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Devil's Advocate here - wouldn't this be the way to do it if you were trying to do it again? You know, independent contractors and plausable deniability? Conspiracy theory... sure. But worth noting. If you got caught doing something against the rules and if you decided to do it again, you'd do it via a proxy. Right?

It's like when Vontaze Burfict makes a questionable hit. If it was another player, maybe you let it slide. 'Accidentally' taped 8 minutes of the opponents sideline who they are playing next week, isn't exactly something the Patriots should be able to get away with...

I'm really not going to get into this but apparently I am just because I don't like these defensive posts that don't really make sense. The PATRIOTS admitted they violated league policy. Not some reporter, not some fan, not some talking head on Twitter. The PATRIOTS acknowledged they violated league policy. https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/12/09/patriots-admit-video-crew-violated-league-policy-say-it-was-unintentional/ This is dumb, too. It's a faulty excuse. That's like a shoplifter who stole a candy bar saying, "If I was going to steal I'd steal something more ex

That's obtuse. The documentary team had wrapped up two hours prior. The "crowd shots" consisted of nothing but the coaches signals and player groupings. So what if the Browns gave them permission. How about the Bengals give permission to the ravens to tape from their press box and bug their locker room? Systematic misbehavior doesn't cease to be a misbehavior simply because the victim currently has a lousy record. And repeat offenders don't get the leeway or benefit of the doubt when caught doing the same thing they were busted for.

Am I out of bounds in stating the how award is flawed? The only metric valued seems to be "team was mediocre or bad the year before, now many wins" without really factoring anything else in. Meanwhile, coaches with consistent, long term success (Pete Carroll, Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh, Sean Payton, even Bill B to a certain extent; did win recently) are never seriously considered regardless of what they endure during the year.

The Pats have been very systematic in their cheating efforts and Eric Mangini detailed a lot of it after he got fired. He didn't want BB doing the same thing to his Jets team and that's how the first round of Spygate was launched. Did you not wonder why all of the BB assistants sucked once they left the organization ? Those coaches spent untold hours learning from the Master, but once on their own, they couldn't replicate his success.. likely because they didn't cheat. Compare that to the Bill Walsh coaching tree and you'll note the stark difference - several Walsh assistants went on to win

Same. Also hilarious. Because if they were cheating, they got caught cheating against a 1-12 team lol.

Genuinely just have to tip my hat out of respect to Belichek for his commitment to cutting corners for absolutely no reason. Does he need to steal signs to beat the Bengals? Hell no. But he's not doing it to win. He does it for the love of the hustle. My man probably swipes a stick of gum from CVS every morning just to feel alive. You can't get between a man and his true love.

The Eagles will be suiting up against the Washington Culturally Insensitive Names with an all star IR squad Malik Jackson Corey Clement Hassan Ridgeway DeSean Jackson Darren Sproles Lane Johnson Alshon Jeffrey Jordan Howard Nelson Agholor Can this 4th quarter preseason team stumble into a division title?

They're not doing a great job either. Only 8 minutes... You got caught, that's why. They didn't work for us. ...Yeah, cheating by proxy after being caught is a good idea. We had permission.... From the other team, and I doubt that implied either team's sideline. They're horrible, why do it? Exactly. Makes it look like you do this to all 31, no matter how lowly. I'm sure there's more but that's what I've garnered so far.

yes. Honestly yes, the 1-12 Bengals could have just taken one for the team

In before the lock

So this is a big deal, right? I feel like this statement was kind of glossed over in this thread, but this seems huge. Because this is them admitting that people working for the Patriots violated NFL rules. And okay, maybe, if this were the Browns or the Lions or the Rams, okay, whatever, stupid thing happened, slap on the wrist, move on. But this is the Patriots. Violating NFL rules on filming what they shouldn't where they shouldn't. There's no way the penalty isn't going to be massive, right? Even if it is just some stupid accident they knew nothing about. This is like Vontaze Burfict

The new meme is “Cincinnati is onto us”

There’s some drop off, I’d say. Not a ton and not as much as some think, IMO. I’ve seen Brady operate with similar circumstances (2013 is the big one) and the same comments were made then, only difference is Brady’s in uncharted territory as a 42 year old. I think more of a factor than the actual WRs is the chemistry. Sanu got added to the team midseason. Harry spent a lot of time injured. Meyers didn’t get much playtime and was going through camp battling for a roster spot. Dorsett hasn’t been healthy and neither has Edelman. Add in the abyss that is the tight end depth chart and you’ll

Just to make sure nothing bad went down, we should dock the Patriots a first round pick.

Seems from what I can find - sprained MCL. ACL is intact - whew, the worm has turned maybe. I say shut him down . Package him in bubble wrap and open him up next Sept .

it’s only 8 minutes because they got caught😂 were Bengals staffers supposed to let him film an entire game just so they can have more evidence?

Jimmy is on pace for 336 completions, 483 attempts, 69% completion rate, 3994 passing yards, 31 TDs and 13 Tds.

They should probably try winning more games.

I know deflategate (framegate) was science denial and that spygate was punished at about 100 times the level it should have been. I would take away a 1st round pick for this though. In 2019 everyone 100% understands you don't tape the other team anymore. Ignorance or camera operator stupidity is not an excuse. In 2006 it was a memo during the season about a technicality. It is now clearly defined law with precedent. The fact that the Bengals and the league were not told about this spy makes it much worse.

It has nothing to do with being PC or brutally honest. It's about having the self restraint not to say every single thing that comes into your head. Especially when those things are ill informed, unprompted, and totally out of the realm of your expertise. Nobody is going to respect you for "telling it how it is" when you're obviously full of s*** and everybody except you knows it. And besides all that brutal honesty and good leadership aren't necessarily compatible with each other. You aren't going to motivate anybody to perform better by telling them they are doing a terrible job. E

Alex did get helped out going to the Chiefs. Andy Reid knows how to help QBs succeed. Amazingly, he actually got Alex Smith to throw the ball deep, and not be so trigger shy. That's an accomplishment. Even with better talent around him, Alex's instincts changed. Still wasn't a top dog, but at least got to what I like to think of as "max potential". Carr would probably be helped out if he had Reid as his coach. Still, it shouldn't take a miracle worker to be able to play decent ball. Raiders fans are essentially going through the same odyssey that 49ers had to go through with Alex Smith for 8 y

This is how big the first Spygate actually was that the NFL swept under the rug to prevent their brand from folding: (Released in 2015)

Tis better to have loved and lost... Than never to have loved at all...

clark is backpedaling like it’s 2009

Is he finally starting to drop off? Yes. Is he even close to their main problem? Not even close. He's definitely still good enough to be a starting QB. Even good enough to win another Super Bowl. He's playing better than the stats indicate right now. But he can't do it by himself anymore.

He’s 42. Statistically he shouldn’t even be going right now. He’s played at a high level longer than anyone in NFL history. Great QBs carry bad offenses. He’d no longer that guy...he’s still good enough but of course he’s dropping off.

I'd be SIXINCH.

Now we’re projecting our feelings onto a dude who’s made precisely zero statements in the last 6 months?

Rage and his threads are the savior of this franchise, we are not to question when the threads are put up.

As I’ve seen a few others say online, if this was indeed Spygate 2.0 (still need a lot of details and patience) there’s almost zero chance it started with the 1-12 Bengals and probably has been going on all season, if not multiple seasons. With that said, we still need an investigation to see if it was perhaps nothing.

the worst thing of 2019 is people thinking its ok to use the word nothingburger

So glad we avoided all that AB drama. Seriously, bring him back. Let’s just go full heel at this point, everyone hates us anyway.

Nope, there were a plethora of people implementing the word plethora into their personal posts in reply to my posts. Personally, I did not propagate the prevalence of plethora, I purely pointed out its present prevalence.

Our TV show is shaping up to be one of the greatest to ever hit the screen.

If they got permission from the Browns to film and "forgot" to ask the Bengals, why wouldn't they be filming the Browns sideline? I don't understand

Even if they filmed the walkthroughs of the Rams and Panthers before those respective Super Bowls? I'm not a fan of any team. I only follow certain players and I like the sport as a whole. The Patriots cheating scandals hurt the integrity of the game which I care about more than which team wins.

Haha. What a sequence.

My Prelimary Offseason. I would keep the same coaching staff, I would promote Modkin to Play Calling OC. I would see if Riverboart Ron would like to come in as Sr. Defensive Assistant. I would resign Hunt, Joe Scho, Higgins and Greg Robinson (as a backup swing tackle) I would cut Hubbard, the FS, Kirsky, Eric Kush, and everything at DT behind Ogunjobi and Richardson. This would be my Draft: 1rst Austin Jackson, OT, USC Height: 6-6. Weight: 305 2nd Jon Greenard, DE/OLB, Florida Height: 6-3. Weight: 263 3rd Trey Adams, OT, Washington Height: 6-7. Wei

And we all know Robert Kraft loves "independent contractors".

Do they really deserve the benefit of the doubt?

Good things happen when you turn @Counselor loose early in games guys. That's all I'm saying.

The Patriots line isn't the greatest, but it's not among the worst either. The WR/TEs are definitely in the lower tier of the league. Brady isn't the biggest problem, but he's far from a top 3 QB in this league anymore. He's not even top 10. The likes of Wilson, Mahomes and Jackson are so far ahead of him at the moment.

When BB said "we're on to Cincinnati" - I'm pretty sure that's not what most people thought that NE had in mind.

Albert Okwuegbunam is still pretty good.

I know it was The bengals but Kendall Lamm went up against Carlos Dunlap who isn’t a slouch and played pretty well. Maybe we’ve just been so jaded because of how bad Hubbard is... not saying Lamm is starting quality but he should start over Hubbard.

I would be pissed, he’s just another Dan Snyder puppet.