All That Being Said Below, Belichick And Pioli Were Clearly Covering Their Collective Ass Today

Rather than using a hat to cover their asses, Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli used their words.
It's probably worth noting that I began writing the below piece awhile ago and decided not to post. That went out the window when Belichick came out and "denied knowledge" of any walkthrough taping, bringing the entire tape fiasco back into the conversation. So I figured since I was going to respond to Belichick's statements, I'd post my larger discussion as well (it was not my best effort, by a lot). Anyhoo, so now I have posts instead of one.

I don't have a ton to say about the comments from Pioli and Belichick other than to say that they were VERY calculated. And while I believe Belichick and Pioli over Matt Walsh, the comments made about the situation left open the possibility the Matt Walsh has some sort of "goods" on the Pats. Here's what Belichick said:

"In my entire coaching career, I've never seen another team's practice film prior to playing that team," he said. "I have never authorized, or heard of, or even seen in any way, shape, or form any other team's walkthrough. We don't even film our own. We don't even want to see ourselves do anything, that's the pace that it's at. Regardless, I've never been a part of that."

You see, Belichick isn't denying a tape was made, he's just denying that he knew about it. Clearly the argument the Pats are preparing to make is that if a tape exists, this rogue employee did it on his own and the Pats never knew of it. Pioli went on to cement this stance:

(Pioli on Walsh) "The job he was doing, there were two other guys doing it, so essentially the work he was doing wasn't up to the same level as the other people, in my opinion. However, I found out he was secretly tape recording our conversations and he was fired..."

So they never "authorized" any taping and the guy who allegedly secretly taped teams while employed for the Pats has also secretly taped conversations of employees? What they didn't say was that no tapes exist. I guess it makes sense because they have no idea what the kid has on them, but at the same time it seems a little shady that these two smart guys would make such blatantly calculated comments about the situation. It seems to suggest that they think the guy might have something. And if that's the case, no one's going to believe this little story they are hatching because there's not a chance in hell these two control freaks didn't know what was going on in there organization (think Colonel Jessup). I don't know, it just seems a little greasy for my tastes.