Fiedler speaks out on '01 Spygate Entanglement (Article)

[BingeBag]

LINK TO ARTICLE

FIEDLER, BATES SPEAK ON ‘01 SPYGATE ENTANGLEMENT

By Tim Graham | Tuesday, May 13, 2008, 10:16 PM


The 2001 Dolphins so far have been united in their stance that illegal video surveillance wasn’t the reason they didn’t beat the Patriots in December that year and, as a result, didn’t claim the AFC East title.

“I don’t want to discredit the type of team they put on the field,” 2001 quarterback Jay Fiedler told me tonight. “We had chances to win every game we played against them and weren’t able to come through on some of them.”

One of the biggest revelations from last week was that among Matt Walsh’s eight tapes were shots of the Dolphins’ offensive hand signals.

Fiedler’s take: big whoop. Offensive coordinator Chan Gailey called a number into Fiedler’s headset. Fiedler would look up the number on a wristband, which changed every game, to find the play. All the Patriots would have to gain is a jump on personnel.
“Everyone loves to get an advantage,” Fiedler said. “We were looking to steal their signals as well. There were times in games when we knew certain defensive calls from what we able to gather during the game or our scouts’ eyesight.”

All that said, Fiedler couldn’t deny the advantage the Patriots had by videotaping the Dolphins’ defensive signals. Imagine if the Dartmouth grad had the same insight into the Patriots defense before he strolled to the line of scrimmage.

“If the quarterback knows what’s coming, he can dissect it at the line of scrimmage,” Fiedler said. “Then it becomes a huge advantage to adjust your blocking scheme or change the play.

“In most cases you’re not going to get an advantage, but if there’s an exotic blitz coming, then usually there are ways to exploit that.”

Jim Bates, the Dolphins’ defensive coordinator that season, had this to say: “You just like to make it a fair game. One play can sometimes determine the outcome. If you can get the information to your quarterback on the right play it can be the difference between winning the game and losing the game.”

The Patriots and Dolphins each finished 11-5. The Patriots won the tiebreaker, got the first-round bye and went on to win the Super Bowl.

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Maybe, this will chill some of the dolphins fan's out, about spygate?

[YoFuggedaboutit]

I just want the Pats to get what's coming to them.  That's all. 

[DZA]

I just want the Pats to get what's coming to them.  That's all. 

Same here budd   But I feel  Godell is doing all he can to keep this whole thing hidden. 

[jtex316]

They already got what' coming to them. They were fined a half a mil, they were taken away a 1st round pick (so this years draft they were supposed to have TWO 1st round picks), and lastly, they will forever be known as the "cheater" team. I think that is punishment enough.

[Doc-phin]

3) Plus, our run defense was awful in the first half

Exactly!  Did the defense struggle because they struggled or because of the cheating?  We will never know, especially now that all evidence has been "distroyed".

My opinion is they probably struggled because they struggled but I still have some nagging questions that go through my mind.  The Pats got off easy and I am glad that the media won't let this go seeing as how tainting their success is the only real penalty being delt.  If someone thinks the half a mil and 1st round pick is enough for the biggest black mark on the NFL in recent memory than I just don't understand that thinking.

[MaineDolFan]

Jay Fiedler was our starting QB in 2001.  That's all the advantage the Pats needed that year. 

[simeon]

Jay Fiedler was our starting QB in 2001.  That's all the advantage the Pats needed that year. 

We've got ourselves a winner, give that man a prize.

[Sunstroke]

They already got what' coming to them. They were fined a half a mil, they were taken away a 1st round pick (so this years draft they were supposed to have TWO 1st round picks), and lastly, they will forever be known as the "cheater" team. I think that is punishment enough.

Ya know, Joe...I wish people would stop including the "half a million" as being a part of the punishment worth mentioning. A half million bucks to the Patriots franchise is equal to you taking all the coins out of your pants pocket and being forced to give all the pennies to Fausto.

[ARamsFan]

Hey if ya'lls Wannstache gotcha in tiebreaker with '01 Pats thats a damn sight better prospect than ya see this season

[MaineDolFan]

^^Huh?  Anyone know how to translate 'idiot' into english?  No clue what that said.

[StL FinFan]

^ You'll have to excuse him, he's a Rams fan.