Were NFL Officials Celebrating Jets Wins Over Patriots Last Week?

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When the Jets defeated the Patriots in overtime nine days ago, it was a joyous occasion for all. New York had finally managed to win a game in New England, Brett Favre showed glimpses of the gunslingin' quarterback that prompted the team to trade for him this summer, and, above all else, that scoundrel Bill Belichick couldn't cheat his way to victory.

Or something.

A few days after the game, a YouTubes emerged showing various members of the Jets organization celebrating in the bowels of Gillette Stadium after the game, punctuated by Favre embracing general manager Mike Tannenbaum before busting out some Phil Savage-ry on the way to the locker room.

All pretty harmless stuff, really. Today, though, PFT's Mike Florio speculates that the video has been removed from YouTube "because it contains images of one or more league officials apparently celebrating the win with Jets G.M. Mike Tannenbaum and others."

Apparently, if true, this could reflect poorly on the NFL, an outfit that supposedly loves all 32 teams equally, even the Lions. Florio adds:

On the surface, none of this looks all that bad. But, as we understand it, it's highly unusual for league officials to celebrate non-Super Bowl wins with the victorious team. And some league insiders believe that the longer version of the video promptly exited YouTube specifically because of the presence of [NFL VP of football operations] Anderson and [some unidentified dude who looks like Red] "Auerbach."

Eh, he should've stopped after the first sentence: "None of this looks all that bad." And even if Anderson and "Auerbach" were happily shaking hands with Jets officials, so what? The NFL is a small community and everybody knows everybody else. Maybe they were legitimately happy for Tannenbaum. Plus, it's not like this took place at midfield after the game, it was just outside the locker room, supposedly away from the prying eyes of the camera.

Nonetheless, I fully expect Anderson to fine himself for his actions and Roger Goodell to later overturn it. The earth will continue to rotate around the sun, Peter King will continue to pray to his Brett Favre Fathead, and we'll all get on with our lives.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

11-22-2008 @ 2:32PM

cricket said...

I think most football fans.... just....don't ...like....Belichick , bottom line. He's a cheater ,with an arrogant attitude.

11-22-2008 @ 3:09PM

John said...

I think this is being egged-on by that crip President-elect B. Hussain Osama. That is what I think! That low life who cannot!

11-22-2008 @ 6:48PM

Andrew said...

Moron

11-22-2008 @ 3:22PM

danrad said...

au contraire, it is quite common for officials to be happy for the winners. It is a sport, not a war, and when a team wins they are happy and want everyone else to be happy too. If the Pats had won they would have been high-fiving them if engaged to do so by a player or front office type from NE. Who wants people dour all the time? Even Chuck Noll cracked a smile after a "W."

11-22-2008 @ 4:34PM

Pat Knochke said...

While in theory all league officiails are suppose to be neutral we know everyone does have their favorites. Just listen to the commentators of most games. There are very few games where one team is praised to the high heavens where as the other team is made out as goats. This was especially true when Brett played for the Packers. You'd think the Packers walked on water the way they were talked up. I can see the same thing happening now that he's with the Jets.
GO VIKINGS!!!!

11-22-2008 @ 4:49PM

Jerry Desaulniers said...

Everybody is missing the point. The Jets are on top of the division. I'm not a Jets fan but I can celebrate that! Something green floating on the top is usually not a good thing but this time it is!

11-22-2008 @ 5:37PM

achilles433 said...

It'd also be worth defining exactly what "celebrating" meant. If Aurbach jumped for joy and tossed his flag, his hat and his little blue fumble/out of bounds indicator and leaped into Brett Favre's arms, well, maybe it's worth talking about.

Either way, this is something that I think the NFL would retaliate and absolutely devour if it was anything serious...not something the media would take the lead on.

11-22-2008 @ 5:39PM

George said...

I'm tired of cry baby whiners accusing the Pats of being cheaters. It is not against the rules to video opposing defensive signals. Only an idiot would think you could gain any game time advantage from doing so. If the video camera had been 20 feet further back or if it had been in the booth there would have been no rules violation at all. Even the Jet stooge Roger Goodall said there was no advantage gained and the film was never used to effect the outcome of any game. So let it go. You and every other team got your butts kicked by a better team-fair and square.

11-24-2008 @ 9:59PM

pAtRiOtSfAn247 said...

Finally, someone who sees things the way I do. Plus it's not like the Patriots are the only team in the history of the NFL to video-tape. In fact, I bet some teams are right now, they just didn't get caught. The Pats beat everyone by being a better team, not by cheating :))

11-22-2008 @ 5:56PM

belicheatisacheater said...

It's funny that after the NFL found out about the cheating and took away belicheat's camera they start losing. Apparantly he didn't have enough tape on the GIANTS cause he lost in the Superbowl. Cheaters can win short term but eventually you have to pay the piper and win without cheating apparantly Belicheat can't do that consistently. Go Brett and the Jets.

11-22-2008 @ 6:07PM

Started losing? What? The camera was gone in week 2. They played 19 games and only lost one of them by 3 points. And just exactly how did taping the signals have any effect on any of the games? Goodall said it didn't and he is/was a Jet employee.

11-22-2008 @ 6:30PM

Wah, We lost the superbowl. Wah,Goodell messed us up, he shouldn't have caught us cheating. Wah, we are a middle of the pack team when we don't cheat. Wah, Goodell, Wah, Jets. Wah, Wah, this cheating thing won't go away. Wah, we blame the jets assistant for all of this. Wah.

Nobody's crying but you. The Giants played a great game and deserved to win. Three super bowels and an an 18 win season is not exactly a middle of the pack team. The Jet assistants had nothing to do with this. Goodall and the Jets are still mad at Belichick for not taking the coaching job when Parcells quit (again). Look at the Pats record and compare the Jets since that day. Belichick knew which organization was the best to sign on with.

11-22-2008 @ 6:50PM

LH33 said...

I'm a Pats fan & was bummed out when I learned of the spygate stuff...but lets get the timelines correct. The national story, penalties, fines, etc all happened at the start, not the end of last season. NE then went 16-0...kinda pokes a hole in the argument that the video taping gave them a big advantage doesn't it? If the video tapes made all the difference, how did NE kicked everyone's ass without them? We should have been 0-16 right?

11-22-2008 @ 7:05PM

LH33- you are right. The video had no effect on the games.
Nobody but the ignorant (not even NFL officials ) said the video taping had any effect on the games. It's not against the rules to video tape; just not from that particular spot. Goodall was on a power trip to make Belichick move the camera to a different position. Belichick decided to interpret the rule to mean that since it's ok to video tape you might as well do it from anywhere as long as you don't use it in the game. He was thumbing his nose at Goodall and a poorly written rule. That was his error.

11-22-2008 @ 7:09PM

Wayne said...

Ryan, you are a tool. "Eh, he should have stopped after the first sentence." You'd be absolutely ripping the NFL officials if they were caught celebrating with the Patriots. Your bias is so strong that you can't seem to write an NFL post on this site without taking a potshot at the Patriots. I bet you'd be building a shrine to Belichick if he coached the Jets but had committed the same offenses.

11-22-2008 @ 8:04PM

matt said...

The Jets were celebrating what???????..........Taking overtime to beat a team missing their most talented offensive players and most talented defensive players. Come on back to see us in the playoffs where we Pats keep your losing streak alive!

11-22-2008 @ 8:08PM

It always takes a little longer for the worm to turn. How many videos did Belicheat hold onto that he didn't turn over to the NFL. Everyone that is in the know, knew that it was going to be at least 10 months before things changed. Wow, looks like they were right on. Wah, Goodell, likes the Jets better then the Pat's, Wah, Parcell's excercised his right as a human being to do whatever he wants to do and take whatever job he wants be it in the NFL or the NBA or MBL. Wah, Goodell is mad cause he didn't take the job that Goodell wanted him to take. Last Time I checked the NFL is in the United States of America, where Freedom reigns, Parcell should be able to take whatever job he wants. He could dig ditches if he wants. I think Goodell would agree. But because Goodell ruled against the cheaters all of the Pat's fans think that Goodell is biased. Wah, the Pat's lost cause they finally did not have Tape on the Giants changes. The Giants coach realized he was on the bubble and changed the way he coaches mid season and the net result was he has done a fantastic job and won a superbowl that they probably wouldn't have won if Belicheat would have had his way. I'm not a big Giants fan but I am an even lesser Patriot's fan. But I don't like cheaters.

11-22-2008 @ 9:48PM

andre said...

belicheatisacheater, I'm not a Patriots fan but you're blithering idiot. Everybody who's played any sport knows that you look to see if you can get some information from the other team's signals. Baseball (catchers looking at the 3rd base coach), football, you name it. Even Goodell said that he knows that scouting signals is SOP but he objected to the "vehicle" the Patriots used, while making mention of Bill Parcells saying everyone scouts signals. Do a search for "Goodell vehicle Parcells spygate" and you should find the appropriate links. And you know how much you get from such scouting? Probbaly a whole lot of nothing. But you don't leave any stone unturned when you're scouting and preparing for future games. By the way, belicheatisacheater, is fiming every move by an opposing team during their games "cheating" as well?

11-22-2008 @ 10:14PM

Walt said...

I AM TIRED OF YOU MORONS WHO KNOW JACK--HIT ABOUT NFL RULES WHINING ALL THE TIME ABOUT BELICHECK CHEATING. ALL TEAMS VIDEO-TAPES EVERYTHING SO GET OVER IT. YOU PEOPLE WOULD WELCOME HIM AS YOUR HEAD COACH ANYDAY. JEALOUSY IS FOR LOSERS.