COY: Cheater of the Year

This week, New England Patriot's head coach Bill Belichick was named NFL Coach of the Year.  The only appropriate word to describe this is disgusting.  Actually, it's an outright disgrace to the game.

Last season, I remember Miami Dolphin defensive end Jason Taylor saying that San Diego's Shawn Meriman shouldn't be eligible for NFL Defensive Player of the Year because he had been suspended four games for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy.  Meriman was reportedly taking performance-enhancing drugs.  So he was cheating.

The plain and simple translation of what Taylor was saying: If you cheat, you shouldn't be able to win these coveted awards.

So much for that.  Belichick, the 2007 Coach of the Year, is the same man who received the largest individual fine in NFL history ($500,000) while getting his franchise fined a quarter-million dollars and losing their first-round draft pick.  Just look at how much those fines are.  And taking away a pick?  That never happens.  

The gravity of these punishments tell you just how detrimental the acts were.  Stealing defensive signals compromises the integrity of the game.  I think those penalties are much harsher than a four-game suspension for one player.  

And it's not like there weren't other coaches who had success this season.  Green Bay's Mike McCarthy.  Cleveland's Romeo Crennell.  Dallas's Wade Phillips.  Heck, even Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville had a great year.

I realize that the Patriots did the unthinkable and ran the table for the perfect 16-0 regular season, but don't think that it isn't tainted by the Spygate scandal.  And as a result, Belichick should not have won the COY award.  By Belichick winning, it's the NFL that loses.