Brian Billick's Accusations
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by Rawbeezeitz
First of all, can we stop attaching the suffix “-gate” to any sort of scandal? Monicagate, Katrinagate, Irangate, Videogate, and so on. Here’s a list of all the scandals with “-gate” at the end:
Are we so unoriginal that we have to take the last syllable from the Watergate scandal and apply it to all other scandals?
Anyway, the story that refuses to die continues to thrive this week. Ravens head coach Brian Billick has now thrown in two cents, sort of He accused Eric Mangini and the Jets of cheating.
The allegations are of a different nature from those against the Patriots. Billick is accusing the Jets defensive players of deliberately trying to simulate snap counts in an effort to draw false starts. Such activity is punishable by 5 yard delay of game penalties on the defense, or even 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
Coach Billick is alleging that the Jets cheated. It’s a different form of cheating from the kind the Patriots were caught undertaking, but it is still cheating. It’s important to realize that there are different kinds of cheating, with different impacts. For any of the holier-than-thou people out there who have been clamoring for Bill Belichick’s head the past 8 days because “he cheated,” you might want to consider being more specific with your with hunting so it is only Belichick you catch. Rounding up all the cheaters in the NFL would be like trying to round up all the Irish in Ireland. It wouldn’t be everyone, but it’d be damn near everyone.
What’s really interesting about Billick’s accusations isn’t that he made them, but it’s how he made them. He could have told the referees during the game about what was happening. Maybe he did and was ignored. So why not then inform the NFL of the problem? Why go to the media with this issue, using words like “cheat” and “illegal?”
Brian Billick has been around the block. He’s been a head coach for 7 years, and he’s been coaching in the NFL for 15 years. When has he ever complained to the media about what another team was doing? When has he ever publicly accused another team of cheating? His Ravens have been involved in bitter rivalries with teams like Pittsburgh, and nothing came out to the media about any dirty tactics the Steelers might be employing. It was also widely known that the Ravens didn’t appreciate the offensive line play of the Denver Broncos. But Billick never came out to the press to call them cheaters. So why now? Why in week 2 of the regular season, against a non-division opponent, in a game his team won? It’s probably because of the man who coaches the Jets.
It’s obvious that Eric Mangini and the Jets had some part in exposing the video camera scandal (notice I didn’t use “-gate”). The nature of the story, and the wolfpack mentality of the media did the rest to make it the story of the week. But it is clear that Mangini told NFL security to look out for what the Patriots would be doing. And that’s perfectly in his rights. I wouldn’t want my signs to be stolen, either. However, someone then leaked the story to various media outlets, including the blog Jets Confidential. Was it the NFL? I doubt it. Why would the NFL leak a scandalous story? Was it the Patriots? Also doubtful, why would they leak a story about their own cheating? It must have been the other organization that knew what was happening: the New York Jets.
Was Billick’s public accusation a counterattack on Eric Mangini for breaking some sort of unwritten rule about coaches not ratting on other coaches? And what about Mangini? His hands are certainly not clean in this matter. He was a coach under Belichick for 6 seasons. And it’s been said a trillion times that the Patriots have been videotaping on the sideline for years. So Mangini must have known what was going on. He may have even helped decode the defensive signals. As a defensive backs coach and a defensive coordinator, he probably had some input in deducing signals and their correlating defenses.
But what else did Mangini do? He ratted out a former employer. Maybe he was right to do so, maybe he wasn’t. Unlike some people (Gregg Easterbrook, for example), I don’t pretend to be a moral judge. But what he might have inadvertently done was tag himself a potential risk for future (and present) employers.
The Jets are struggling (or as Joe Namath would put it: starugaling). Mangini is facing a fan base that applauds the starting QB getting hurt. This is the second season that they have started slow. The Jets are 1-3 against New England since Mangini started. And it’s the nature of the NFL that head coaching jobs are very, very temporary. If and when Mangini and the Jets part ways, who will want him as a head coach or a coordinator? Ability aside, because he’s a very capable coach, who would want someone who has a history of exposing dirty laundry? How can a head coach, or an owner, who ALL have skeletons in their closets, trust this man? Has Eric Mangini consigned himself to a career full of suspicion and mistrust from his fellow coaches and the owners around the league?
Time will tell.
But it is interesting that a guy like Billick has accused the Jets of utilizing illicit tactics. If his accusations are true, then the Jets cheated. The cheating might not be on the same level as videotaping defensive signals, but then again, how does one measure the effect of drawing false start penalties versus the effects of having videotapes of signals? It’s comparing like trying to compare apples and pork.
The Jets will not have their organization dragged through the mud. They are accused of cheating in a loss. And even if they had won the game, they haven’t won a title in nearly 40 years, unlike the Patriots, who are one of the top teams in the NFL. The Jets being accused of cheating is like punter Todd Sauerbrun testing positive for steroids. Who really cares? Apparently, only Brian Billick does.
1) How do you know that Billick didn't complain to the refs suring the game? 2) At the end of the day this comes down to a coach not happy that he felt the refs missed a penalty call. Happens every week. 3) You have some strange quest with the word "cheating." When people use the word they are referring to the type of cheating that is abnormal. Not the type that is penalized by a 5, 10 of 15 yard penalty. The type that in penalized by the largest surrender of a draft pick in NFL history plus a full blown NFL investigation. last I checked, defensive holding is only 5 yards and an automatic first down. No down has ever been forced to give up a 1st rd pick because their defensive backfield held the opposing teams receiver. 4) "It’s obvious that Eric Mangini and the Jets had some part in exposing the video camera scandal (notice I didn’t use “-gate”). The nature of the story, and the wolfpack mentality of the media did the rest to make it the story of the week. But it is clear that Mangini told NFL security to look out for what the Patriots would be doing." The reason you say it is obvious is because you have no support for your statement. thus, the only way you can back it up is by saying it is "obvious" 5) Mangini's invovlement in the taping is an interesting question. It is hard to believe that he could not be aware of it. On the other hand, it is hard to believe that Bellicheck, the defensive genius, would need any help. 6) "But what else did Mangini do? He ratted out a former employer. Maybe he was right to do so, maybe he wasn’t. Unlike some people (Gregg Easterbrook, for example), I don’t pretend to be a moral judge. But what he might have inadvertently done was tag himself a potential risk for future (and present) employers." Eric Mangini no longer works for the Patriots. He has no obligation to them. The notion that he could be out of a job for ratting on a cheater when the cheater himself just signed a contract extension is a little bizarre. 7) Tough to say the Jets are struggling. They lost to 2 of the better teams in the league. Most people would have them at 0-2 at this point. 8) Jets fans didn't cheer Pennington geting injured. They cheered Clemens coming in the game. Still not nice for Pennington, but it typical love of the backup, not cheering a players injury. 9) tough to say the Jets started slow last year. They beat the teams expected and lost to the teams expected. Still, at the bye week they were 4-4. 10) Norv Turner and Wade Phillips are head coaches in this league. Rich Kotite got numerous chances. I don't think your suppositions about Eric Mangini's future career options are very well supported here.
11) at the end of the day this is just an article attempting to blur the line between what the Jets did (catch a guy cheating and not getting penalized for what the opposing coach thought should have been a penalty) and whatthe Patriots did (built a dynasty based on an illegal library of the defensive signals of every opposing defensive coach since Bill Bellicheck took over 7 years ago causing the team to suffer the worst penalty in NFL history and forcing the NFL to conduct a still on-going investigation).