthers
10-6: Raiders, Jets
After Spygate was revealed – 2007-2011
Patriots post-season record: 4-4
Patriots opponent W/L composite: 81-47
12-4: Ravens
11-5: Jets, Chargers, Jaguars
10-6: Giants
9-7: Ravens, Giants
8-8: Broncos
Ever wonder how the Patriots could win an NFL record 22 consecutive games with only 1 player who will make the Hall of Fame?
The Patriots went from dominating the Steelers and Colts – two teams that won and reached multiple Super Bowls themselves, to losing to the 10-6 and 9-7 Giants in the Super Bowl.
The Patriots are relevant only because the rules changes regarding player safety have negated their inability to play defense or run the ball. They played 4 teams in all of 2011 with a winning record and were a dropped Lee Evans TD from watching the Super Bowl from home.
The Patriots benefitted from Spygate and would NOT have 3 Super Bowls without it. They may have won games and competed, but they wouldn’t have Lombardis."

[raybaby]

[quote name='Militant X 1' timestamp='1335914626' post='1069428']
in reference to what coach Harbs said about the patriots and spy-gate, i'll take Shannon Sharpe's position when the Ravens had to play the Titans in the playoffs:

[i][b]"Yeah we said it! Whatever they say we said....we said it!!!" [/b][/i]@ 30:00 secs

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU0Fuhu8uKg[/media]

~Mili
[/quote]
Lol I love Shannon

[1/28/01]

5 pages for this? Ha, hilarious!

[admartian]

[u][i][b]"Mangini 'regrets' blowing the whistle"[/b][/i][/u]

[url="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d828ca952/article/mangini-regrets-turning-in-patriots-over-videotaping?module=HP11_headline_stack"]http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d828ca952/article/mangini-regrets-turning-in-patriots-over-videotaping?module=HP11_headline_stack[/url]

[quote]"To have guys like Tedy have to defend the championships that we earned in New England, and to have anything taken away from the Kraft family, from Coach (Bill) Belichick, and the players and coaches that have meant so much to me, never in a million years did I think it was going to translate into what it was going to translate into," Mangini said. "And it doesn't tarnish what we achieved there. It doesn't tarnish what they achieved after the fact. I think when you look at the history of success that they had after that incident, it's pretty obvious that it didn't play any type of significant role in the victories we had or the success that we had."

[b](Cue the moronic: "But they haven't won a title since!" crowd.)[/b][/quote]

I absolutely HATE it when "journalists", bloggers, tv people, etc do this (trolling readers/viewers).

Why?

Because it is CHEAP, and cowardly. We (anyone that opposes the author) do not have the appropriate means to make any meaningful rebuttal - and they know this.

The comments section is hardly that place.

If these things were discussed properly, without these guys cowering to cliches, then it would be more interesting.

[TreTheRaven]

I am so proud of Harbaugh. He's just saying what millions of others have said. The only difference is, is he can say it on a live radio. I don't know why people are so upset about this.

[GrimCoconut]

I don't see why it's a big deal. It's a fact that the Patriots' reputation and Belichick's legacy will forever have this black spot on it. People talk about how the NFL is too sensitive, yet those same people criticize arbitary comments by coaches and players alike. Then if those coaches and players are quiet and don't give us anything, we say they don't show enough emotion or hide things. I'm sick of this double-standard BS. How's that for a controversial and insensitive comment?

[hawkprey]

[quote name='ratedr' timestamp='1335914855' post='1069430']
I was feeling lazy with the title, I'll admit. But I trust everyone on a Ravens site to observe context so I didn't think it was a big deal to clarify.
[/quote]
It's an incriminating way of putting it (i.e., a media spin) but meh. I can't say I disagree anyway. They are tainted. If getting caught taping defensive signals doesn't taint a championship, what does? This whole "how much of an advantage" argument is BS. If taping defensive signals didn't help the Pats win, they wouldn't have done it. And it wouldn't be illegal. But they did and it is. That's all there is to it.

[Gordo52]

"ESPN hates the Patriots. Did you see the pre-Super Bowl coverage? I've never seen it so one-sided. ESPN LOVES New York."

It amazes me how genuinely stupid some Patriot fans are.

[ratedr]

[quote name='Ravens<3' timestamp='1335918254' post='1069457']
"ESPN hates the Patriots. Did you see the pre-Super Bowl coverage? I've never seen it so one-sided. ESPN LOVES New York."

It amazes me how genuinely stupid some Patriot fans are.
[/quote]I mean, as one of the other commenters noted

"And now, for an unbiased opinion on Harbaugh's comments about the New England Patriots, let's turn to... Teddy Bruschi, former NFL player and Super Bowl champion with the New England Patriots.

You rock, ESPN."

It's funny, I was bracing for the barrage of irritating news coverage, but NFL Network immediately said Harbaugh was referring to the bigger picture - Andrew Siciliano directly said "the message here is cheating isn't worth it" and started a discussion about whether these scandals will deter other teams from breaking the rules. Only on ESPN (and of course PFT, which is basically TMZ) did they spin it so that Harbaugh looks like the bad guy.