Breaking Video: Footage of the Patriots filming the Bengals sidelines
Jay Glazer released this video on Fox Sports of the Patriots cheating, and you can clearly hear the Bengals security member confronting the Patriots staff. He even says it does not look like you are filming the advanced scout feature.
According to Pro Football Talk, the penalty could be harsh.
Mark Maske of the Washington Post reports that a penalty is likely, and that the league is considering discipline that falls in line with punishment imposed on other teams that have violated game-day rules.
The Patriots, we’re told, are bracing for a significant financial penalty. The hope continues to be that there won’t be a draft-pick penalty.
As Maske explains it, past precedent could trigger a major fine (hundreds of thousands of dollars a/k/a pocket change for NFL owners) and possibly the loss of a low-round draft pick or the reduction of a draft pick. Maske lists the various recent incidents of game-day rules violations (presumably, the recent incidents the league said it was considering), from former Giants coach Ben McAdoo improperly using a walkie-talkie on the sideline ($150,000 fine, fourth-round pick reduced) to former Browns G.M. Ray Farmer improperly texting the sideline during a game ($250,000 fine, four-game suspension for Famer) to the Falcons pumping in fake crowd noise ($350,000 fine, stripping of fifth-round pick) to #DeflateGate ($1 million fine, first-round and fourth-round pick stripped) to the Ravens having two defensive players on the field with coach-to-player communication devices in their helmets ($200,000).
The difference in this case is that the violation was inadvertent, not deliberate — assuming that the league confirms no direct or indirection connection between the doofus who thought it would be OK to video the Bengals’ sideline and the team’s football operations.
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