Letting go of the videotape
New England coach Bill Belichick tried again Friday to move on from the sideline spying scandal in which he was fined $500,000 and ordered to forfeit a top draft choice.
"It's over, and we're moving on," Belichick said. "Right now, all of my energy and focus and attention is on the San Diego Chargers and our game Sunday night. So, that's where we're at."
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced Thursday night that he would fine Belichick the maximum amount and dock the team $250,000 and a first-round draft pick next year (or a lesser pick if the Patriots miss the playoffs). It was the biggest fine ever for a coach and would be the first time in NFL history a first-round draft pick has been confiscated as a penalty.
In doing so, Goodell branded the Patriots as cheaters.
"This episode represents a calculated and deliberate attempt to avoid longstanding rules designed to encourage fair play and promote honest competition on the playing field," the commissioner wrote in a letter to the team.
Belichick was peppered with questions on the scandal again Friday. But this time he seemed bemused by the repeated attempts to get him to expand on his earlier statement in which he accepted "full responsibility for the actions" that led to the punishment.
"It doesn't matter," he said. "It already happened. So right now, we're focusing in on what's in front of us, and that's the Chargers."
For Belichick, it is what it was.
Others weren't ready to put it in the past.
"Really, a sad day for the NFL," Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy said after practice Friday. "It's another case of the 99 percent good things that are happening being overshadowed by 1 percent bad. Again, people aren't talking about our product, they're talking about a negative incident."
"All I know is there better not be an asterisk by any of the Super Bowls I was with them," said Christian Fauria, a tight end on the 2003 and 2004 title teams, who is now with the Carolina Panthers. "I better call my wife and tell her to put (my rings) in a safe."