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If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. Wonder how many players knew.
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Goodell: No connection between Spygate and Deflategate
Posted by Michael David Smith on September 8, 2015, 9:48 AM EDT

AP
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell denies that he cracked down on the Patriots over Deflategate in part because he faced criticism within the league for going too easy on New England in Spygate.
Moments before Goodell appeared this morning on ESPN’s Mike & Mike, ESPN dropped a major report about Spygate. That report suggested that the Patriots’ cheating in Spygate was more widespread than previously known, and that Goodell hastily ended the Spygate investigation before it could damage the league’s credibility. One unnamed owner is quoted in that ESPN report as calling Goodell’s Deflategate punishment “a makeup call.”
But Goodell says that’s not the case. Asked by ESPN’s Mike Greenberg whether the league went harder on the Patriots in Deflategate because of the previous cheating in Spygate, Goodell said that’s not the case.
“I have not seen this report, Mike, in any way, but I can just tell you I’m not aware of any connection between the Spygate procedures and the procedures we went through here. We obviously learn from every time we go through any kind of a process, try to improve it, get better at it, but there’s no connection in my mind to the two incidents,” Goodell said.
Although Goodell denies there was a “makeup call” element to the Deflategate punishment, the league has already said the Patriots were treated as repeat offenders in Deflategate because of Spygate. So there’s a very real connection between Spygate and Deflategate, in that they’re both part of a widespread perception around the NFL that the Patriots are cheaters.Go Rivers!Comment
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Patriots’ full response to latest ESPN report
Posted by Mike Florio on September 8, 2015, 9:55 AM EDT

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We’ll be posting plenty of stories coming from the lengthy ESPN report that delves into the roots of Spygate and other allegations of Patriots cheating. For now, though, it’s important to present something that initially wasn’t fully presented in the ESPN story.
The team’s response. Here it is:
“The New England Patriots have never filmed or recorded another team’s practice or walkthrough,” the statement reads. “The first time we ever heard of such an accusation came in 2008, the day before Super Bowl XLII, when the Boston Herald reported an allegation from a disgruntled former employee. That report created a media firestorm that extended globally and was discussed incessantly for months. It took four months before that newspaper retracted its story and offered the team a front and back page apology for the damage done. Clearly, the damage has been irreparable. As recently as last month, over seven years after the retraction and apology was issued, ESPN issued the following apology to the Patriots for continuing to perpetuate the myth: ‘On two occasions in recent weeks, SportsCenter incorrectly cited a 2002 report regarding the New England Patriots and Super Bowl XXXVI. That story was found to be false, and should not have been part of our reporting. We apologize to the Patriots organization.’
“This type of reporting over the past seven years has led to additional unfounded, unwarranted and, quite frankly, unbelievable allegations by former players, coaches and executives. None of which have ever been substantiated, but many of which continue to be propagated. The New England Patriots are led by an owner whose well-documented efforts on league-wide initiatives – from TV contracts to preventing a work stoppage – have earned him the reputation as one of the best in the NFL. For the past 16 years, the Patriots have been led by one of the league’s all-time greatest coaches and one of its all-time greatest quarterbacks. It is disappointing that some choose to believe in myths, conjecture and rumors rather than giving credit for the team’s successes to Coach Belichick, his staff and the players for their hard work, attention to detail, methodical weekly preparation, diligence and overall performance.”
Here’s the version that made its way into the main story: “The New England Patriots have never filmed or recorded another team’s practice of walkthrough…. Clearly the damage has been irreparable…. It is disappointing that some choose to believe in myths, conjecture and rumors rather than give credit to coach Belichick, his staff and the players.”
The full statement has been placed on ESPN.com in a box, separate from the main text. It’s currently unclear whether the statement originally appeared there, or whether it was added later.
We’ll be linking to the team’s response in any of the various stories that flow from the new ESPN report. And there likely will be plenty of stories.Go Rivers!Comment
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Report: Patriots sent employees into locker rooms to steal play sheets
Posted by Darin Gantt on September 8, 2015, 10:04 AM EDT

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While much of the information in the new ESPN report detailing the Patriots’ Spygate-era portrays the team has engaged in something akin to espionage, there are also charges that they were into more common forms of larceny as well.
Among the charges outlined in the Outside the Lines report include one so brazen and blatant that it seems hard to believe.
Several former Patriots coaches and employees alleged that the team would send “low-level” employees into opposing locker rooms during pre-game warm-ups to “steal play sheets” from teams which scripted their offenses.
The report also says the team would send employees to “rummage through the visiting team hotel for playbooks or scouting reports.”
Such tactics were apparently suspected by other teams, who would leave dummy play sheets sitting around in hopes of throwing the Patriots off their trails.
Along with the jamming of radio signals — something many coaches around the league have complained about for so long it seems desensitized — the story paints a picture of the lengths the Patriots would allegedly go to.Go Rivers!Comment
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I'm thinking they all knew. They "protected the Shield" too.Originally posted by captaind View PostComment
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Mike Martz was “shocked” by apparent changes to statement he gave to the NFL
Posted by Mike Florio on September 8, 2015, 10:41 AM EDT

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As we try to digest this new ESPN Patriots Alleged Cheating Opus, I can sympathize with a three-foot snake that’s trying to swallow the leg of an elephant. Buried in the story is a nugget that could prompt someone to try to grab by the tail the tiger that is the NFL.
At some point after the Boston Herald reported in early 2008 that the Patriots had taped the Rams’ walk-through practice before Super Bowl XXXVI, a “panicked” Commissioner Roger Goodell asked former Rams coach Mike Martz to provide a statement “saying that he was satisfied with the NFL’s Spygate investigation and was certain the Patriots had not cheated and asking everyone to move on.”
So Martz provided a statement to the league. And ESPN showed the statement to Martz when interviewing him for the Patriots Alleged Cheating Opus. And Martz didn’t recognize portions of it.
“It shocked me,” Martz told ESPN. “It appears embellished quite a bit — some lines I know I didn’t write. Who changed it? I don’t know.”
And that was the end of it, as far as the ESPN Patriots Alleged Cheating Opus is concerned. There was no statement from the league office denying any changes to the statement. There was no apparent effort to procure the original statement, if there was one.
If Martz is right, that’s a huge deal. If the NFL changed in any way a statement from Martz that was used to placate Senator Arlen Specter and to block a Congressional investigation, this is the kind of thing that could turn the NFL into FIFA.Go Rivers!Comment
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Report: Most teams take extra precautions to combat Patriots’ spying
Posted by Michael David Smith on September 8, 2015, 11:41 AM EDT

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When it rains, it pours.
The Patriots are finding that out the hard way this morning, as for the second time a major investigative piece has accused the team of widespread cheating. First there was ESPN’s investigation revisiting Spygate. And now comes a Sports Illustrated report that also says there’s a perception in the NFL that the Patriots routinely break the rules to gather information about the opposition.
According to the report, at least 19 NFL teams — most of the league — have confirmed that they took precautions against the Patriots that they didn’t take against any other opponent, because they were more concerned about spying when they faced the Patriots than they were when they faced any other opponent. Steps teams have taken against the Patriots include running fake plays during walk-through practices in case the Patriots were spying, not leaving anything sensitive in the trash at their hotels in New England, declining the Patriots’ offer to use their facilities, blocking off the visitors’ locker room at Gillette Stadium to keep Patriots employees out, sweeping for bugs, and telling the Patriots’ visiting locker room manager to leave because they didn’t trust him not to spy.
One team told Sports Illustrated that it butted heads with the Patriots over locking the doors to the visitors’ locker room, with the Patriots telling them they couldn’t because it’s a fire code violation, and the team telling the Patriots to go ahead and report them to the fire chief if they wanted, but that the visitors’ locker room doors would be locked. (Patriots spokesman Stacey James denies that ever happened.)
Both the ESPN report and the Sports Illustrated report suggest that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was determined to crack down on the Patriots for Deflategate in part because many teams think Goodell failed to come down hard enough on the Patriots for Spygate. Goodell denies that. But there’s no denying the perception around the league that the Patriots are cheaters.Go Rivers!Comment
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This should get good!Go Rivers!Comment
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Hey Kraft, your asterics are showing...Go Rivers!Comment
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All of that sounds awfully familiar to the statements made by the Colts Players:Originally posted by Stinky Wizzleteats+ View Post
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