Odds Favor New England Patriots Being Fined for Recording Cincinnati Bengals
- The New England Patriots could be facing NFL discipline for filming the Cincinnati Bengals’ sideline
- The Patriots and Bengals play this Sunday (Dec. 15)
- New England was fined in 2007 for videotaping New York Jets coaches on the sideline
Will the New England Patriots be fined by the NFL over the team’s latest videotaping scandal? Books are certainly of that opinion.
They’re out with a prop wager on what’s being dubbed “Spygate 2.0.” and are offering -200 odds that the Patriots will be fined by the league.
Odds Patriots Are Fined by NFL for Recording Bengals Sideline
| Outcome | Odds |
|---|---|
| Yes | -200 |
| No | +150 |
Odds taken on Dec. 11th.
Why Are Patriots In Trouble?
During Sunday’s Cleveland Browns-Cincinnati Bengals game, a crew from the Patriots’ website was in attendance. They were allegedly filming a feature about a New England advance scout.
Media credentials were arranged through the Browns, the home team. The Bengals and NFL were unaware of the camera crew’s presence.
A source tells me a Bengals employee was watching the videographer/cameraman who identified himself as a Robert Kraft employee. The Bengals employee kept an eye on that monitor, the shot was of the Bengals coaches and staff on the sidelines for the entire 1st quarter.
— Dianna Russini (@diannaESPN) December 9, 2019
A Bengals official became suspicious upon noticing a cameraman wearing a Boston Bruins sweater filming the team’s sideline. It’s illegal for another NFL team to film an opponent.
In a statement, the Patriots all but admitted guilt, acknowledging they’d inadvertently filmed the Cincinnati coaches on the sideline.
Bill Belichick joined OMF for his first response to the Bengals allegations of the #Patriots videotaping their sideline signals
BB: "This is something we 100% have zero involvement with"@GlennDOrdway @LouMerloni @christianfauria pic.twitter.com/XD4ffEcIiv
— OMF (@OMFonWEEI) December 10, 2019
New England coach Bill Belichick insisted he knew nothing about the camera crew being in Cincinnati.
It’s Happened Before
In 2007, the Patriots were caught filming the New York Jets coaching staff giving defensive signals.
Following a five-month investigation, Belichick was fined $500,000, the largest penalty ever levied on an NFL head coach.
The team was fined $250,000. New England also forfeited its 2008 first-round draft pick.
Pats quarterback Tom Brady was caught ordering the deflation of footballs during the 2014-15 AFC Championship Game. Known as Deflategate, Brady was issued a four-game suspension by the NFL.
New England was fined $1 million and lost two draft picks.
Of Course The Patriots Will Be Fined
Based on their history, is there any reason to give the Pats the benefit of the doubt?
Here's a quote from a 2015 story in Business Insider — https://t.co/CUTiiAyGMP — detailing the Patriots operation of illegal filming from the first SpyGate scandal. Sounds familiar. pic.twitter.com/TjyABLFYy4
— Jay Morrison (@JayMorrisonATH) December 9, 2019
The Pats videographers who were filming other teams during the original SpyGate were credentialed as members of the club’s website staff. If questioned, they were told to say they were recording for a team show.
So there’s that.
Pick: Yes (-200)
An industry veteran, Bob literally taught the course on the history of sports at Elder College. He has worked as a Sports Columnist for Postmedia, appeared as a guest on several radio stations, was the Vice President of the Society For International Hockey Research in Ontario, and written 25 books.
