Robert Kraft: Bill Belichick "a schmuck"

No-one likes to get into trouble with their boss, even if he's one of the nicer men in the business.

But when you damage your teams reputation, and cost them money, even Robert Kraft won't be happy, as Bill Belichick learned after the "spygate" revelations.

Thanks to the nfl.com article for this snippet of Kraft's conversation with Gary Myers, who has written a book about coaching:
Patriots owner Robert Kraft told Myers a story of confronting Bill Belichick about taping the Jets' signals when the controversy arose.

"How much did this help us on a scale of 1 to 100?" Kraft asked Belichick in an excerpt from the Boston Globe.

"One," Belichick responded.

"Then you're a real schmuck," Kraft said he told Belichick.

I think Mr. Kraft has put this perfectly. If it helped so little, then Belichick is a complete schmuck. It was a costly error: Money, draft picks, and most importantly the reputation of the franchise. Everyone has doubted how good the Patriots are after Spygate, but at least this can (sort of) put to bed the stories that we wouldn't have won three Super Bowls without this affair.

Give me a follow on Twitter ahead of today's game, @BrendanAnnely