JC, our Pats homer, threw us this article today. In it, Jimmy Johnson claims that Howard Mud, Indy’s old offensive line coach
“was the best in the entire league at stealing signals” when Mudd was an assistant to Marty Schottenheimer with the Kansas City Chiefs from 1989 to 1992.
Now, I think JC’s point here was that ‘everyone is dirty’ and that everyone cheats as much as the Pats did earlier this decade. Unfortunately, there is a massive distinction between what the Pats did and normal sign stealing.
Stealing signs in sports has always been happening. It is not only legal, but should be encouraged. In baseball growing up, we were taught to steal signs. The coaches rewarded players who could decipher signals. Being called a great signal stealer is a badge of honor and a sign of being smart.
Once you start using technology to do it, however, you cross the normal lines of being smarter than the other guy and have crossed into the realm of cheating. The commissioner explicitly forbid using video tape in the way the Patriots did. They violated a specific clear rule.
That’s a long way away from what Mudd did.
The Pats sin wasn’t stealing signs.
It was using video tape to do it.
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