Shula's reason for Pats comments; more NFL topics

Don Shula said the Patriots deserve an asterisk if they achieve a perfect season since they were caught illegally videotaping an opponent's signals. Aaron Josefczyk/Icon SMI

Don Shula was about as transparent as a Macy's store-front window with his recent suggestion that a perfect season in New England this year should come with an asterisk in light of the Patriots' illegal videotaping episode in Week 1.

Let's not forget, the Dolphins' Hall of Fame head coach has been chafing about the Patriots' cheating for 25 years, ever since Ron Meyer sent that inmate driving a snow-plow onto the field in Foxboro to clear a path for a game-winning John Smith field goal. Shula's indignation has no bounds when it comes to that 1982 incident, but his latest attempt to both strike back at New England and protect the singular legacy of his 17-0 Dolphins of 1972 is beneath him.

First off, the chronology of his asterisk argument is fatally flawed. If Shula wants to question the legitimacy of the Patriots' success before their videotaping habits were exposed, have at it. He wouldn't be the first voice heard on that front. Fair or unfair, that's the blot on New England's legacy that Bill Belichick inspired with his blatant disregard for the league's rules. The NFL has unintentionally fed that perception by not revealing how far back the Patriots' covert videotaping went back, or how extensively it was used, thereby leaving room for doubt about New England's three three-point Super Bowl wins.

But Shula is lobbying for an asterisk on this year's Patriots, even though he knows New England was caught at halftime of Week 1, before their "scouting'' had any chance to provide a competitive advantage against the Jets. Something tells me that if the Patriots were 8-1 this year, Shula would neither have had an opinion about New England's 2007 season, nor would he have been asked for one.

By invoking the Barry Bonds comparison, Shula tried to give legitimacy to his claim that New England's accomplishment will be tainted this year. But Bonds inspired talk of an asterisk because he pursued and set baseball's career home-run record while clearly playing under the cloud of suspicion that he used performance-enhancing substances. It was a multi-year record, not a one-season mark as in the case of the Patriots.

Until Shula comes up with evidence New England has cheated its way to its nine wins this season, the Bonds-Belichick analogy doesn't fly with me, unless you're trying to make the case the entire body of Belichick's work from 2000-2006 is tainted. That's what Colts head coach Tony Dungy was suggesting in Week 2 when he invoked the Bonds comparison when asked about the Patriots' scandal. Not that New England deserved an asterisk being placed on whatever accomplishments it produced in 2007. That's a big distinction, and one not to be glossed over the way Shula so willingly did.

I think Shula is obviously worried about these Patriots joining his Dolphins -- and hey, let's be honest, topping them if New England goes 19-0 -- and thereby losing sole claim to the perfect season fame he and his players have proudly, and sometimes grudgingly, guarded for 35 years. Everyone knows Shula's ego is big enough to have its own zip code, and it's hard to ignore the irony of the ex-coach -- who always took 'em one at a time -- looking so far down the road he feels the need to go pre-emptive with his asterisk campaign despite New England being only 9-0.

What's the rush, Don? I mean, the Patriots are still 10 wins shy of perfection, right? And besides, your Dolphins rescued you from those pesky '85 Bears, and I'm sure they'll do it again in that Week 16 Miami at New England matchup, with Cleo Lemon or John Beck heroically filling the role of Dan Marino.

On second thought, now I see why Shula's getting way out front with all that asterisk stuff.

• I have to admit, I'm starting to really look forward to the potential of an icy Lombardi Trophy presentation in the desert next February. The prospect of Belichick and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell -- the man who fined him a half-mill and took away a first-round draft pick in the Spy-Gate affair -- sharing a stage in Glendale, Ariz., could make for the most awkward post-Super Bowl moment since commissioner Pete Rozelle and Raiders owner Al Davis had to make nice for the cameras while their court fight raged on.

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