ESPN’s Outside the Lines published a report on Tuesday morning that included over 90 interviews in and around football that suggested Roger Goodell and the NFL did everything in their power to protect Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft following the team’s ‘SpyGate’ incident in 2007.
The ‘cover-up’ is seen as a direct connection as to why Goodell came down so hard over the Patriots’ ‘DeflateGate’ rulings. The new findings showed that ever since Bill Belihick took over as head coach in 2000, the team had been finding ways to tape their opponents’ practices.
‘As the Patriots became a dynasty and Belichick became the first coach to win three Super Bowls in four years, an entire system of covert videotaping was developed and a secret library created. “It got out of control,” a former Patriots assistant coach says. Sources with knowledge of the system say an advance scout would attend the games of upcoming Patriots opponents and assemble a spreadsheet of all the signals and corresponding plays. The scout would give it to Adams, who would spend most of the week in his office with the door closed, matching the notes to the tapes filmed from the sideline. Files were created, organized by opponent and by coach. During games, Walsh later told investigators, the Patriots’ videographers were told to look like media members, to tape over their team logos or turn their sweatshirt inside out, to wear credentials that said Patriots TV or Kraft Productions. The videographers also were provided with excuses for what to tell NFL security if asked what they were doing: Tell them you’re filming the quarterbacks. Or the kickers. Or footage for a team show.’
It wasn’t until 2006 when the league first detected this ‘system’ that the Patriots were running. Take a look at the entire story, it’s filled with many different cases and examples of how the Patriots were able to effectively and efficiently tape their opponents.
The team also released a statement after the story published.
Here is the statement the #Patriots issued in response to today's ESPN report. Strong stuff pic.twitter.com/NPAAAmcz2M
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) September 8, 2015