Belichick's quote has nothing to do with the characterization by the writer.
There is no rule against filming signals. There's a rule against filming from the sideline. You can film signals to your hearts content from the room where they are allowed to do gametape. Costas put Goodell on the spot with this question after the penalty as laid down, and Goodell acknowledged it while noting that the Patriots were filming from the sidelines.
You seem totally unaware of the actual rule.
AHA, I just read your last post and now realize that you can't understand what happened. I didn't say the Patriots didn't break a rule. I said they didn't break a rule against filming signals. They broke the rule against filming from the sidelines.
Here's the actual rule: "Any use by any club at any time, from the start to the finish of any game in which such club is a participant, of any communications or information-gathering equipment, other than Polaroid-type cameras or field telephones, shall be prohibited, including without limitation videotape machines, telephone tapping, or bugging devices, or any other form of electronic devices that might aid a team during the playing of a game."
Anderson clarified that filming had to come from an enclosed room with a roof overhead.
Belichick maybe is too much of a school marm and he inferred from the rule's syntax that you're not allowed to use the gamefilm during the game. After all, there's no meaning at all to the final clause in the rule if Belichick's interpretation isn't correct.
And John Fox recently confirmed that the rule about using ANY video still exists today. Which is why you see printouts coming down to the sideline by fax (Peyton Manning mostly reads these) but never anything moving.
