There are no second chances in today's NFL.
It turns out that Arthur Blank played the Falcons' noise scandal masterfully. It was not fun to see a single employee scapegoated or to see the Falcons lose a fifth round pick, but copping to the Decibacle fiasco clearly led the NFL to wag its fingers instead of landing hard on Atlanta.
The Patriots had no such luck. They were docked 1st and 4th round picks, hit with a hefty fine and saw Tom Brady suspended for four games. Some of that punishment may be peeled back on appeal, but the NFL felt lied to and saw New England as repeat offenders due to the Spygate scandal last decade and punished them accordingly, despite finding that the overall organization had no knowledge of what Brady was up to.