Spygate 2.0: New England Patriots under investigation for allegedly recording Bengals' play calls

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Tuesday, December 10, 2019
Patriots under investigation for allegedly recording Bengals' play calls
The New England Patriots are once again under investigation by the NFL.

The New England Patriots are under the microscope again after admitting a video crew inappropriately filmed the field and sidelines during a Cincinnati Bengals game, the team they play next.

The league is now reportedly investigating the team once again in what some are dubbing "Spygate 2.0."

Despite only having one win this season, the Bengals are questioning whether the 6-time super bowl champions videotaped their playcalls during a recent game against the Cleveland Browns.

The NFL is now in possession of the tapes.

"I'm aware of the incident but I know the league is investigating that, and I have no comment," said Cincinnati's Coach Zac Taylor.

Overnight, the Patriots released a statement explaining that they sent a production team to film a behind the scenes social media video. They claim the crew reached out to the Browns and got permission to shoot, however they did not reach out to the Bengals.

The Patriots have taken responsibility saying in that statement: "We understand and acknowledge that our video crew, which included independent contractors who shot the video, unknowingly violated a league policy by filming the field and sideline from the press box."

"What they're trying to communicate is that this is not them trying to gain a competitive advantage illegally," said EPSN's Dan Graziano. "They inadvertently violated a rule. In an effort to do something different."

New England coach, Bill Belichick, spoke out in an interview with radio station WEEI.

"This is something that we 100 percent have zero involvement with, Belichick said. "This is something you'd have to talk to the production people about and what they were doing."

This latest incident comes five years after Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was suspended for four games due to the deflategate controversy, and more than a decade after the team was embroiled in a cheating scandal that rocked the league.

The Patriots were also disciplined during the 2007 season for videotaping the Jets signals from an unauthorized location.

"So far the NFL has not issued any statement on this obviously they're going to take this seriously. If the Patriots are admitting in their statement that they violated a rule even inadvertently then yes, you would have to think that the League has to do at least something now when they were caught doing illegal videotaping in 2007 they were punished severely," Graziano said.