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By Jeff Howe Dec 10, 2019
As the Patriots await the NFL’s ruling regarding disciplinary measures over a videotaping incident with the Bengals, there are two principal factors the league must consider.
The first is the video evidence, of which there is plenty, and the second is the explanation behind it all.
Here is how it unfolded, according to a variety of sources who spoke with The Athletic.
The Patriots’ media production wing was filming an upcoming episode of “Do Your Job,” which has been a series of features profiling behind-the-scenes members of the organization. This particular episode was about a week in the life of a Patriots pro scout.
The filming began last week, with a three-person team following the scout on a daily basis to detail his responsibilities. The team included a full-time producer and two independent contractors — an audio and video technician — who were locally based.
The crew then followed the scout to Cleveland over the weekend to document his responsibilities in the press box during a Browns-Bengals game. It’s routine for teams to dispatch scouts to various press boxes for advanced scouting purposes, and the Patriots will visit the Bengals on Sunday.
After interviewing the scout before the game, the production crew shot B-roll — alternative video footage that airs over an interview — during the game in the press box. Part of that in-game B-roll included video of the Bengals’ sideline. By rule, NFL teams are not allowed to shoot video of coaches on the sideline during games.
The producer decided to shoot that video because scouts spend time studying sideline activity, which is routine for teams and permissible by NFL rules. The producer’s intent behind the B-roll was to show what the scout would be viewing during the game.
The Patriots’ video crew was credentialed through the Browns for the game, and their work in the press box was conspicuous, catching the attention of a Bengals staff member. The producer, who was wearing Boston Bruins gear, set up a fixed video camera near the Patriots scout, and the camera was connected to a monitor, which showed the footage in real time. Anyone in proximity to the monitor could have seen what the camera was shooting.
The Patriots made some mistakes along the way. They acknowledged Monday in a statement they should have informed the Bengals and the NFL of their attendance and the purpose of their credentialed access.
And prior to the crew’s trip to Cleveland, the team should have had a protocol in place to inform the crew of the league rules that prohibit teams from shooting sideline video. The producer didn’t recognize that rule, in part because Kraft Sports Productions is granted privileged video access behind the Patriots’ bench during games. (NFL Films and the broadcasting network are the only other two crews allowed behind their bench during games.) The producer didn’t recognize their preferred game-day access was restricted solely to the Patriots bench and not to other teams.
The Bengals staff member who recognized the activity in the press box then shot an eight-minute video of the Patriots crew’s monitor before reporting it to security. NFL security got involved, and the Patriots turned over all footage from the entire week of filming the scout, including everything from Sunday. The Bengals also turned over the eight-minute video they recorded of the Patriots’ monitor.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick was furious upon learning of the incident and said he had nothing to do with it.
“I have no involvement in this and no knowledge of it, and so I really don’t have any idea what exactly is going on,” Belichick said Tuesday. “I can tell you that we’ve never, as a coaching staff and me personally, have never viewed any video footage at all of anything that those production people have done, other than what’s shown on public television or something like that. But we don’t have anything to do with what they do, so I really don’t have much knowledge of the situation at all.”
When the Patriots were disciplined for videotaping the Jets’ sideline from an unauthorized location during a 2007 game, Belichick was fined $500,000 and the Patriots were docked a 2008 first-round draft pick as part of the punishment.
Belichick reiterated Tuesday the Patriots want to be cautious regarding rules violations due to the Spygate fallout.
“We’re competitive, and we’ll try to be competitive in every area,” Belichick said. “But we don’t knowingly, intentionally want to do anything that has crossed the line.
“Since that has happened, I’d say we’ve tried to keep a good distance behind the line and not maybe take it as far as we might have in the past. But it’s never really fundamentally changed there.”
Though anyone attending a game can shoot video of coaches on the sideline, teams are held to the standard of the rule. The merits of taping a team on the sideline can be debated, but one NFL coach told The Athletic there can be an advantage to taping coaches if they’re signaling for substitutions or coverages.
The Patriots, in their Monday evening statement, accepted “full responsibility for the actions of our production crew at the Browns-Bengals game.”
The Patriots have also taken steps toward handling the matter internally. Those in the production wing fear jobs are at stake.
The NFL hasn’t announced a timeline for its investigation. While assessing the potential for disciplinary measures, it will have to determine what carries more weight — the video footage or the context behind it.
As the Patriots await the NFL’s ruling regarding disciplinary measures over a videotaping incident with the Bengals, there are two principal factors the league must consider.
The first is the video evidence, of which there is plenty, and the second is the explanation behind it all.
Here is how it unfolded, according to a variety of sources who spoke with The Athletic.
The Patriots’ media production wing was filming an upcoming episode of “Do Your Job,” which has been a series of features profiling behind-the-scenes members of the organization. This particular episode was about a week in the life of a Patriots pro scout.
The filming began last week, with a three-person team following the scout on a daily basis to detail his responsibilities. The team included a full-time producer and two independent contractors — an audio and video technician — who were locally based.
The crew then followed the scout to Cleveland over the weekend to document his responsibilities in the press box during a Browns-Bengals game. It’s routine for teams to dispatch scouts to various press boxes for advanced scouting purposes, and the Patriots will visit the Bengals on Sunday.
After interviewing the scout before the game, the production crew shot B-roll — alternative video footage that airs over an interview — during the game in the press box. Part of that in-game B-roll included video of the Bengals’ sideline. By rule, NFL teams are not allowed to shoot video of coaches on the sideline during games.
The producer decided to shoot that video because scouts spend time studying sideline activity, which is routine for teams and permissible by NFL rules. The producer’s intent behind the B-roll was to show what the scout would be viewing during the game.
The Patriots’ video crew was credentialed through the Browns for the game, and their work in the press box was conspicuous, catching the attention of a Bengals staff member. The producer, who was wearing Boston Bruins gear, set up a fixed video camera near the Patriots scout, and the camera was connected to a monitor, which showed the footage in real time. Anyone in proximity to the monitor could have seen what the camera was shooting.
The Patriots made some mistakes along the way. They acknowledged Monday in a statement they should have informed the Bengals and the NFL of their attendance and the purpose of their credentialed access.
And prior to the crew’s trip to Cleveland, the team should have had a protocol in place to inform the crew of the league rules that prohibit teams from shooting sideline video. The producer didn’t recognize that rule, in part because Kraft Sports Productions is granted privileged video access behind the Patriots’ bench during games. (NFL Films and the broadcasting network are the only other two crews allowed behind their bench during games.) The producer didn’t recognize their preferred game-day access was restricted solely to the Patriots bench and not to other teams.
The Bengals staff member who recognized the activity in the press box then shot an eight-minute video of the Patriots crew’s monitor before reporting it to security. NFL security got involved, and the Patriots turned over all footage from the entire week of filming the scout, including everything from Sunday. The Bengals also turned over the eight-minute video they recorded of the Patriots’ monitor.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick was furious upon learning of the incident and said he had nothing to do with it.
“I have no involvement in this and no knowledge of it, and so I really don’t have any idea what exactly is going on,” Belichick said Tuesday. “I can tell you that we’ve never, as a coaching staff and me personally, have never viewed any video footage at all of anything that those production people have done, other than what’s shown on public television or something like that. But we don’t have anything to do with what they do, so I really don’t have much knowledge of the situation at all.”
When the Patriots were disciplined for videotaping the Jets’ sideline from an unauthorized location during a 2007 game, Belichick was fined $500,000 and the Patriots were docked a 2008 first-round draft pick as part of the punishment.
Belichick reiterated Tuesday the Patriots want to be cautious regarding rules violations due to the Spygate fallout.
“We’re competitive, and we’ll try to be competitive in every area,” Belichick said. “But we don’t knowingly, intentionally want to do anything that has crossed the line.
“Since that has happened, I’d say we’ve tried to keep a good distance behind the line and not maybe take it as far as we might have in the past. But it’s never really fundamentally changed there.”
Though anyone attending a game can shoot video of coaches on the sideline, teams are held to the standard of the rule. The merits of taping a team on the sideline can be debated, but one NFL coach told The Athletic there can be an advantage to taping coaches if they’re signaling for substitutions or coverages.
The Patriots, in their Monday evening statement, accepted “full responsibility for the actions of our production crew at the Browns-Bengals game.”
The Patriots have also taken steps toward handling the matter internally. Those in the production wing fear jobs are at stake.
The NFL hasn’t announced a timeline for its investigation. While assessing the potential for disciplinary measures, it will have to determine what carries more weight — the video footage or the context behind it.
