The latest twist in the New England Patriots taping incident involving the Cincinnati Bengals features a revelation about the nature of the video.
According to Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic, the confiscated video in question features eight minutes of footage focused on the Bengals sideline:
“According to sources who have viewed the tape, it shows about eight minutes of footage focusing on recording the Bengals’ sideline. It’s a direct view of the sideline as players run on and off the field and coaches make signals for plays.”
This could dramatically shift the course of the NFL’s investigation, provided it’s what the tape shows. The Patriots had issued a statement Monday night roughly saying a team of contractors for the media side were merely shooting an internal documentary about a scout.
Events like Spygate, as well as admittedly not notifying the NFL or Bengals about credentialed access in Cleveland to shoot video, paints events in a questionable light. That the Bengals saw the video being shot and took issue, as well as the report of this eight-minute clip, further the notion of questionable behavior by the Patriots or those employed by the Patriots.
All the 1-12 Bengals can do is focus on this Sunday’s game against those Patriots while the NFL investigation works on the matter in the background.
