PATS ACCUSED OF CHEATING, JETS ACCUSED OF WHINING

In 2001, it was the Raiders who bitched about the tuck rule. Then their fans, and overnight radio loser JT the Brick concocted a conspiracy theory involving the NFL, Homeland Security, and the Kennedy assassins. They ignored the fact that their team still allowed two field goal scoring drives after the tuck rule play, and since that year, their team has been a joke that gets funnier and funnier.

Also in 2001, the Steelers complained that the "best team" didn't win the game between them and the Patriots. Because Bill Cowher was focused too much on his hard pounding run game, and impenetrable defense to give any attention to his special teams play, he proceeded to whine like a baby.

Then there the Colts in 2003 and 2004. This bunch of sissies whined that Patriots players hit them during plays. Eventually, the Colts whined so much that an entirely new set of rules for pass coverage were written by the NFL. Now the Colts could get 5 yard penalties and automatic first downs if anyone even looked at Marvin Harrison in a mean way.

Then last year the Chargers joined the whining. Tomlinson threw a tantrum when the Patriots mimicked Merrimen's Lights Out dance on the Chargers logo. Ladanian even went so far as to accuse Coach Belichick of being classless. Meanwhile, LT ignored the steroid use of his teammate who was mocked, as well as the DUI his other teammate picked up in the off-season.

And now it's time for the Jets to join the circus of bad losers.

Eric Mangini, who has connived, plotted, and schemed in a vein effort to surpass the Patriots in the AFC East, now has a new ploy. He has accused the Patriots of stealing signs. He's borrowed a page from baseball and applied it to football.

Before every defensive play, the defense on the field receives the play call from the sideline. But they get their play in the form of hand signals from the sidelines. In an effort to prevent these signals from being decoded, teams often employ three or more signalers, with only one man giving the true signs.

In this weekend's 38-14 demolition of the Jets, a Patriot employee was noticed on the sidelines with a video camera. The Jets have alleged that this man was taping the Jets signalers in an effort to figure out which plays the Jets would be running on defense. The NFL has since confiscated the tape and the camera, and will be investigating the matter.

First of all, in order to decipher the Jets signals, the Patriots would have to find all of the signalers, record every play, compare it to the signals, and hope to find a pattern with one of the signalers. Then they could apply it to gameplay, and maybe be able to tell when the Jets were blitzing, when they weren't, and things like that.

If this happened, then it's a form of cheating, and the Patriots should be punished. But I have my doubts. It seems like it would be too difficult to do this within a game. But I haven't seen any of the tapes or anything, so who knows?

This whole thing stinks like dirty diapers. Mangina and the Jets are crying because they got spanked. And they try to pull this mind game crap all the time. This and the whole business with Reche Caldwell after he got released is just another vein attempt by Mangina to overcome the fact that the Patriots are much superior to the Jets. It isn't the first time another team has acted like children after we beat them. And it won't be the last.

The Jets can join the Raiders, Steelers, Colts, and Chargers in the ever growing list of teams that need to grow up.