o


This is a very good point, which makes what Peyton Manning did in his tenure with the Colts all the more astounding ...... on several occasions, Manning took otherwise below-average Colts teams and still found a way to lead them to records between 10-6 and 12-4. The Colts' 2-14 record in 2011 when Manning missed the entire season with an injury was as big a testament to his almost unparalleled value as a quarterback as the fact that he lead 4 teams to Super Bowl appearances in 2006, 2009, 2013, and 2015.

On the other hand, Bill Belichick's finest and most underrated season as a head coach was in 2008, when his team went 11-5 with Matt Cassel at quarterback for an injured Tom Brady ...... making at least somewhat of an argument that Tom Brady was, to a certain degree, a systems quarterback.

o

That is why Luck was such a stud. He literally made chicken salad out of chicken shit.

Easy to do that kind of stuff when you cheat and the league just let's you.

That said, if people here don't think the QB position is the most important and impactful position in all of pro sports, they haven't been watching the NFL for the past 50 years. The largest contracts in all of sports go to QBs, despite football teams having larger rosters and similar salary caps to basketball and baseball teams (luxury tax in baseball, it's become a similar concept).

o


Belichick was fined the maximum $500,000, the team was fined an additional $250,000, and they forfeited a 1st-round draft pick for Spygate I.

The Patriots were fined $1.1 Million, and forfeited a 3rd-round pick for Spygate II.

You could argue that the punishment should have been more severe, particularly for Spygate II, but the NFL didn't just let him do it. They probably should have suspended him half of a season for Spygate I, and for a full season for Spygate II.

o

Basically the NFL gave them a slap on the wrist. They should have suspended Belicheat for a year w/ Spygate 1 and banned him for life w/ Spygate 2, which may not have happened if they had actually given him a legitimate penalty the first go around.

That is a big "if" at this point. Jenkins has participated in a team practice once during training camp so far in his career including last season and this season.

He has had some type of undisclosed injury this season although he returned to individual workouts today and has indicated that he is close to returning to team practice.

I just think that it is a bit of a red flag that the new front office is so ready to "move on." It is not like the Bears have an All-Pro offensive line and can give away talented players so easily.

I wonder if the new front office has a different conclusion about his back and if they think it will be a continual issue throughout his playing career.

Again, I have no issue with acquiring Jenkins although I think the acquiring team needs to be careful about putting together the trade package. I wouldn't be comfortable trading a Day 1 or 2 draft pick (Rounds 1 - 3).

o


Excellent point ...... a 1-year suspension in the first place probably would have prevented any cheating in the second place ...... after a 1-year suspension, the next step for any future offenses would have been a lifetime ban or an indefinite suspension, something that I don't think that Belichick (or anybody in their right mind) would have been willing to risk.

o

I'm smelling a Quinn Quitcock situation here with Jenkins.

That is a possibility. There have been some rumors questioning how much passion Jenkins has for football or if he mainly treats football as a job.

He hasn't completely ignored input from the new coaching staff, however. The new staff wanted their linemen to be more athletic and asked him to lose 20+ lbs. And Jenkins followed that advice and dropped the weight and body fat this year.

If future prevention was the goal, any punishment short of lifetime bans for Brady and Belichick and official derecognition of all of their career accomplishments was and still is insufficient. Belichick made tens of millions and Brady made hundreds of millions, and COMBINED, they, along with billionaire Kraft who made billions off the scheme, had to pay fines of $1.1 million? The moral of that story to any smart businessperson is do it again as many times as you can.