It'd Be A Mistake To Think That Spygate Means Nothing Without The Rams Walkthrough

Obviously one of the biggest stories going on in sports - or the only story of any merit - is the tapes that former Patriots assistant Matt Walsh has now provided to the NFL.

The smoking gun that was supposed to be unearthed here was the tape showing the Rams' walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl. It wasn't there.

As a result, most people - including the NFL - are now pretty much calling Spygate a non-issue. But they shouldn't, and here's why.

Walsh’s tapes show that the Patriots recorded the signals of offensive and defensive coaches in regular-season games against the Miami Dolphins, the Buffalo Bills, the Cleveland Browns, the San Diego Chargers and against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2002 AFC championship game.

Here's what the Patriots' record was against these teams after they recorded the signals. 9-6 against the Dolphins, 12-1 against the Bills, 3-0 against the Browns, 4-1 against the Steelers and 3-1 against the Chargers. This includes three playoff victories. That's an almost unreal winning percentage of 77.5%.

The tapes are also fairly sophisticated tapes. They show shots of the opposing coaches’ signals, followed immediately by a shot of the play, usually from the end zone camera.

We also have to keep in mind that we still don't know for certain that the Patriots never taped the Rams' walkthrough. The Boston Herald is sticking by its original story that it happened, making it clear that Walsh was not the source they used. Meanwhile ESPN's Chris Mortensen says the original Rams walkthrough story didn't meet ESPN's standards. That's especially funny coming from Mortensen, who has a success rate of about 20% on reporting NFL stories.

But I digress. The point is that whether the Patriots taped the Rams' walkthough or not, they've still shown a consistent and habitual pattern of cheating. There's more than enough proof of that. Plus we'll never know how many teams they may have taped that no one knows about.

And if you think this continual cheating didn't help get them to that Super Bowl against the Rams, and help them build their dynasty, then you're kidding yourself.