Boston Herald scoops the AP

Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I think a lot of people missed the point of the story. It wasn't about the Herald scooping the AP. It was about polling the voters and asking if Spygate played a role in each individual voter's mindset. Over half the voters responded, and it made for a pretty good read, in my estimation.

Finding that Belichick won the award was just a byproduct of the story.

 

If that was the case, why was the lede about the Coach of the Year award?

 

Maybe the Herald didn't anticipate so many voters responding. I suspect the intent wasn't to declare the winner, only to get the pulse of some of the voters. When they had two-thirds of the voters respond, they could go with that additional angle.

Also, because of the giant chart that displayed whether each voter allowed Spygate to influence their decision, which accompanied the story in the print edition.

 

I'm sure it wasn't written with the intent of breaking AP's embargo/time pattern, but still ...

I haven't seen the print edition yet, so I didn't know about the chart.