The NFL finally punished the New England Patriots for illegally filming the Cincinnati Bengals ‘sideline in Cleveland before the teams’ 15-week showdown last December.
Penalties are relatively high, with ESPN’s Mike Reiss reporting Sunday that the NFL fined the Patriots $ 1.1 million and took a third-round pick in the NFL Draft 2021. According to Reiss, the production teams at The Patriots’ television will also not be allowed to film any games during the 2020 season, and top club officials must receive training on how the NFL works and game policies.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter appeared on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Monday morning and posed a valid question: Did the Patriots’ checkered history (Spygate, Deflategate, etc.) finally play a role in the severity of the punishment? of the league?
“It seems steep, but I would say this: No. 1, the Patriots admitted that there was a violation, and No. 2, there was a story,” Schefter said, as transcribed by WEEI.com. “Although it seems severe and abrupt, the NFL has to send a message that, even with the Patriots, a team that have had good close relationships over time, everyone knows that Roger Goodell and (Patriots owner) Robert Kraft have had a good relationship: we will impose punishments as we see fit.
“And in this particular case, the Patriots admitted it, everyone watched the tape, they knew something was up, there was a previous story. I think if there is no story, maybe it just goes away; If it’s not a team like the Patriots that has received the attention it has, it may just go away. But because they are the Patriots, because they have been in the center of attention, because they have had history, because there is so much attention in that, there we go, there is the third-round team. ”
The Patriots admitted in the wake of the incident that their production team illegally taped the Bengals’ sideline for a web series, calling it “unintentional oversight” and pointing out that the crew is not part of the New England football operations department.
The punishment was not the only Patriots-related news that fell on Sunday, as New England reportedly also agreed to an incentive-laden one-year contract with Cam Newton, who will presumably compete with Jarrett Stidham and Brian Hoyer for the starting quarterback of the team. I work in the wake of Tom Brady’s departure.
In fact, Schefter pointed out that there is at least one way that the two stories are connected.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara / USA TODAY Sports Images
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