The NFL has rendered its verdict on the Patriots’ filming of a Bengals-Browns game late last year. The results aren’t pretty for the Pats – they’ll be fined $1.1MM and stripped of a 2021 third-round pick, according to Mike Reiss and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Furthermore, Pats TV crews will be barred from filming games during the upcoming season. 
[RELATED: Patriots To Sign Cam Newton]
The Pats’ crew set up shop in the press box and filmed the Bengals’ sideline during their Week 14 game. A Bengals staffer took notice, turned the camera on the Pats’ crew, and turned over an eight-minute tape to the league office.
The Patriots said they were filming an episode of their online series “Do Your Job” and simply gathering b-roll for the next episode. The Patriots also acknowledged that they should have done a better job advising the crew of league protocol and communicating with the Bengals beforehand. Still, teams are prohibited from shooting video of coaches on the sideline and the NFL took the Patriots’ “Spygate” history into consideration.
Goodell needs to go
I guess once a cheater, always a cheater.
Not really a cheater
Wow they got off easy
1.1 Million is 26,225,100 in Czech dollars (aka. Korunas)
We call them Biden Bucks.
Pretty stiff penalty for doing nothing wrong…makes you wonder.
Can you read? They filmed the sideline which is against the rules. Cheaters gonna cheat
More just meant there must have been some more stuff on the back side they ain’t releasing to stick it to them like that. Perfectly deserved
It is the equivalent of using tech to steal signs in baseball, and look what happened to the Astros…
With that said, think about if the Patriots got hit with the same penalties as the Astros…They got hit with a 5mil fine, which is the max in MLB, Belicheck would have received a one year suspension, AND they also would have lost their 1st and 2nd round picks for the next TWO YEARS!!
The only difference is that the NFL didn’t have any evidence that Belicheck actually used that information to cheat, and it was a one time deal. This supposedly was also not a repeated event by the Patriots, the Astros used this practice for roughly a year or so..
Even so, the penalty SHOULD HAVE been alot more harsh for Belicheck, especially since he acts as the GM, the head coach, and pretty much runs everything..This wasn’t the first time they have been caught trying to bend/break the rules, this was the SECOND taping incident, and the third overall cheating scandal.
I am not sure why or how Belicheck and the Pats manage to continue getting slaps on the wrists.
This is a pretty weak deterrent for other teams to try and get away with stealing signs. Also, for those oblivious Pat’s fans who are ignorant enough to say the Pats couldn’t gain an advantage by stealing signs and taping another team’s sideline….Well, first, you clearly don’t understand how the game of football works, and second, AT THE VERY LEAST, as intelligent and competitive as Belicheck is, do you really think he would just risk breaking the rules if it didn’t help his team gain an advantage!?
Let’s add in repeat offender
So this is just the corrupt Roger Goodell once again doing what he always does hating on the patriots. Bottom line if this was any team but the patriots or Cowboys or maybe even Raiders any other team would have gotten a pass. Think about this for a minute they are being fined over $1 million having a third round draft pick taken away just because they filmed a game. Not to mention it was already proven this filming was without the consent of Robert Kraft or Bill Belichick but by an outside TV crew. But of course you will hear the idiots out there say “once a cheater always a cheater“ funny I don’t hear people saying that when a team cheats and losers. All of you patriot haters need to just realize you hate them because you can’t beat them.
Not really, personally I would think the penalty needs to be more for any team. But you do realize (or hopefully you do) it comes with the territory when they have been caught doing things they shouldn’t have in the past, more than any other team, especially in this century.
They long ago lost the benefit of the doubt. Repeat offenders. Therefore the penalty is harsher. Not that hard to understand.
Pretty much
Lol seems like the Giants beat your cheating Patsies…twice! Sucks to be a Patsies fan.
That’s exactly right. The haters will always hate because they can’t beat the Patriots and not Belichick signs a hungry Cam Newton. Ohhh boy, just when the haters thought they had a chance to beat the Patriots. Lolololol – you just can’t make this stuff up. Cam is only 31 years old and an incredible athlete. Is Stidham wins the starting job then that means either he’s going to be really good or Cam is not healthy.
Leave it to pat fans to create the website your team cheats which shows all the times the patriots have cheated including this incident and pats fans doing what brat fans do.
Scream like little autistic children when they get in trouble not knowing why they’re in trouble cause they don’t have the cognitive function to comprehend what’s going on.
Why would you insult autistic kids by grouping them with NE fans? That isn’t right.
Not everyone is hating; in fact, most aren’t.
It also is not hating when you are only speaking in facts. Here are the facts in black and white:
#1.) The Patriots have been caught cheating in the past, and have already had a taping incident under the “watch” of Bill Belicheck.
#2.) The Patriots got caught illegally filming another team’s sideline.
#3.) The first time someone breaks the rules, they receive a penalty. The second time they break similar rules, they should receive a significantly more strong penalty.
Taking all these FACTS into consideration, the Patriots penalty was pretty weak. Also, the fact that Bill Belicheck was not personally penalized is absolutely insane. This was their third cheating scandal, and their second illegal taping scandal during his tenure as basically their chief executive.
You cannot argue those three points, because they are unbiased facts.
You can argue whether or not the punishment is “weak.” Although, I think if you take off your fan blinders for a second, and you’re truly honest with yourself, you will agree the Patriots AND their GM/Coach should have received a significantly more harsh punishment..
Anything short of a first round pick, a 1mil fine, and a 3-game suspension for Belicheck wouldnbe too light, in my opinion…
And for the record, I love Belicheck, and think he is not only the best NFL head coach EVER, but he is also one of the best GMs and football minds EVER!! His only downfall is that his competitive nature gets the best of him sometimes. He tries to go as far as he can toeing the lines to get any advantage possible, because that is how badly he wants to win..I love that about him, and that’s exactly what I would want from my favorite team’s head coach..His greatest strength is his biggest flaw..
Newton has a noodle arm since his shoulder injury. He can’t run like he used to due to his foot problems. Other than those issues, he’s an “incredible athlete “. Add in the fact that he sulks when things don’t go his way and I wouldn’t even expect him to win the starting job in a really poor QB room.
Can Newton is washed up … while I do not like the Patriots ,Belicheck or Brady, I respect the talent and what they have accomplished. Having said that , there is a lot to be desired between TB12 and Cam. Cam will win some games but it will be because of the defense and special teams more so than with Cam. Andy Dalton would have been better
Why do New England teams always have to cheat to win?
wow that came out of nowhere
Wow, this is a super harsh penalty! If the Patriots are going to try to cheat again, they aren’t going to do so versus the Bengals; the worst team in football. Goodell once again proves he is spineless idiot. I’m sure the other owners pressured him into doing this; he needs to grow a pair! Between this and that ridiculous deflate gate ruling, it’s quite clear that Goodell is an incompetent fool.
You at once call the penalty harsh then claim Goodell is spineless. I’m confused. Patriots have been punished for shenanigans multiple times so each new occurrence will incur stiffer and stiffer penalties. Why is this difficult to comprehend? Whether they were trying to get some illegal footage of the Bengals sidelines or it was an innocent mistake by a contracted crew they’ve lost the benefit of the doubt and should make sure every t is crossed and every I dotted
He was being sarcastic, I think.
No sarcasm intended. The group that was filming the piece on scouts has nothing to do with the Patriots day to day operations. This is a separate group that puts together commercial videos / DVDs for consumers. Belichick and the Pats team have nothing to do with them.
When they were ‘caught’ filming the Bengals sideline, no one was manning the camera. They just left it on after completing the filming on the scout they were following. The camera was pointed at the field, but not intentionally put on the sidelines. Goodell is spineless because he needed to stand up to the other owners and tell them this was a non issue. Nothing to do with film for the Patriots coaching staff, but he once again buckled under the pressure of other team owners who hate New England. It would be the same as the Yankees getting fined for the YES network filming catcher signs or signs from the dugout while broadcasting a game. The whole thing is ridiculous, but that’s to be expected with Goodell at the helm.
you must be a hardcore pats fan, it’s adorable you bought that coverstory. it’s belicheck and the pats even in the absolutely slim chance it really was the case they’re multiple repeat offenders when you’ve gotten caught cheating repeatedly you lose the benefit of the doubt.
“Every team does it”.
But somehow it’s just coincidentally the same team that gets caught over and over and over and over and over again.
And, of course, their fans defend it because the only thing in their lives they can brag about it is what they sat on their couch and watched the Patriots do, so they have to deny the obvious.
Let them have it. It’s all they’ve got.
That’s why they defend those 6 asterisks the way a mother bear defends it’s cubs.
clown comment of the day, the only asterisks are in your head where the patriots are living rent free.
Rent must not be free since you guys pay it in the comment section
Should have lost their whole draft and burned their stadium to the ground. They have taken pity because Lurch left for TB
They should of lost a 1st round pick!! But since it’s the Patriots, they got off easy…..
Hey Goodell, Patriots lives matter!
Patriots will trade their first round pick, move back a dozen or so picks into the second round, draft the still available guy they wanted in the first round anyway and recoup a pick in the third round that was just taken away.
Every team that moves back in the draft takes the player they were going to take earlier. Plus you can never get that pick back because if they moved back and got “the player they were going to take earlier” and got a 3rd round pick they would have 2 3rd round picks. I can make it simple for you. 1 3rd round pick + 1 3rd round pick = 2 3rd round picks not 1.
Cheating and getting caught multiple times is cheating that shows a pattern. Maybe the NFL should adapt the 3 strike rule. Get caught cheating 3 times and your owner that gets hummers from a strip mall hooker loses his team and the coach is fired. Look what baseball did to the Astros. Then another NE team is being looked at for cheating. Is there something in the water up there?
Relax it’s only sunday night.
Your name is pure gold.
Hopefully this punishment convinces the Patriots to use a UAV next time.
Unless that got sent to China too.
Stripping them of a 3rd round pick is one thing, but forcing them to start Cam at quarterback this season is excessive.
Which team is viewed as the worse cheater, Astros or Patriots?
the crazy people on the MLB boards would say what the Astros did was infinitely worse then eveything the Pats did. in reality, probably not even as bad as spygate alone. and I say that as someone who likes to watch the Pats.
Cheating is cheating – not good for the game nor the league you are sharing with 30+ teams! Winning the right way is so good why go so far and so many times to bend the rules? Maybe that why I moved out the Northeast – life pushes you too hard in that area where you grey out the clear lines of mortality.
So explain to me this, in this day of each side having radio contact with both offense and defense, who gives rats ass about stealing signs?
So much self righteous nonsense. All teams in all sports “cheat”. Get over it.
Not sure why you used quotes, it’s clearly against the rules.
How much was that dude fined for taking off his helmet and smashing a player?
Myles Garrett was fined $45,623.
Some of these comments are just plain dumb! Cheaters get caught every time….. How can you defend the Patriots and their cheating history…