The New England Patriots will be punished for the sideline taping incident in December where the team was caught filming the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Patriots are in hot water, yet again, for a sideline taping incident but it may all be coming to an end, finally. According to Adam Schefter, the Patriots are “expected to be disciplined for acknowledged gameday video violations in Cincinnati.”
This comes shortly after news reported by Mark Maske who said on Wednesday the league found no evidence connecting the filming to football operations.
“There’s no evidence so far of a sustained effort to gain a competitive advantage,” Maske tweeted. “If more damaging evidence doesn’t turn up at the last minute, the NFL remains likely to impose standard penalties for a game-day violation.”
The incident occurred in December when the Patriots were caught illegally filming the Cincinnati Bengals sideline during a game against the Cleveland Browns. The team admitted to the infraction, but claimed it was due to the filming of a docu-series, and not due to football operations.
“I don’t have anything to do with this at all, whatsoever. Whatever is going on between the people involved in it and the league and all that, it’s not a football issue in any way shape or form,” Patriots head coach, Bill Belichick, said last month (h/t Bleacher Report). “I have no involvement. I don’t know anything about this.”
Schefter indicates the Patriots could be fined a six-figure fine and/or a loss of a draft pick, based on examples of former gameday infraction penalties.
“Former Cleveland GM Ray Farmer was suspended four games without pay and Browns fined $250K for in-game texting,” Schefter tweeted. “ATL loses 5th-round pick, Falcons fined $350k, President Rich McKay suspended from competition committee for piping in crowd noise.”
There’s no official word on when the Patriots will receive their punishment, but it’s expected in the next two weeks. This isn’t the first time the Patriots have been caught filming illegally. The NFL fined Belichick $500,000 and the team $250,000 and it’s 2008 first-round draft pick when it was discovered the team was illegally filming teams from 2000-2007.
The Patriots face the Tennesse Titans on Friday in a Wild Card game.