PHOENIX - By now, the words have been uttered so many times they qualify as the Patriots mantra:
That's in the past.
Unfortunately, the past informs the present, and never more so than today, Super Bowl XLII. To recap: On Friday, a U.S. senator called on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to explain why he had the infamous Spygate tapes destroyed. The New York Times quoted a former assistant on the Patriots video staff, who may very well have incriminating information on the team going back to the last century. On Saturday, the eve of America's great secular Sabbath, the high holy day of corporate culture, the Boston Herald reported that a Patriots cameraman illicitly taped the Rams' practice walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl, a game the Pats won with a last-second field goal.
This is bad news for the NFL. It's very bad news for the Patriots and their coach. But it's about the worst thing that could happen to the New York Giants, as the Patriots are at their best when people accuse them of the worst.
New England issued a categorical denial of the Herald story: "Absolutely false. Any suggestion to the contrary is untrue."
The NFL said that it had investigated the allegation "months ago" but found "no evidence of it on the tapes or in the notes produced by the Patriots, and the Patriots told us it was not true."
What? The NFL refutes allegations from 2002 based on tapes and notes from 2006 and 2007? How? And why is the league so satisfied taking the Patriots at their word? Football commissioners have always liked to lecture on the integrity of the game. Well, where was the integrity of the investigation?
Shoddy work makes for shoddy outcomes. The Herald's story ensures the season that began with Spygate will end with Spygate. It will be a while — if ever — before anyone can really figure out what this all means. But Goodell owes football fans nothing short of a full, transparent inquiry into the video practices of not just the Patriots, but the entire league. If he can't do it, be sure that publicity seeking politicians on Capitol Hill will be glad to do it for him.
No one's eager to dig up all this stuff, of course. But let's hear no more of that all in the past routine.
Tell the 2001 Rams and their fans that it's all in the past.

In the meantime, New England's dynasty will be subject to question, and Bill Belichick's legacy as coach the subject of doubt. Maybe that's not fair, but it's the way it is. Perception is its own reality, especially in a sport that holds the "integrity of the game" as sacrosanct.

Curiously enough, Spygate was the best thing that happened to the Patriots. It gave them an identity. It gave them motivation. It made them good and angry. But over the past couple months, this team seems to have become less angry, and not coincidentally, less dominant.

Suddenly, they again have reason to be merciless. There's the perfect season, of course. The Patriots play for an historic distinction. But they also play to defend the honor, such as it is, of their coach. (You might not like him, but apparently they do). The players will be defending their own honor, too. The Patriots understand that the only way to quell the cry of "Cheaters!" is to crush the Giants, to inflict a beating that will render the point spread a laughably optimistic number.

I thought the Giants had a chance. Even with Plaxico Burress hobbled, I thought they could get within a field goal. But as they say, that's in the past.