They're next to play Patriots, but cheating in NFL a tricky topic

The Cincinnati Bengals' practice field sits adjacent to Paul Brown Stadium in the southwestern corner of downtown, overlooked by the city's skyline.  It's a scenic view, but it can feed the ever-present paranoia of the NFL.  "When I played in Miami, our practice field had a parking garage overlooking it," Bengals defensive lineman Bryan Robinson said. "You always wondered if somebody was up there taking pictures or doing something."

When Robinson came to Cincinnati, he wondered the same thing.  "I talked to some of the women in one of the office buildings and they said, 'Yeah, we sort of watch you guys practice.' Half of Cincinnati downtown is watching us practice. But they're fans. You know they're your people."  At least Robinson and the Bengals hope so. It's a relevant question considering the New England Patriots play Cincinnati on Monday. Nobody has accused the Patriots of renting a high-rise, but revelations of the Patriots videotaping opponents' signals have harmed the NFL's carefully cultivated image.

Though Patriots coach Bill Belichick said he didn't know such videotaping was against the rules, it is a black-and-white example of cheating. The league twice sent memos warning against doing so.  But such clear-cut examples are rare. It's often hard to discern what qualifies as cheating and what is mere gamesmanship.  "You try to find an edge," Robinson said. "It's a competitive league. Every team tries to find an edge."

If New England had merely figured out opponents' signals by sight and not by electronic means, the Patriots wouldn't have been hit with a $250,000 fine and the loss of a first-round draft pick. Belichick wouldn't have been fined $500,000.  Teams have stashed players on injured reserve with phantom injuries to retain their rights. Until the injury-list format was changed this season, teams often took liberties with the classification of hurt players.

Belichick was notorious for listing approximately 20 players as questionable.  Last year, Bengals coach Marvin Lewis repeatedly described center Rich Braham's knee injury as a bone bruise. It was a fracture. Was it cheating because he was lying? Or was it gamesmanship because it forced opponents to prepare for the possibility of Braham playing?  "There's issues that come up in different weeks that you try to make note of," said Lewis, a member of the league's competition committee. "Every so often, there's something that comes up and memos or clarifications are sent out."

Belichick has been accused of pushing the gray area until it borders on black.  It is illegal to scout training-camp practices of another team (unless that team charges admission, which is why they don't). An NFL executive, who requested anonymity, recalled seeing a recently fired assistant coach turn up at a team's training camp with notebook in hand. The coach was an associate of Belichick, and the executive's former team firmly believed the coach was scouting for him.

When the illegal videotaping story broke earlier this month, Sports Illustrated reported that Detroit Lions president Matt Millen said Lewis claimed to have had problems with the headsets when the Bengals played at New England in 2004.  Lewis said that was not true.  "I did not say that," he said. "We never had any problem with our headsets two years ago in New England."  He wanted no part of further questions about Belichick.  "Beyond that, it's no comment," he said.

Seattle Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, who addressed the topic last week, was troubled by the Patriots' transgression.  "Hopefully, we'll get all this stuff behind us, but the only point I want to make is that I resent sometimes the implication that we all do this. We don't."  He likened it to the perception that the league is full of thugs because a relatively few players get in trouble.

"It only takes a few to kind of have everyone thinking, 'My goodness, the league is just falling apart.' That couldn't be further from the truth. So yeah, it bothers me. I've always looked at it as a privilege to coach in this league. I'm the luckiest man in the world. I try to follow the rules and I kind of expect everyone else to as well."

Columbus Dispatch

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