Word: nfl
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...imperfect NFL season overshadowed by Michael Vick's jailing, the murders of two players and a host of other off-field issues, the prospect of the Pats as champs seems oddly appropriate. After all, it's also a safe bet that these Pats will be forever tarnished by the Spygate affair, in which the team was caught trying to steal an opponent's signs, using a sideline camera. On the surface, more controversy would seem like the last thing the league needs. But it turns out the Patriots are the ideal villains. The drama inherent in their chase...
After becoming just the fourth NFL team to finish the regular season undefeated, following Saturday's determined 38-35 comeback win against the New York Giants, New England has sewn up an astounding achievement. (The Pats are the first squad to finish a 16-game season undefeated.) It's even sweeter for the team because prior to this year, many experts thought Belichick was losing his touch. He revamped a team that was just one win away from the Super Bowl by trading for All-Pro malcontent Randy Moss. But Moss has behaved, and he and quarterback Tom Brady...
...Nice Bill, a tireless if disheveled football chess master who had finally escaped the capacious shadow of Bill Parcells, the Super Bowl-winning coach for whom he had toiled as a longtime assistant. Claiming three of four Super Bowls is a truly mind-boggling feat, given that the NFL's salary-cap structure is designed to spread the wealth and prevent dominance. It takes some kind of football genius to escape the league's parity policy...
Others are still talking, including members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, set on preserving their legacy. Don Shula, who coached those Dolphins--the only team in NFL history to stay unbeaten through the Super Bowl--said if New England finished undefeated, an asterisk should be placed next to its record because of Spygate. He later recanted those remarks, but kicker Garo Yepremian insists that "a few" asterisks be attached to the Pats. Says Hall of Fame coach and ex-Buffalo Bills general manager Marv Levy: "I saw one or two other former coaches say, Oh, everybody does it. Baloney...
...gave the game away to two of its national broadcast partners, CBS and NBC; as the league has done with all its Network games, the local stations in the home markets of both teams will also still get to air the broadcast. "We appreciate CBS and NBC delivering the NFL Network telecast on Saturday night to the broad audience that deserves to see this potentially historic game. Our commitment to the NFL Network is stronger than ever." In other words, Goodell is playing defense now, but the business game of NFL Network vs. Cable is far from over...