shmessy

1) The "cameraman" in question was wearing Patriot staff clothing and wearing Patriot credentials .

2) He was on the sidelines, not hidden away in the stadium crowd.

3) A similar situation happened last year in Green Bay with the SAME guy but the camera wasn't confiscated and investigated??????? The league didn't ban him from the sidelines for future games?????? Wouldn't the Green Bay security (and NFL personnel) have looked at what the film had on it in Green Bay??????

I don't know IF the Pats were really filming the Jets coaches' signals WHY they would do it with a guy out there in the open on the sidelines with Patriots gear and team credentials dangling from his neck????? What????? A flashing neon sign wasn't available?????

Something doesn't seem to add up here. Either:

a) BB is going to have a last laugh on the Rich Ciminis and Manginis for all the head games they pulled - - and that there is no film in that camera.

or

b) BB is a complete moron in this regard.

__________________
"They (Patriots) may be the greatest team ever" - Chris Mortenson, January 18, 2005 on espn.com

Mooch

Or

(c) This kind of thing goes on all the time around the league by many teams and the Pats are being singled out.

Seriously, the thing that sticks out for me is the Green Bay situation. A Packer team official, when asked about it said that (paraphrasing) "there's a code of silence" about this sort of thing.

The only reason why there would be a code of silence about cheating of this nature is that many teams do it and there's kind of a nod-wink agreement not to go running to the league about it.

I think this is the most likely scenerio here.

patsox23

This is my guess, too.

SaCaCh

If you think about it, it was after blow outs we hear about it. If it is something that we always do then Mangini knew we did it, and still knows. So maybe to cover his butt after a blow out, he calls out the camera guy to divert attention away from his team and maybe even give an excuse. Maybe Green Bay did it also.

BelichickFan

If they got caught I suspect Belichick figures it will be a minor penalty as they're first time offenders. Accusations from the past don't count as no complaint was filed.

My post from a thread that died :

The bottom line to me is :

1) It has to be shown that we did it. Then we're guilty of a little something. This will be easily proven if we did.

2) It has to be shown that we used the tapes for competitive advantage. If so we're guilty of a fairly big something. This will be difficult to prove - they'd need the guy to admit that he signalled plays in or have him on tape doing it.

3) It has to be shown that we've done it before or it's a first time offense. Although other teams say we've done it there's no evidence of such nor any official investigations. If proven we're in trouble. This will be VERY difficult to prove.

My guesses :

If none of the above, nothing happens.
If (1) it's a slap on the wrist, a fine, maybe a Day Two pick.
If (2) it's similar to when the Broncos lost a #3 pick for cheating on the cap.
If (3) we could be looking down the barrel of losing a #1 if it's shown we've done this more than once and gained competitively. But that's very unlikely.

None of 0, 1 or 2 would shock me.

shmessy

Yes, but my question concerns the "OBVIOUSNESS" of the situation. The Pats couldn't have advertised this guy's actions any more than if they gave him his own flashing spotlight and flourescent pants.

Could BB have been baiting the Jets?

__________________
"They (Patriots) may be the greatest team ever" - Chris Mortenson, January 18, 2005 on espn.com

cubicle_6

Yup, either there's nothing on the tape or BB did something moronic, especially after the warnings, and facing Mangini who knows what goes on.

Mooch's option C. is irrelevant.
The only tape Goodell has is the Patriot's tape.
That's all that matters. The patriots will be made as an example for what you can expect from here on out, and there's nobody to blame but the franchise.
The Patriots HAD to know the bullseye for this type of spying was squarely on them.
If not...

PatsChick87

I'll buy this, however it doesn't explain why Kraft went to the league just last year, complaining about the same practice by the Fins? Am I remembering this right?

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Enjoying this Championship era!!

JohnVM

Hey guys,

I don't know if this has been posted or not yet, but this is what the jets are heralding as "overwhelming proof" of the camera incident:



I do not think the pic definitively means that their accusations are true, but it does raise some suspicion at least.

Nonetheless, that guy could have been filming anything -- cheerleaders on other side of the field perhaps? I'm sure that if you filmed all of the camera men during a whole game at least at some point it would look like one of them was filming the coaches.

Mooch

If option C is the case, then yes, Belichick looks pretty naive in thinking that there would be no reprecussions for deliberately disobeying a league order. However, if the Pats truly get busted for doing this, I'd expect Belichick to open up the vault on what other teams do in the same regard, that he has previously kept to himself under the "code of silence".