If the Patriots’ latest videotaping incident sounds familiar, there’s a reason

What could be known as Spygate 2.0 follows a similar opener to the story.

Monday, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor created a firestorm of speculation when stating he was aware of an NFL investigation of the New England Patriots.

The supposed incident leading to an investigation happened over the weekend during Cincinnati’s loss to Cleveland. New England had cameras in a Cleveland press box to shoot a story on a scout, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport:

This would seem like a rather innocent hiccup were it not for the surrounding details.

Namely, the initial batch of reports about what occurred in Cincinnati over the weekend sounds quite similar to extensive reporting from ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham on New England’s Spygate transgressions:

Sources with knowledge of the system say an advance scout would attend the games of upcoming Patriots opponents and assemble a spreadsheet of all the signals and corresponding plays. The scout would give it to Adams, who would spend most of the week in his office with the door closed, matching the notes to the tapes filmed from the sideline. Files were created, organized by opponent and by coach. During games, Walsh later told investigators, the Patriots’ videographers were told to look like media members, to tape over their team logos or turn their sweatshirt inside out, to wear credentials that said Patriots TV or Kraft Productions.

This latest thread is only in the beginning stages of being tugged and unraveled. For now, a Bengals scout noticed the Patriots filming in a press box for an internal documentary a week before the two teams link up in Week 15.

With the NFL aware of the issue and investigating, Cincinnati’s next week of prep just found its dominant storyline.

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