Mark Madden: Cheating Patriots should be banned from NFL playoffs

After Spygate in 2007, the New England Patriots lost a first-round draft pick. Coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000. The team was fined $250,000.

That punishment was fair.

But the Patriots kept cheating. The NFL’s discipline inexplicably got lesser.

After Deflategate in 2015, quarterback Tom Brady was suspended four games, the team was fined $1 million and it lost two draft picks. That wasn’t severe enough. Not for a second offense. Belichick should have been banned for a significant period.

Now the Patriots have apparently cheated again. They filmed Cincinnati’s sideline during the Bengals’ game at Cleveland on Sunday.

The excuse is that it was inadvertently done as part of a web documentary. That doesn’t matter. Filming another team’s sideline is expressly prohibited. If the Patriots’ intent was harmless, why did the team employee involved offer to delete the video? Is the documentary cover to get access to filming the sidelines of future foes?

Belichick said he didn’t know about the incident. Funny how Belichick is deeply involved in every facet of the Patriots’ operation except during the times they cheat.

The NFL is investigating. But what’s to investigate? The NFL already has the Patriots’ video of Cincinnati’s sideline. A rule has clearly been broken.

The Patriots should be kicked out of this season’s playoffs. They have been caught cheating three times since 2007. How many times did they not get caught? How many other sidelines did the Patriots film?

Cheating is part of the Patriots’ business plan. It is institutional. It is constant.

As ex-Steeler Trai Essex tweeted: “When you cheat to get an advantage vs. the Bengals, it’s time for an intervention. It’s officially an addiction.”

No doubt. The Patriots cheat because they like to. It’s a rush. It’s kind of like going to a low-rent massage parlor when you’re a billionaire.

Boston embraces the cheating: “They hate us because they ain’t us.” Boston embraced Whitey Bulger, too.

But the NFL not only won’t discipline the Patriots properly, but it also might assist in the cover-up. The league destroyed evidence from Spygate. The Patriots are clearly one of Commissioner Roger Goodell’s favored nations.

Kicking the Patriots out of this season’s playoffs seems absurd. It isn’t. Not for a franchise with a resume of cheating that dates back 12 years. Not after three strikes. This latest episode shows that the Patriots just won’t stop cheating. The discipline imposed so far hasn’t worked.

Football doesn’t take the dim view of cheating that, say, baseball does. If it did, Belichick would never make the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The gloss would be off the Patriots’ six Super Bowl titles, but it isn’t. For better or worse, football tolerates. (By the way, MLB’s holier-than-thou attitude will be tested by the Houston sign-stealing case.)

So, the Patriots will get slapped on the wrist and then keep cheating.

Pittsburgh takes a lot of pride in its six Super Bowl championships, and there’s a lot of local paranoia that New England will reach seven before the Steelers do.

But there’s no comparison.

The Patriots’ litany of fraud diminishes everything they’ve done no matter how loud Boston bleats. The Steelers won Super Bowls on the square.

Well, except for all those Steelers who used steroids in the ‘70s.