NFL: Standing Pat

In the wake of last week's revelations about their using videotapes to record opposing defensive signals, the Patrios played a game this week. As you might expect, under the massive weight of the stiff penalties they incured....oh, that's right. They weren't penalized at all, at least not this year.

First, the good news. The Patriots beat the Chargers handily on Sunday. So they can indeed play without being dirty, stinking cheaters. In the best traditions of pundits who ignore their failures and focus on their few successes as in order to justify their opinion dispensing position let me just say that I totally called this. New England now has a huge chip on their shoulder, motivation to get out there and prove themselves every week, and they look pretty solid so far.

The bad news, what I refuse to call CameraGate looks ready to head into RadioGate. It seems that during that fateful Jets game the Pats were also up to some tricks with some radio frequencies they weren't supposed to be using. I don't really understand it myself but it seems like they weren't just trying to record defensive signs but also somehow capture the opposing teams communications. The league having issued a warning to other teams is investigating, reporters are making noises about it, and it looks like it could get worse for New England before it gets better. The league has also requested all the ill-gotten materials from videos survailence, in order to review it, and might lower the hammer there, too.

But more importantly, despite winning on Sunday, despite rallying around their coach and everything else, this isn't a story that's going away. It's going to haunt them this week and most likely beyond. It's going to haunt the franchise even longer. Probably a good thing for their on-field performance but not in any other way.