http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_...-loomis-eavesdrop-opposing-coaches-home-games NEW ORLEANS -- The U.S. Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Louisiana was told Friday that New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis had an electronic device in his Superdome suite that had been secretly re-wired to enable him to eavesdrop on visiting coaching staffs for nearly three NFL seasons, "Outside the Lines" has learned. Can we go ahead and sign Brees before he tells us to go eff ourselves?
Just saw ESPN's Breaking News on this, not the "Outside The Lines" story. Two facts jump to mind: 1. If this all happened before 2005 (story says device was disabled at that time, and there's no indication it was ever used again), then criminally, the statute of limitations has run out. 2. From a competitive standpoint, the story says there's no indication that once Loomis (allegedly) heard what he heard, that he passed the info on to Haslett or any other coach. Also mentioned just now, Loomis would have to know the terminology of every NFL team, be able to translate it into something the Saints could use, and instantaneously get that info down to the field, so they could (again, instantaneously) make adjustments. No way, so the knee-jerk response to this story is, "so what?" But interestingly, they do point out that from a civil standpoint, every team that came to the Dome during the time the device was supposedly in operation could conceivably sue Loomis for eavesdropping on private electronic communications.
Even so, it's a shit sandwich no matter what way you slice it. This entire time, I was defending bounty-gate saying that at least we didn't cheat like Bill Billicheck and the Patriots did. Well, lo and behold, we allegedly did cheat like Bill Billicheat and the Patriots....PLUS we put bouties on their QB's. I think that we are officially about to get blasted back to mediocrity. Too many hits in such a short amount of time. I mean we are just getting PILED ON. Somebody make it stop.
Well that was quick: http://www.wwltv.com/news/ESPN-Mick...-opposing-coaches-during-games-148564135.html Saints seeking legal recourse against ESPN for Loomis report
If its true. Bill Polian (former Colts GM) is on now pretty much blowing the idea out of the water. Even the reporter who's breaking the story points out that Loomis is not an "X's and O's" GM, but rather a guy who specializes in dealing with contracts and salary cap issues. And as Polian points out, his Colts played in the Dome during the alleged cheating period. Colts 55, Saints 21. With results like that, other teams probably invited the Saints to cheat. Consider this highly simplified scenario: Loomis hears the Falcons Def. Coordinator say "ringo." He now has about 15 seconds to translate 'ringo' to mean 'safety blitz', call Mike McCarthy (who was our OC at the time) and tell him a safety blitz is coming. Then McCarthy has to relay that info - and remember that at a certain time in the playclock, helmet radios automatically shut off, so the relay is probably going through hand signals - to Aaron Brooks. Aaron Brooks! Brooks now has to pick up the info and make the correct checkoff. No wonder we were a .500 team in those days.
I almost fell out of my chair. That was funny and retroactively painful at the same time. But this is coming at a bad time. I hope this doesnt affect brees.
Aaron Brooks = the greatest saints QB of all time! Do NOT bad mouth him! He's Michael Vick's cousin!!
As was alluded to in an earlier post, just look at our record in the time period of the alleged event. We sucked. Didn't even make the playoffs, that I recall. And really, does anyone honestly believe Loomis was in the booth listening to opposing coaches, then somehow relaying info to Haslett? It sounds absurd. Stranger things have happened, I guess, but I ain't buying this one unless more proof is available. But right now, it just sounds like someone has an ax to grind, so they make up some BS story and ESPN eats it up hook, line, and sinker.