The wait is over.
Some of the New England Patriots’ illegal footage of the Cincinnati Bengals’ sideline is available for public consumption. FOX Sports obtained a short clip of the footage. It showed a Bengals’ security staffer taking a video of the Patriots’ monitor, which was playing what the New England staffer recorded of the Bengals’ sideline during their game against the Browns in Week 14.
The Patriots released a statement to admit they broke NFL rules. They explained their violation was an accident. New England has a production team for the Patriots’ website, which operates autonomously from the football team. The production crew was working on a video series for the website, which chronicled the day-to-day work of an advanced scout, who attends the team’s upcoming opponent’s game. As a part of that video feature, they wanted to capture the sideline. An advanced scout will often watch the sideline — though they cannot record it.
It’s more or less what was expected. The Patriots production staffer said he didn’t know he wasn’t supposed to be taping the sideline. And the Bengals staff is intent upon getting evidence of the rule-breaking to submit it to the NFL. The league is currently investigating the situation, though they have made no indication of what punishment is coming and when they’ll decide on what discipline will follow the Patriots’ actions. Surely, the NFL will factor New England’s history of illegally videotaping during Spygate.
It will be interesting to see if the court of public opinion changes if more of this footage becomes available.
