I'm not a fan of cheating.
But I'm not a fan of drug abuse (Irsay, Lavon Brazill x2, Jaimie Thomas) or cheating via PEDs (Mathis, DQ Jackson, Arthur Jones, Landry x3!!, Weslye Saunders) either. Or of players that beat their spouses or children. Or that get drunk and fight in clubs or get arrested for firearm possession. Does that mean I should just stop watching football? Because there's not a team in the NFL I can root for that hasn't had some sort of ethical or moral issue in the last 10 years. Can you reasonably elevate taping signals over domestic abuse or roids in terms of "wanting to avoid hypocrisy"?
I don't like the Pats. I don't know that I hate them anymore because a lot of the hated players are gone and we haven't really been rivals for a long time. Hate is emotional, not rational, and for me it's not there anymore. I can see being wary of McDaniels. He was pretty bad in Denver. And he probably directed his staff to try to cheat by taping signals. His one year in STL was terrible.
But you can't ignore the potential good. We can't know what is in his mind or heart so he may still be an asshole, but the BR story on him indicates he may have learned some lessons from his awful years in Denver and STL. And his development of Brady, Cassel, Garropolo, and Brisset seems pretty clear. The offenses he's overseen directly address many of the problems ours has had for years. Luck has the most potential a QB prospect has had in years, but he's not getting there by himself. And we're not getting anywhere without Luck.
I will trust Ballard until I have a reason not to. I like many of the moves he's made, and many of the things he's said. So I trust him if he hires McDaniels. Maybe it'll crash and burn but I don't think so.
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