It would be interesting to read the actual policy...

[RayClay]

Re: It would be interesting to read the actual policy .....

Reiss posted the rule a few days ago: http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/2007/09/rules_in_focus.html

# Ray Anderson, the league's head of football operations, sent a memo to head coaches and GMs last September 6 that said: "Video taping of any type, including but not limited to taping of an opponent's offensive or defensive signals, is prohibited on the sidelines, in the coaches' booth, in the locker room, or at any other locations accessible to club staff members during the game."

Not much room for interpretation there.

 

[naclone]

Re: It would be interesting to read the actual policy .....

Not much room for interpretation there.

Dale Arnold speculated that "accessible to club staff members" might be the intended loophole if they could show that none of the club staff members had access to the camera during the game. i.e. the kid was instructed to shoot the sidelines and not hand over the camera until after the game.

it's a stretch obviously, but that could be BB's angle.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

Re: It would be interesting to read the actual policy .....

I think ultimately what we've going to hear from the Patriots is that they thought the rule was designed to prevent the simultaneous taping of calls, so as to be unable to tip off the defense in the moment, whereas recording for later use was and always has been ok.

This is going to be a bit tough to sustain if the language of the league directive is clear, but I guess it's a defensible position.

Interesting take.

Assuming this is not a situation where BB is backtracking and the interpretation issue is in fact truthful, I would be curious to know if BB did this on his own accord or if he sought advice from team counsel on this matter?

Knowing how anal BB is about such stuff I would think the Pats complete braintrust thought this thru and have armed themselves appropriately.

Will be interesting to see how this evolves.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

Re: It would be interesting to read the actual policy .....

Interesting take.

Assuming this is not a situation where BB is backtracking and the interpretation issue is in fact truthful, I would be curious to know if BB did this on his own accord or if he sought advice from team counsel on this matter?

Knowing how anal BB is about such stuff I would think the Pats complete braintrust thought this thru and have armed themselves appropriately.

Will be interesting to see how this evolves.

Yeah. The thing giving me some hope that Belichick will come up with a defensible position is that it's consistent with what actually happened here. They did this taping in an open, notorious way in a road stadium with a coach they knew would know what to look for. That does tend to support the idea they thought they had a loophole, rather than this all being post-hoc wordsmithing.

We'll see what they say on Friday.

 

[RayClay]

Re: It would be interesting to read the actual policy .....

Interesting take.

Assuming this is not a situation where BB is backtracking and the interpretation issue is in fact truthful, I would be curious to know if BB did this on his own accord or if he sought advice from team counsel on this matter?

Knowing how anal BB is about such stuff I would think the Pats complete braintrust thought this thru and have armed themselves appropriately.

Will be interesting to see how this evolves.

I would say the accessible clause only goes with "any other". Seems to me "on the sidelines" is independent. But if you want to take that tack, the person filming was a club staff member, so it was obviously accessible to him.

 

[RayClay]

Re: It would be interesting to read the actual policy .....

Kind of OT, but I fear BB has let Mangini get under his skin.

Considering we have the loaded team and knowing he hated the Jets even before this, I hope this doesn't become the dreaded "distraction" year after year.

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

Re: It would be interesting to read the actual policy .....

Yeah. The thing giving me some hope that Belichick will come up with a defensible position is that it's consistent with what actually happened here. They did this taping in an open, notorious way in a road stadium with a coach they knew would know what to look for. That does tend to support the idea they thought they had a loophole, rather than this all being post-hoc wordsmithing.

Further intrigue. If said loophole was in fact in the minds of the Pats very competant braintrust, one would think that they would have sought out clarification from the league PRIOR to the game and not left to chance that what they did may have such dramatic consequences.

In this light maybe BB forced the issue as he did in order to get an answer which he didn't receive or wasn't comfortable with. Knowing who sits on the competition committee this might not be a stretch

 

[Bobs My Uncle]

Re: It would be interesting to read the actual policy .....

Kind of OT, but I fear BB has let Mangini get under his skin.

Considering we have the loaded team and knowing he hated the Jets even before this, I hope this doesn't become the dreaded "distraction" year after year.

This would only make sense if one is to presume this camera incident only would have happened against the Jets. That certainly may not be the case, RC.