Browns Blog

Smoking gun

Goodell, however, made a major mistake when he destroyed some of the videotapes taken by former New England Patriots employee Matt Walsh earlier this decade. It was clearly a case of sweeping a potential huge league embarrassment under the rug and hoping the controversy would go away.

The trashing of the tapes has come under the spotlight again with the revelation that more tapes supplied by Walsh to the NFL have shown that the Patriots once filmed the offensive signals of the Miami Dolphins coaching staff. If it can be proven that the Patriots taped offensive signals in other games, the focus of the controversy would take on a completely different look.

You don't have to be a super sleuth to get the feeling that there's more to "Spygate" than the public has been told or that Goodell wants to be revealed. It's something that the commissioner clearly wants to simply see go away.

Odds are the Patriots aren't the only team to have used video as a game-day tool. As long as there have been sports teams competing on a high level of competition, cheating has occurred. If a baseball manager could steal the signals of the opponent's third-base coach, you could be sure that he'd use the information to his advantage. If a football coach could figure out the opponent's signals -- offensive or defensive -- you know he'd take advantage of the situation.

Having covered the Browns during Bill Belichick's five seasons as coach (1991-95), I'm never surprised when I read stories about his attempts to get an edge on the opposition. The man slept in his office almost every night of the week during the season. He was obviously obsessed with the concept of winning at all costs.

Belichcik was caught for what he's done as the Patriots coach. He paid the price with a personal fine and the loss of the team's second of two first-round draft choices (big deal!).

If Goodell would stop trying to underplay the controversy, we might find out that other coaches are as guilty as Belichick. A widespread cheating scandal is something the commissioner doesn't want on his hands, even if the instances occurred on Tagliabue's watch.

Stay tuned to ths story. It could get bigger.