Fines Put Permanent Stain On Belichick's Legacy

National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell acted swiftly to punish the New England Patriots and coach Bill Belichick after a team employee was caught filming the Jets' coaches' signals at the Meadowlands on Sunday.

Belichick was personally fined $500,000, the most any coach has ever been fined and the maximum allowed under league bylaws. The Patriots will also forfeit either their first-round draft choice in

2008 (if they make the playoffs this season), or their second- and third-round picks (if they miss the playoffs). The franchise was fined $250,000.

Although Belichick was spared a suspension — which would have been an unprecedented sanction against an NFL head coach — there can be no mistake: This is a permanent stain on Belichick's reputation. Belichick will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame some day, but his place in football history will always be tarnished as a coach whose win-atall-costs mentality went too far. For all the success Belichick has had and all the success he may continue to have as the Patriots' head coach, the story of his career can never be told in full without including this sorry chapter.

Already, questions are being raised about whether the three Super Bowls Belichick has won with the Patriots are legitimate. Members of the Philadelphia Eagles said yesterday that when they lost the Super Bowl to the Patriots after the 2004 season, New England's players always seemed to know exactly what they were going to do. Was that a result of good coaching and smart game planning, or had the Patriots devised a successful method of stealing signals?

Players and coaches from at least half a dozen teams have come forward this week to say that they had suspicions that the Patriots were cheating, but that they never raised them before because they didn't have solid proof. No asterisk will appear next to the Patriots' Super Bowls in the record books, but many fans will consider their championships tainted.

As much as Belichick's reputation was damaged yesterday, Goodell's reputation as a no-nonsense commissioner was bolstered. Some Jets fans wanted Goodell to go even further than he did and hand Belichick a lengthy suspension or even force the Patriots to forfeit Sunday's victory. New England fans, on the other hand, protested that they didn't see what the big deal was and wondered why the team would face any punishment at all. In a situation in which it was impossible to please everyone, Goodell may have pleased no one — which is a sign that he made the right call.

"This episode represents a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid longstanding rules designed to encourage fair play and promote honest competition on the playing field," Goodell wrote in a letter to the Patriots.

The question we still don't have an answer to is the most fundamental: Why? Why did Belichick, who coaches what may be the league's most talented roster, feel the need to cheat? Why, when the Patriots were already warned once before that taping opposing coaches' signals is a violation of league rules, didn't Belichick simply rely on the same types of film study – of the 22 players on the field – that every other team uses?

The answer may simply be that Belichick wants to win, he wants to win at all costs, and he doesn't care if he has to cheat to get to the top. That, above all, will be his lasting legacy.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.