The Patriots have once again found themselves in the middle of a scandal involving the videotaping of another team’s sideline. The NFL is investigating the Patriots’ in-house video crew filming the Bengals’ sideline against the Browns on Sunday, which New England maintains is for a digital documentary series called “Do Your Job.”
Andrew Whitworth of the Rams isn’t as convinced. Given the Patriots’ history of Spygate and Deflategate, he’s not so sure they’re completely innocent of any wrongdoing in this situation.
He was on the “Rich Eisen Show” Wednesday and shared his thoughts on the incident, admitting it’s a different feeling when it’s the Patriots who are involved.
“I think it’s tough. Obviously, it’s one of those that’s going to send up everybody’s alerts across the league. Obviously, it’s one of those things when you keep being involved in a topic or something and it just centers around one team, it makes it tough because it’s one of those things where you go, yeah, it sounds like a harmless situation, but why is it always this team that’s involved in these harmless situations?” Whitworth said. “I think that’s one of the things that as players across the league in general, that’s really the thought most guys have, just because it’s tough that it always seems to be them involved in something like this.
“And also, it’s just funny – the whole situation. Like, we’re filming an advanced scouting documentary or something? I don’t know.”
Whitworth has been in the NFL for more than a decade, coming into the league in 2006 with the Bengals. He was in Cincinnati when the Spygate scandal happened and was obviously around for Deflategate, still as a member of the Bengals. So he knows how players feel about these types of situations and what the reaction will be, having been in NFL locker rooms for 14 years.
He believes this latest videotaping scandal is going to raise some red flags among players across the league.
“I think it creates a lot of skepticism,” he said. “It’s like, hey, why does it always seem to be that they’re involved in something? But at the end of the day, it sounds like it’s something that’s pretty harmless. But it’s also very strange that you’re just filming the Bengals sideline.”
Given the Patriots’ history, players and coaches are always on alert when playing them – especially in Foxborough. Whitworth has played there three times in his career and each time, it was treated differently than any other game.
“I think, in particular, when it comes to them, a lot,” Whitworth said of how paranoid teams are about the Patriots. “I know every time you play them or have gone there – when I was in Cincinnati, it was always like it was a different week when it came to that kind of stuff. ‘Hey, let’s be careful with papers that we’re handing out,’ or ‘let’s be careful about certain places.’”
He elaborated, saying players are always cracking jokes about the Patriots potentially spying.
“If you’re there in a hotel somewhere, like, who knows?” he said. “It’s always a joke, it’s a running joke – like ‘What person on the staff out here at the hotel might be talking to the Patriots?’ Most of the time, it’s kind of just being facetious and you’re just making a joke of it, but at the same time, you are thinking about that while you’re there.
“They’ve been a part of it, so it is what it is. They’re also a tremendous organization, they’ve had a lot of success. But they’ve also been involved in some things that raise the antennas a little bit.”
The Rams obviously played the Patriots in Super Bowl LIII, losing 13-3. Given the things Whitworth said about New England, it wouldn’t be shocking if the Rams took extra precautions in the week leading up to the game.
He’s certainly skeptical of the Patriots’ intentions in this situation, as are many others.
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