Because there is a glaring double standard when it comes to the New England Patriots & a lot of other teams in the NFL. Also, this is coming off a conference title game with the team advancing to the Super Bowl. The other incidents occurred in the middle of the regular season
I've mentioned this before, if this was the Jacksonville Jaguars, you're not seeing nearly the same amount of media outrage. But because it's Belichick & Brady and the Patriots, you get the witch hunt here.
Spygate & sustained success brought that about. The first reason can be justified because the Pats brought that upon themselves & the latter is a lot of contempt rooted in jealousy.
If there is a double standard, it's not the Patriots vs the rest of the league, it's big market and marquee teams vs other teams. Maybe there would be less media outrage if this were Jacksonville, but there would probably be similar scrutiny if it were the Cowboys or the Jets.
i strongly disagree with this, nobody cares about the jets except for new yorkers, and the cowboys are seen as buffoons, people would just laugh at both of those teams and then forget. the media members are humans too, and they're largely influenced not only by their own bias, but by the perceptions of the fans; catering to those fans generates viewers and web page hits (remember tebow mania?). and a lot of media people are remarkably unprofessional, hines ward is a perfect example, he's basically a childish fan posing as an analyst, and his coverage of the pats is pathetic.
as for the pats, their seemingly endless run of excellence and their image as a clean-cut, disciplined team have a lot to do with the scrutiny, a lot of people want to "expose" them as phonies.
this is likely in large part to the media's never-ending slobber-fest over BB's brilliance and the "patriot way", which is partially deserved but certainly goes over the top, a-la-brett favre. you can bet someone like hines ward got tired about hearing it a long time ago.
brady's good looks and model wife don't help, he doesn't cast the same fake "everyman" image that peyton manages so well, and, from the beginning, brady has been the winner, while peyton has been the underdog.
BB's surly attitude and vindictive nature also have made him a lot of enemies.
and then there's spygate, which some people still think was some sort of huge conspiracy and cover-up.
i really think the pats are a special case here.