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While the New England Patriots were initially seemingly cleared of any wrongdoing in their latest videotaping scandal, recent reports indicate that the Patriots’ video camera crews were focusing on the Cincinnati Bengals sideline for “an extended period of time.”
According to Paul Dehner Jr of The Athletic, sources have told him that “the Patriots video in question fixated on the Bengals’ sideline for an extended period and was more than just an accidental glance at the field.”
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 isn’t an over-the-shoulder of the advanced scout who is doing his job stuff. This is shooting the sideline. For an extended period of time. The egregious nature of the video is why it set off the firestorm it did during the game with the Bengals executives in the press box. [via The Athletic]
The Patriots, who released an official team statement last night, have already claimed that they simply sent a production team to Cleveland “to record video of New England’s advance scout for the team’s Do Your Job web series.
“On Sunday, Dec. 8, the content team sent a three-person video crew to the Bengals-Browns game at FirstEnergy Stadium in order to capture one part of a longer feature on the Patriots scouting department, in this case a Patriots pro personnel scout while he was working in the press box.”
“While we sought and were granted credentialed access from the Cleveland Browns for the video crew, our failure to inform the Bengals and the League was an unintended oversight. In addition to filming the scout, the production crew – without specific knowledge of League rules – inappropriately filmed the field from the press box. The sole purpose of the filming was to provide an illustration of an advance scout at work on the road. There was no intention of using the footage for any other purpose,” the team’s lengthy Monday night statement read in part.
Speaking on WEEI’s radio show Ordway, Merloni and Fauria on Monday, Belichick denied any wrongdoing, saying that “we [the coaching staff] have 100 percent zero involvement” with whatever it is that Patriots film crews were allegedly doing.
“Yeah, I heard about this, and evidently this is our production people on the TV show that were there,” Belichick said. “I have absolutely nothing to do — we have absolutely nothing to do with anything that they produce, direct, shoot or anything. I’ve never even seen any of their tapes or anything else. So this is something that we 100 percent have zero involvement with. This is something that you would have to talk to the production people about and what they were doing and whatever it was. We’ve never seen anything that they’ve shot, other than what’s been on TV,” Belichick said.
This latest potential cheating scandal comes at a difficult time for the defending Super Bowl champions, as the Patriots’ 21-game home winning streak, that began in October 2017, was snapped by the Kansas City Chiefs. Furthermore, due to their two straight losses, the Patriots have now ceded the #1 seed in the AFC Playoffs to the Baltimore Ravens.
The Patriots’ tumultuous end to their season continues on Sunday when they take on the 1-12 Bengals on Sunday, December 15.
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Eric is a New York City-based writer who still isn’t quite sure how he’s allowed to have this much fun for a living and will tell anyone who listens that Gotham City is canonically in New Jersey. Follow him on Twitter @eric_ital for movie and soccer takes or contact him eric@brobible.com