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Duane Sampson -> RE:Those Lying Cheating Pats (9/16/2007 4:37:25 PM)
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Dungy Chimes in on Patriots Spying Incident Sat Sep 15, 2007 The Tribune Star reports Indianapolis Colts HC Tony Dungy chimed in on the Patriot-Jets Spygate incident. In a statement released by the league Thursday evening, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell fined Patriots HC Bill Belichick $500,000 and the team $250,000. He also ordered New England to forfeit a first round draft pick (if the Patriots make the playoffs) or a second and third round pick (if they miss the postseason). "Really a sad day for the NFL. Another case of the 99 percent good things that are happening really being overshadowed by one percent bad. So I think it’s a really bad, bad situation for the NFL in total because, again, people aren’t talking our product. They’re not talking about all the great things that happened in week one [of the NFL]. They’re talking about a negative incident," Dungy said. "I feel sorry for a lot of people involved. I feel sorry for some really good guys on the Patriots that are going to be tarnished by this. I look at [quarterback] Tom Brady, [defensive end] Richard Seymour, [wide receiver] Troy Brown. Those are guys I talk about to our team, of the way you do things. The way you want to represent the NFL. We’ve got two guys on our team, PK Adam Vinatieri and DT Dan Klecko that are the same way. They’re going to be linked now with negative. And that’s too bad." The Colts coach didn’t stop there, as he wondered aloud what the lasting effects of such an incident would have on a successful franchise like New England in particular and the league in general. "Everytime I’ve talked to [Patriots owner] Bob Kraft, he presents the type of image I know what he wants to present. I feel bad for him, because he’s going to have to answer a lot of questions. Going to have to answer questions all the time, from here on out. When headsets go wrong, which they go wrong everywhere. Headsets go wrong in our stadium. But when they go wrong up there now, he’s going to have to answer is it something that just happened or is this planned? There’s bad grass everywhere. But when the grass doesn’t grow up there, you know, he’s going to be asked about it. And that’s too bad," Dungy said. "I feel bad for him. I feel bad for young people that have looked at this organization [the Patriots] and said, ‘Hey, these are people who won three Super Bowls. That’s what I want to be like.’ And I feel bad for young coaches. I hope they don’t feel like this is what you have to do to win, because you don’t have to do that to win. It’s tough. Nobody wants to throw stones at anybody else. I’m certainly not throwing stones at them. But I think it’s a very, very bad thing for the NFL. Just another situation that we’ve had that isn’t good for us or our fans. And we’ve got to be careful. We got to make sure that we don’t end up like some other sports where the negative headlines outweigh the positive. I think we have to look at what it is. We’re not talking about stealing signals and we’re not talking about individual incidents. What we’re talking about is breaking the rule. I think that’s the thing that’s different in this case and that’s the part that’s too bad."
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