NFL needs to keep applying pressure to solve Patriot games

While it's annoying to see U.S. Senators sticking their nose into NFL business, I can live with Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter keeping the heat on the Patriots to keep digging into their shady past (and present). The NFL Network recently aired some footage of some of the game tapes former video assistant Matt Walsh turned over to the league, and it only enhanced the scumminess of an already pitiful situation. And so where to begin?

The one excuse that bothers me the most is that these tapes are useless and have no bearing on the game. Bill Belichick has been doing this ever since he got to New England in 2000, so this is just another dirty habit of his. My question keeps being, if the tapes aren't used for any advantage, then why need them in the first place? And even if halftime adjustments aren't able to be made using the tapes, what about the games against division rivals, when the Patriots would play them a second time that same season?

It always puzzled me how nobody receivers like David Patten, David Givens, and Troy Brown consistently got so open over the years. If they weren't pushing off, they simply knew where to be in advance. And 15 second-half screen passes in Super Bowl XXXIX against the Eagles? I don't care if Jim Johnson walked over to Bill Belichick and told him he was going to blitz every play, that's simply not right.

Unfortunately we will never know how and when those tapes were used, but more answers are sure to come. The Rams feel cheated and feel that their Super Bowl XXXVI loss to New England ruined their once-formidable enterprise. That's why it's good to see Specter and NFL officials prying as much as possible to get to the bottom of this. The Patriots keep trying to brush it off and say the issue is dead, but when I see Willie McGinest giving lame half-denials in interviews (this, by the way, the same McGinest who once faked an injury to grant New England an extra timeout in a critical game against the Colts), I can't help but wonder if the players knew about and ultimately benefitted from these spy tactics.

So Mr. Specter and the NFL, keep applying the pressure. Unlike the Super Bowl, the Pats won't have an easy out against this all-out blitz.