Many have been very harshly critical and unforgiving of the Patriots, including some NFL legends of yesteryear. That list includes Troy Aikman, as well as a few 49ers from their dynasty days, including Jerry Rice and Charley Haley.
But Charles Haley has enough on his own plate to worry about, with some odd behavior and a checkered past of his own to deal with, before he points fingers at others. And now, here is Jerry Rice, widely regarded as the best wide receiver in NFL history, admitting that he illegally used adhesive tape on his gloves.
Furthermore, it already came out that three Super Bowl winning quarterbacks - Brad Johnson (XXXVII), Eli Manning (XLII, XLVI), and Aaron Rodgers (XLV) all devised certain methods to make footballs to their liking. You'll notice that two of these three quarterbacks are still active in the NFL. And other quarterbacks said, point blank, that every single quarterback (save perhaps for Kurt Warner) also employed certain methods that we might think of as strange to the balls before games.
Should we then discount these records, and perhaps even the championships?
Most experts will readily admit that what most of us would consider bending the rules at the very least is commonplace in the league. Many players and teams go to what would appear to be extraordinary lengths to give themselves some kind of competitive advantage in their games. Right now, the Atlanta Falcons have apparently been found guilty of adding artificial crowd noise for their home games, and the Cleveland Browns are facing similar scrutiny and sanctions. But no huge uproar over these. Nothing like the uproar following the deflated balls used in the first half of the AFC Championship Game, which the Pats won, 45-7. Still, some suggest that New England should not have been in the Super Bowl.
Some are even suggesting that the game was fixed. That somehow, the Patriots were given the title by some huge powers, or that owner Robert Kraft paid somebody off. Anything to avoid giving the Patriots the credit that they deserve for four Super Bowl titles won, and six Super Bowl appearances won, all in the last fourteen seasons.
At what point do we draw a line? It seems that some people simply want to point out everything that the New England Patriots, the newly crowned Super Bowl champions, do, and pretty much leave it at that.
That is ridiculous and unfair. The Patriots are hardly my favorite team either, although I certainly also do not hate them, like so many other people seem to hate them. I mean, some people feel more strongly in their hatred of them than I feel towards the Lakers or 49ers, and that's saying something! Those people will use any excuse to suggest that New England cheated, or got lucky, or whatever, in winning their titles.
Here's the thing, though: New England overcame a 10-point fourth quarter deficit against the best defense in the league, in a game that certainly had fully deflated balls, if ever there was a game where the balls surely met regulations. Tom Brady completed 13 of 15 passes in the fourth quarter for two touchdowns. On that last scoring drive alone, he went 8 for 8, and capped the drive off with a touchdown drive to Edelman.
And let's be clear on something: if not for a miracle pass completion that no one could exactly replicate if they tried, the Seahawks would not have been in position to win it with a second and goal at the one-yard line with 26 seconds left to play. Many haters suggest that the Seahawks essentially threw the game away, that it was their Super Bowl to lose. But I was pulling for Seattle, and felt the same way early in the final quarter, when they had that comfortable, 10-point lead. No team with such a sizable lead in Super Bowl history that late in the game ever gave it up prior to the Seahawks this time around. Yes, I was celebrating when that miracle pass completion occurred, and like everyone else, felt a bit shocked when Seattle lost the Super Bowl in what certainly felt like an anti-climatic play. But truth be told, had Seattle won the game, I would have felt a bit like they had escaped with a win, because they were being badly outplayed in that final quarter. That was no fluke, and it certainly was not because of deflated balls, or "Spygate" or anything else that haters want to throw at them. It was because New England was very prepared, and executed brilliantly, while Seattle did not when it counted most.
Did the Patriots get a bit lucky on Super Bowl Sunday?
Certainly, at least in part. But they also put themselves in position to benefit like that by executing efficiently to that point, so that they were in position to win it at the end. And when the Seahawks made the call that would cost them the Super Bowl, it was because the Patriots defense stepped up and forced the mistake, and earned the championship as a result.
So, should we put an asterisk on all of those 49ers championships involving Jerry Rice (XXIII, XXIV, and XXIX)?
Don't get me wrong: I hate the 49ers. Can't stand them, truth be told. It sure would be nice if, on some level, their accomplishments were diminished a bit.
But wait a minute!
Back then, they were so good, that they left no doubt about being the superior team. Most of their Super Bowl wins were lopsided, with only the two Super Bowls against the Cincinnati Bengals being close at the end (and Super Bowl XVI was not nearly as close as the 26-21 final score would indicate). Much like with the Pats 45-7 victory over the Colts in the controversial AFC Championship Game from which "deflate gate" has become a household name, the 49ers completely dismantled their opponents. Would it be reasonable to take their title away? No. They beat the Colts handily, and left no doubt. They then beat the best defense in the league in the Super Bowl.
Similarly, the 49ers crushed opponents in the 1989-90 season. They dismantled the Rams, 30-3, in the NFC title game, then embarrassed the Broncos, 55-10, in Super Bowl XXIV. Do I have any doubts that they were the best team in the league at that point in time? No. Even with the admission by Rice that he used tape adhesive, and even with the controversies involving Charles Haley, or later on, the extreme flexibility in bending the salary cap rules (which the Niners were notorious for) and probably, let's face it, some drug use by some members of the 49ers (and likely every other team in the league) at the time, as well as some question marks with leg whips, San Francisco earned that title, period. I don't have to like it, and certainly did not enjoy watching it at the time. But denying it would be being a poor sport and a sore loser on my end. Reaching for, and even finding, excuses for why this might not be the case would get old after a while. Sometimes, you just have to give a team that you don't like credit, and I give those 49ers a lot of credit.
Let's face it: if we were to examine very closely every aspect of this, or any other, sport, and scrutinize everyone mercilessly, you would probably wind up with a very toxic situation from which the sport might not recover. Just look at cycling and the Tour de France. So many past winners have been found guilty of performance enhancing drugs, that you just kind of felt that everyone was cheating. In the NFL, and most likely in almost all of the other sports as well, that probably applies to everybody. The Patriots seem to get caught more frequently, and maybe, as some suspect, that is indicative of systematic foul play on their part. Or, as I suspect, there are haters that specifically target them because they are envious and resentful of their success. After all, as already mentioned, the Falcons and Browns were caught "cheating" in other ways, as well. But absolutely nobody is trying to take away their wins, because neither team wins all that much. and it does not get nearly the same publicity. Why? Because New England is always in the Super Bowl, and the Falcons and Browns basically never are.
In other words, no one cares when a team that always loses is caught cheating. It only proves how inept they really are, since even after cheating (or bending the rules), they still cannot win.
Again, the New England Patriots are not my favorite team. It would not bother me if I never saw them in the Super Bowl again, although it also would not bother me if they made it, and won it, again. Even several times.
But I find myself feeling a need to defend their accomplishments because, like them or not, what they have managed to do since Belichick and Brady took over is so incredibly, unquestioningly impressive! And it annoys me that so many people feel entitled to judge them harshly and unfairly, simply because they do not like them. I appreciate the historical significance of what they have done. Are doing.
What also bothers me is that many of the same people that are so fixated on discrediting the Patriots will surely look the other way when Rice or others from other teams either are caught "cheating", or admit to something strange that surely would be judged harshly if their team enjoyed the level of success that the Patriots enjoy.
Does Rice's admission mean that he was not the best wide receiver in history? No. He was incredibly athletic and hard-working, and made some incredible plays. Maybe he was doing something at times that we would find questionable, but he is still the best receiver that the NFL has ever seen. And the 1989 49ers, to their credit, were likely one of the most dominant teams in NFL history. In fact, I would rate them just under the 1985 Chicago Bears as the most dominant single season teams in NFL history. I liked neither team, although I have come around to appreciating the Bears franchise.
Still hate the Niners, though. But that does not mean that I get to say that they were not as great as they actually were.
Here are some links to articles and web pages that I thought were helpful and/or interesting regarding this subject, which seemed like a good idea to share here:
Remember how Jerry Rice criticized the Patriots for "cheating"? Yeah, about that...
http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2015/02/whos_cheating_now_jerry_rice_admits_stickum_use_af.html
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/06/rice-admits-to-illegal-use-of-stickum/
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/03/seattle-blunder-brings-russell-wilson-resentment-back-into-focus/
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/04/if-the-patriots-cheated-theyre-hardly-alone/
Sex, drugs and shoulder pads The unbelievable story of the implosion of the Dallas Cowboys Jeff Pearlman, March 1, 2009:
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/mar/01/american-football-dallas-cowboys
http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/nfl/177461-charles-haley-liked-masturbate-front-teammates-coaches-wtf/
http://www.49erswebzone.com/forum/nfl/177461-charles-haley-liked-masturbate-front-teammates-coaches-wtf/
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