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On Monday afternoon news in the NFL suddenly picked up when Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor mentioned in his press conference that the Patriots had someone in Cleveland’s press box filming Sunday’s Browns-Bengals game and that the NFL was investigating the situation.
I then came out and laughed at the Bengals for thinking the Patriots (or anyone, really) would need to try to gain any types of advantages by filming the 1-12 Bengals.
And I still stand by that, even given what the Patriots, who travel to Cincinnati this Sunday, said Monday night.
The team released a statement admitting wrongdoing and that a member of the team’s production crew shot some footage of the field from the press box in Cleveland, which is against NFL rules. The team said this production group, which was there shooting a documentary on one of their advanced scouts, has nothing to do with the football side of things and likely didn’t know it was breaking the NFL rules.
Should the Patriots have let the group know beforehand about those rules? Yes, of course.
But I still don’t think this has anything to do with the Patriots trying to cheat or anything.
Why?
Because do you think Bill Belichick is dumb enough to have a camera guy videotape a future opponent from the press box in front of other scouts, media members, and team PR people?
If you said yes to that then chances are you’re just a Patriots hater and live for moments like this where you can throw “gate” at the end of some word and yell dopey things on Twitter.
Why would Belichick or the Patriots do that? It’s 2019 – coaches call in plays to their QB’s helmet and are often seen with their play sheet in front of their face while they do it. Filming a sideline won’t give you any inside information.
This feels to me like some member of the production team thought it would be fun and useful to shoot the field for their documentary and didn’t realize that they were breaking a rule.
I know so many of you want to crush the Patriots for this but come on, we all know this was a dumb mistake by someone who didn’t know any better.
Now the Patriots will have to wait to hear from the NFL on this matter. I’m guessing it will be a fine or something and we’ll move on but I’m also guessing the league will take its time with this and let the Patriots get crushed on all sides by people who want to believe a narrative that likely isn’t based in truth.
Either way, Sunday’s Bengals-Patriots game just got a lot more interesting.
Monday’s biggest winner: Lane Kiffin!
The new Ole Miss coach had a classic line about his huge welcome at the airport, bringing up the time he got fired by USC while at the airport. Never change, Lane Kiffin.
Quick hits: Le’Veon went bowling… Super Bowl flaws… Cowboys’ cold move… And more!
– Le’Veon Bell went bowling Saturday night after the Jets ruled him out of Sunday’s game because of the flu. Not great.
– Steven Ruiz breaks down the biggest flaws for all the teams that could win the Super Bowl.
– The Dallas Cowboys cut kicker Brett Maher… after he visited kids at a Dallas-area hospital. Ouch.
– MLB fans are furious about the Nike logo being on the new jerseys.
(Follow me on Twitter at @anezbitt. It might change your life. Just don’t tell me about your fantasy team.)