“
ESPN and every other media outlet in the country, and world, had a statement from the Patriots and an apology from the Herald Reporter John Tomase, who wrote the errant story about the Rams walk-through, apologized in print and on television. Yet Spygate, not even a year old, was embedded in the culture. There was no delineation between what the Patriots actually did, what they were accused of doing, and what analysts and writers imagined they could be doing.
”
”
Michael Holley (Belichick and Brady: Two Men, the Patriots, and How They Revolutionized Football)