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‘Spygate’ turns Patriots-Jets into a circus |
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Thursday, 13 December 2007 |
By MICHAEL PARENTE
The much-anticipated rematch between the New England Patriots and the New York Jets officially turned into a three-ring circus Wednesday when Bill Belichick eschewed Football 101 in lieu of cartwheels and high-fives.
You thought the hoopla surrounding the post-game handshake between Belichick and his former protégé, Eric Mangini, was nauseating last year? Wait until Sunday when the two coaches trade wits for the first time since Mangini blew the whistle on his mentor in September, igniting the “Spygate” scandal that continues to hover over Foxboro like an unwanted relative who doesn’t know when to leave.
Asked this week about how he’ll approach Mangini following Sunday’s game, Belichick " fresh off a conference call with the New York media that probably felt like a six-hour root canal " said, “The handshakes and the high-fives and all that, right now my attention is on the New York Jets.
“High-fives? I really haven’t thought too much about that " (or) cartwheels.”
Probably no chest-bumps, either, unless Tedy Bruschi and Junior Seau come up with a new victory dance to celebrate every time they sack Jets’ quarterback Kellen Clemens. The oddsmakers figure it’s going to happen early and often, which is why they listed the Patriots as 24-point favorites " one of the largest spreads in NFL history.
“From those numbers alone, we don’t stand a chance,” Jets’ safety Kerry Rhodes said. “We don’t feel that way. We feel we can play with anybody on any given day. I’m sure anybody in the league would say the same thing.”
Under normal circumstances, Rhodes would have a point. After all, the Philadelphia Eagles came to Gillette Stadium three weeks ago as 22-point underdogs and nearly pulled off one of the biggest upsets in league history. A week later, the Patriots traveled to Baltimore and were 20-point favorites against the Ravens on the road, yet needed an ill-advised timeout and a fourth-down penalty to escape with the victory.
Only one problem " these aren’t normal circumstances. The Eagles and Ravens didn’t do anything to draw the ire of Belichick, such as, say, having a team employee kicked out of the Meadowlands for videotaping defensive signals on the opposing sideline. Mangini did, in fact, break the time-honored, mafia-movie code of ethics, which revolves around keeping your mouth shut and never ratting on your friends " or, in this case, former employers.
And what happens to teams who poke the caged lion with a stick? They swim with the fishes. The Steelers learned that lesson the hard way last weekend. All bets were off when rookie safety Anthony Smith guaranteed a victory. As they always do, the Patriots took it personal and put a hit out on Smith, who ended up as a defenseless target on two long touchdown passes in New England’s 34-13 victory.
Smith caught some verbal abuse, too, particularly from Tom Brady, who got right up in his face following a 63-yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss and began barking like a rabid terrier. The Patriots promise they’re only worried about preparing for the Jets this week, not “Spygate” or anything else, but it’s hard to believe them after what they did to Pittsburgh.
Heck, they even embarrassed nice guys like Joe Gibbs and Gregg Williams. What do you think is going to happen to Mangini this weekend?
“I hate it when people say, “Well, this one is really going to mean something.” Like the other 13 didn’t mean anything?” Brady said. “We put everything into it that we can every week, so I hope that we go out there and play the best game of the year.
“Hopefully, we make some improvements that we need to make on things that we didn’t do so well the last couple of weeks. I think everybody’s excited about playing the Jets. I don’t think anyone cares about revenge or what they said about us or anything like that.”
The videotaping scandal from Week 1 never really died down like everyone thought it would because someone would inevitably toss it back into the conversation. Former Dolphins coach Don Shula, for example, relit the fire last month when he suggested “Spygate” would diminish the Patriots’ quest for a perfect season.
Mangini worked with Belichick long enough to know better, therefore he’s been relatively diplomatic this week regarding the shakedown in September.
“I completely appreciate the interest and I respect all the questions that I’ve gotten,” Mangini said. “I understand it’s important to ask those questions and you’ve got groups of passionate fans and passionate people and I completely understand that.
“With that issue, it’s an issue that’s a league matter, was handled by the league, and is in the past and, really, I’ve said all that I can say on it.”
Rest assured, Belichick hasn’t, except he’ll use his players as the pawns and do most " if not all " of the talking on the field Sunday afternoon. This game is about revenge, perfection and the push for the No. 1 seed in the AFC wrapped in a neat little package just in time for the holiday season. And it’s going to be the biggest of the big-top circus acts this weekend, complete with handshakes, high-fives and perhaps a few cartwheels for good measure.
“It’s the next game and it’s a division game,” Belichick said. “They know us well, we know them well and we’re just going to try to do what we always do, which is try to have a good week of preparation and go out there and play well on Sunday. That’s our job. That’s what we get paid to do and that’s what we want to do.
“Everything that’s in the past is in the past. Everything that’s in the future doesn’t really matter. Right now, it’s a one game season and we’re focused on the New York Jets. That’s all I’m focused on.”
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 22 December 2007 )
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