Everybody cheats to some degree when they can. Every lineman is taught to hold and taught how to minimize his chances of getting caught. But, when you get caught, you certainly pay the price. So, calculated cheating is a part of the game. It is built into the game. Finding a way to camouflage steroid use is another great cheat. Because, steroids can make an ordinary bad man into a MONSTER.
To say that NE, under Belichick, with Brady at the helm won purely by cheating is an impossibility. Those were good teams with a Spartan mentality. A band of brothers that believed in themselves and believed in each other. Had some big name players like Randy Moss for a while but a lot of second- and third-raters that nobody wanted, including Brady, Edelman, Amendola, Woodhead, to name a few.
The genius of Belichick is to see the intangibles that all others missed and get the player for a song, like Cam Newton, and make a go of it. Buffalo is pretty good this year, but the season is not over. It could end up with NE having a small chance for the playoffs.
But, Brady had intangibles and confidence that made up for his lack of running abilities and he fit into the Belichick system because Brady had no choice. It was either there or maybe the bench some other place, if he was lucky. But, the master, Belichcick, Thi schooled Brady and Brady was a good foot soldier, and the rest is history.
This week, to throw for 350 yards and stage a comeback against the champs at 43, without cheating, clearly shows that he is still a decent QB physically and has a huge football IQ.
Sure he will cheat and deflate a football for a huge edge. But, to then get caught, inflate the football back to 13 psi and win yet another Super Bowl, just shows that NE liked to steal advantages. But, they still played smash-mouthed football.