A first round draft pick and three quarters of a million dollars is a lot by most standards, but it wasn't enough in terms of the NFL's punishment for Bill Belichick and his New England Patriots.
Belichick cheated against the New York Jets and was arrogant enough to do it by use of videotape. Other teams may or may not try to steal signs, but a) they're not stupid enough to get caught, and b) they're not stupid enough to do it against a team who just happens to be a former Belichick disciple, Eric Mangini.
If a player had violated a rule of this magnitude, he would be banished for x-number of games without pay. Why not Belichick? NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell may have fined the Patriots coach as much as he could have, but he could have taken him away from his team for at least a couple of games to add to the penalty.
Belichick cheated against the Jets. He also at the very least tried to cheat against the Packers in Green Bay last season before his camerman, the same cameraman by the way that got caught in the Jets game, got caught again. There's no reason to believe that Belichick hasn't cheated in every game the Patroits have played in over the last couple years or longer.
The Patriots organization is no doubt embarassed by this, as well they should be. But they should also feel fortunate that the penalty wasn't more severe, because it should have been!
