Dayton Daily News – [Chad] Eaton had to prove himself in his career, as well… Taken in the seventh round of the 1995 NFL draft by Arizona, he… finally ended up on Cleveland’s practice squad. His grit and energy caught the interest of head coach Bill Belichick and they forged a pact. “If practice was going slow, he’d look at me and just say, ‘It’s time,’ ” Eaton said. “He wanted me to get on somebody’s (case) and start a little fight. I was known for that and it paid off on Fridays. There’d always be some extra money in my locker. Practice players don’t make much, so I really appreciated it.” The following season he was picked up by New England

So what’s the over/under on how soon this explodes into a major scandal?  Belichick started a Fight Club!  He paid his players extra money!  Violated the salary cap!  The tax laws!  Get the commissioner!  Get the union!  Get congress in session! Yeah, well everyone can hold their wad.  The fake fight to wake up a flat, undermotivated team is as old as football itself.  Every coach worth his whistle has pulled this move, from Knute Rockne to Paul Brown to Mike Ditka to Bill Parcells.  Hell, Practice Instigator is such a time honored position it should get a Pro Bowl berth like Special Teamer.  I seem to recall you could use the annual Larry Izzo training camp fight every August to set the date on your watch.  As a matter of fact, Rex Ryan used this very move on “Hard Knocks” last year when he had a backup center pick a fight to fire up Vernon Gholston, only to find out you couldn’t motivate him if you were holding his family hostage.  And as far as the money goes, this is classic Belichick.  A guy who came up the hard way as a gopher for the Colts, who never forgot that Ted Marchibroda used to always slip a few extra  bucks into his locker to help a brother out.  So if any one wants to blow this out of proportion- FightPayGate- go right ahead.  Put an asterisk on all those titles he won in Cleveland.  @JerryThornton1