Don’t Mess With The New York Jets:: N.F.L. Imposes Record Half-Million Dollar Fine On Patriots Coach Belichick

NFL Fines Belichick, Limits Patriots’ Draft
By Mark Maske
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 14, 2007; E01

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell fined New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick $500,000 yesterday and stripped the team of at least one draft pick, possibly its first-round selection next spring, for using videotaping equipment to try to steal the New York Jets‘ play signals during a game Sunday.

The Patriots will lose their first-round draft choice in 2008 if they reach the playoffs this season, the league announced last night. If they don’t reach the postseason, they’ll be stripped of their second- and third-round selections. The Patriots were fined $250,000 even though Goodell concluded that franchise owner Robert Kraft was not aware of Belichick’s sign-stealing scheme before the league’s investigation began.

Goodell considered suspending Belichick, according to the league’s announcement, but decided against it because he felt the fine and loss of draft pick or picks were “more significant and long-lasting.”

In a letter to the Patriots, Goodell wrote that “this episode represents a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid longstanding rules designed to encourage fair play and promote honest competition on the playing field.”

Belichick, who discussed the incident with Goodell earlier in the week, said in a written statement that he accepted “full responsibility” for the incident but blamed it on an “incorrect” interpretation of the league rules.

The three-time Super Bowl-winning coach, who has a salary of more than $4 million this season, apologized “to the Kraft family and every person directly or indirectly associated with the New England Patriots for the embarrassment, distraction and penalty my mistake caused,” but said his team has “never used sideline video to obtain a competitive advantage while the game was in progress.”

Members of the league’s security staff confiscated videotaping equipment from a Patriots employee who was on the field at Giants Stadium during Sunday’s 38-14 triumph over the Jets, who are coached by Belichick’s former defensive coordinator in New England, Eric Mangini. The two have had a combative relationship since Mangini left the Patriots for the Jets prior to last season.

The Patriots had been accused of using such tactics in the past, and Goodell and other league officials determined that the club’s coaches in this instance were using the videotaping equipment to try to steal the play signals being delivered from the Jets’ coaches on their sideline to players on the field.

NFL rules prohibit the use of video recording devices by a team on the field, in the coaches’ booth or in the locker room during a game. According to the league, a memo from Ray Anderson, the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, was delivered to the general managers and head coaches of every team last September, warning them not to attempt to use videotaping equipment to steal an opponent’s signals.

“Part of my job as head coach is to ensure that our football operations are conducted in compliance of the league rules and all accepted interpretations of them,” Belichick said in the statement. “My interpretation of a rule in the Constitution and Bylaws was incorrect.”

Goodell determined that the Patriots’ tactics did not impact the outcome of Sunday’s game, the league announced. Still, the fine that he imposed on Belichick was the maximum amount allowed under the league’s constitution and bylaws. The league also announced that it would closely “review and monitor” the Patriots’ videotaping practices in the future.

Goodell penalized the Patriots because Belichick “has substantial control over all aspects” of the club’s football operations and “his actions and decisions are properly attributed to the club,” the league announced.

Earlier in the day, sources familiar with the league’s investigation had said that a multiple-game suspension of Belichick was possible but unlikely. Others around the league said they thought a suspension of any Patriots coach or front office official found to have acted improperly was in order, given Goodell’s emphasis in recent months on handing out lengthy suspensions to players for off-field misbehavior.

“He’s kind of set that tone already, that he’s going to be tough on someone who makes a mistake,” Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb said at his team’s training facility in Philadelphia.