It appears the Patriots are going to feel the wrath of the NFL once again.
The league will likely punish New England after the club admitted to violating the NFL’s video policy last week during the Bengals-Browns game, according to the Washington Post.
The report says discipline could be similar to other game-day violations from recent years, meaning a potential six-figure fine and the loss of a late-round draft pick.
While the Patriots’ credentialed video team was in Cleveland working on a feature on a scout, the crew shot footage of the Bengals’ sideline, a week before the Patriots were to play the Bengals. While Bill Belichick and the organization have claimed nobody involved in football operations had anything to do with the video, the team admitted the crew “inappropriately filmed the field from the press box” during last week’s Bengals-Browns game, apparently unaware of league rules. The team turned the footage over to the NFL and is cooperating with the league’s investigation. According to The Athletic, the video features eight minutes of footage of the Bengals’ sideline.
At the NFL owners’ meeting on Wednesday in Texas, league commissioner Roger Goodell said the Patriots’ history with secret video-taping — the original Spygate scandal in 2007 saw Belichick fined $500,000, the team fined $250,000 and a first-round draft pick docked — will be taken into account.
“Of course it’s a factor,” Goodell said. “But I think the key things are the new information that we have. That [old] information we obviously already had. I think the issue is what information do we have from this incident.”
The Patriots were also fined $1 million, lost first- and fourth-round draft picks and saw Tom Brady suspended four games in the wake of the 2015 Deflategate controversy.
One of the precedents being considered for punishment, according to the Washington Post, is former Giants coach Ben McAdoo’s use of a walkie talkie during a game in 2016. The Giants were fined $150,000, McAdoo was fined $50,000 and the team saw its fourth-round draft pick moved to the end of the round.
