Here's the quote from Walsh:
It seems to me that the NFL rule they asked Walsh to "evade" (which according to Walsh's quote above, was REALLY easy to accomplish, leading you to believe that (a) the rule was more like a loose guideline and (b) opposing teams didn't think that it was that serious) was simply having a THIRD camera taping the game.
This begs the question: Given how easy it was for the legally allowed end zone cameras to tape the coaching signals (we've seen numerous examples of this on the videos released to the press), I've got to think that this practice was either widespread throughout the league, OR, of very little value or importance to most teams. Since it's pretty clear that many teams around the league knew the Pats were doing this, why would they STILL grant them permission to have THREE CAMERAS during road games?
Walsh told HBO that his superiors coached him on how to evade NFL rules limiting the number of camera operators per team to two, and that team officials instructed him on ways to avoid detection.
"The line of reasoning that we would give to other teams for why we need a third camera setup was, 'Well, our coaches want to have a tight shot of the kicker and the holder ... exchange just to go over with the guys in meetings. You know, they want a tight shot, you know, of the quarterback, you know, just to go over the quarterback's footwork and mechanics in meetings,'" said Walsh, who mentioned Patriots video coordinator Jimmy Dee as one of the superiors who coached him.
It seems to me that the NFL rule they asked Walsh to "evade" (which according to Walsh's quote above, was REALLY easy to accomplish, leading you to believe that (a) the rule was more like a loose guideline and (b) opposing teams didn't think that it was that serious) was simply having a THIRD camera taping the game.
This begs the question: Given how easy it was for the legally allowed end zone cameras to tape the coaching signals (we've seen numerous examples of this on the videos released to the press), I've got to think that this practice was either widespread throughout the league, OR, of very little value or importance to most teams. Since it's pretty clear that many teams around the league knew the Pats were doing this, why would they STILL grant them permission to have THREE CAMERAS during road games?