Patriots Destined for NFL Punishment After Leaked Footage
Over the last week, the New England Patriots are involved in yet another scandal that entails potentially cheating. New England has been quite firm with their full cooperation on the matter that centers around possibly filming the Cincinnati Bengals’ sideline during Week 14 action. However, things look to have hit another concerning gear with footage from the situation leaked on Sunday morning, which could indubitably lead to the Patriots receiving an even harsher punishment from the NFL.
Patriots involved in Spygate 2?
Over the years, New England has been no stranger to being tied into some shady business that has put question marks on some of their decision making off the field.
That is once again the case for the Patriots with reports surfacing this past week that the team was caught filming the Bengals’ sideline for eight minutes during last Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns. New England has come out to voice that it was part of the “Do Your Job” documentary that the organization was doing on one of the team’s advance scouts.T
The Patriots have since been in full compliance with everything surrounding the matter in the last several days. Meanwhile, head coach Bill Belichick has distanced himself from the subject, stating that he had no involvement or knowledge of it. All of the dialogue around the matter has taken up another notch after footage was leaked.
Patriots footage leaked
Throughout this entire process, it was only a matter of time before the video was to make public airwaves.
That came to be on Sunday morning as Jay Glazer of Fox Sports gathered footage from the situation that shows film of the Bengals’ sideline and the confrontation between the Patriots videographer and a Bengals staffer.
There are many elements to this video that are damning beyond just the filming of the Bengals’ sideline. The Patriots videographer attempted to negotiate to delete the footage while also claiming not to know what he was doing at the time. All of that reeks of something fishy going on as it’s only reasonable to believe he had been directed by someone above him in the organization to film the sidelines.
It’s hard to believe that wasn’t any direction from the Patriots to gather that footage in some capacity under the guise of it being for their in-house documentary show that is run by team owner Robert Kraft‘s production company. What this video does more than anything else is further cement that league punishment is coming for New England.
NFL punishment is coming for the Patriots
The NFL has continued to move swiftly on this matter involving the Patriots to get it all sorted away shortly.
The league has had full compliance from New England, but it has reached the point where punishment is expected. The visual evidence, along with it leaked publicly, only heightens what will be a stronger outside push to see the Patriots suffer consequences for their actions.
As Glazer pointed out, the NFL is likely determining the full involvement inside the organization if that goes back to Belichick in any manner. If that does in any capacity, that could see the league put forth a significant punishment. What also doesn’t help their case is the history of shady activity that previously landed them a $500,000 fine and a loss of a first-round pick about a decade ago.
The leaked footage does nothing but further damage the Patriots’ reputation and gives a clearer picture that something suspicious was going on. The NFL should have this all handled at some point soon that may see New England punished harshly once again.
