They got caught because they are good.
It's not just sour grapes. They cheated. Period.
Of course the guy at the top is going to have his performance questioned. If the guy at the top is not playing by the rules, then yes that will get him caught.
In motorcycle roadracing, I never ever cheated. The system used was a "protest" system. If you thought the other guy had a machine outside of the class specifications, you were required to put a $500.00 cash deposit on the table. You had to protest something specific. If you protested any internal engine component, you had to put $1000.00 cash on the table. The bike under protest was impounded. The team under protest was required to dismantle whatever was needed to show that they were in compliance. If the protested bike is determined to be in compliance, the team that had that bike then picked up the money off the table and put it in their pocket. If you wanted to protest, you had to "put up, or shut up". If the bike was out of compliance. the person that put the protest money up, picked the money back off the table. The offending team/bike/rider had ALL of their points negated for the season and had to return all purse money won.
I liked the system. I never actually protested anyone myself, but guess what. I was the guy that was winning. I didn't pay attention to what they were doing to battle for second place.
One year, we got a 7th place at the AMA superbike race in Pike's Peak. My teammate was the rider. Now 7th place is not the position's that were normally protested, but in this case, he had beaten the entire Factory USA, HRC racing team. We walked our bike to the impound area and I had a folder with a stack of receipts. I showed the HRC team manager the receipts for $100,000.00 in HRC parts we had bought from them. I told them, "We would prefer not to tear this engine down right here. Would you like to withdraw your protest and pick up your $1000.00?". He said, "That is exactly what I would like, thank you". As he was walking away with his head mechanic he said to him, "Maybe you can explain how a privateer team, that bought their equipment from us, on the same bike, built a faster motor?" .......................silenc
e.............
Maybe a cash protest system would work in the NFL. You make the public announcement of the protest and keep everything out in the open.