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NFL security confiscated a video camera and its tape from a New England Patriots employee on the team's sideline during Sunday's game against the Jets in a suspected spying incident, sources said.


The camera and its tape were placed in a sealed box and forwarded to the league office for investigation, the sources said.

"We don't have any comment," an NFL spokesman said Monday.

The Patriots' cameraman was suspected of aiming his camera at the Jets' defensive coaches who were sending signals to their unit on the field, the sources said. The league also is investigating some radio frequency issues that occurred during the game.

The league's competition committee could conduct a conference call about the incident, which violates NFL policy, and ultimately recommend a penalty that could cost the Patriots a future draft pick or picks if it verifies that the team was spying on the Jets.

"It's not their first time," a member of the committee, who did not wish to be identified, said.

In fact, Green Bay Packers president Bob Harlan confirmed a similar incident that occurred when the Patriots played at Lambeau Field last Nov. 19. The same cameraman who was questioned by NFL security on Sunday was also the one whom the Packers removed from the sideline and escorted from the field during their 2006 game, according to Packers security official Doug Collins.

"From what I can remember, he had quite a fit when we took him out," Harlan said. "We had gotten word before the game that they [the Patriots] did this sort of thing, so we were looking for it."

A Jets official declined comment Monday, directing an inquiry to the league office. The Patriots also did not have immediate comment.

LinK

I take it, were clean with the NFL on stealing other teams signals

well, that explains the "Dynasty"

Cheating like this that potentially affects the win-loss record of a team ought to cost playoff appearances or wins rather than draft picks. Forfeiture of the game ought to be considered for this sort of action, if it can be proved. Considering the talent on the Patriots' team, to get caught with something like this is inexcusible.

-Jamey

Ive never believed in forfeiture of games as a penalty at any level. You cant take back the win, except on paper and what kind of punishment is that ? Who does it really affect? But taking a draft pick, that is a punishment that you will have to think about and deal with in the present.

maybe that's our problem, we aren't getting the opponents calls signaled to us.

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Considering the talent on the Patriots' team, to get caught with something like this is inexcusible.

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So if we did it, you'd pretty much be ok with it?

Exactly ... we could use some more steroids too.

It's only illegal if you get caught


and by the way... we DO have a former Secret Service agent as the head of our security.... you'd think we'd be able to spy pretty well

Some NFL coaches cover their mouth when calling plays(Gruden). Some caoches believe that teams hire lip readers that watch them on the sidelines during games. I think Carthon covered his mouth too.

It's done is baseball all the time

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I think Carthon covered his mouth too.

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What, he didn't want the other team to know which of his 3 plays he was running?

With the way Pittsburgh's D killed us Chud must call in our plays by holding up big flash cards with drawings of our plays on them.

yeah, taking away a sixth round pick--- big deal. Could be wrong on this, but wasn't their first rounder the only guy to stick on the active roster??? And they had alot of picks last year. So if you want to send a message, the NFL needs to fine them heavily, take away a high pick and i think the forfeit is unprecedented at the pro level so would not happen.

Suspend the coaching staff for 4 games and make the team practice, train, and run gameday themselves.

I find it hard to believe that with all the talk about how much the Players MUST take responsibility for themselves and stay out of trouble, that one of the top franchises in the league would do stuff like this,,

Can an entire team be suspended and forfiet a season? Probably too harsh right! Just a thought,,

But forfieting a draft pick or two has some appeal...

Maybe first infraction,, 7th rounder,,, 2nd infraction,,, 3 rounder, 3rd infraction 1st rounder and any more infractons,,, more 1st rounders...

I bet that would get thier attention,, what ever the punishment, it has to be as harsh as what they do to players......

Thought this belonged in here for people to read:

Belichick has track record of classlessness
Patriots coach should be punished Pacman-style if spying allegations true
OPINION
By Bob Cook
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 11:16 p.m. CT Sept 10, 2007


When you hear the New England Patriots are accused of sending a spy to videotape an opponent’s signals, do you think, “There is no WAY that would EVER be tolerated on a team coached by Bill Belichick?”

Thought not.

As his team gets further removed from its Super Bowl run, Belichick’s career as a Hall of Fame coach is quickly being overtaken by his career as a Hall of Fame jackass. Even though Belichick is far from being found culpable in the case of the Patriots employee wielding a video camera where none should be, the coach’s long history of poor sportsmanship means it hardly stretches the imagination to see him being Dick Cheney in the NFL‘s version of warrantless wiretapping.

If this is all just a big misunderstanding, all apologies to Belichick.

If not, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell needs to go all Pacman Jones on Belichick, who is a repeat offender when it comes to the crime of sore winning and sore losing. Forget losing a draft pick or two if the Patriots are found to have violated the league rule against videotaping another team’s signals. Belichick, if he is at any way responsible, should be suspended for a bad attitude that has played out in ways that makes Terrell Owens queasy.

Not only is it no surprise that the coach who Machiavelli thinks is a little too committed to winning at all costs would (allegedly) send a spy to steal signals during Sunday’s 38-14 victory over the New York Jets, but it’s also no surprise that, as a league source told ESPN, this is not the first time such an accusation has been made. According to that account, the Green Bay Packers last year kicked out the same Patriots representative being investigated by the league for the Jets incident.

Sign-stealing has long been a sports pastime, and often it’s seen as crafty gamesmanship to slyly figure out the opponents’ signals. But only the sore-winning, sore-losing Belichick would be as ham-handed as to send a guy with a video recorder to stand on the sideline and videotape the opposing coaches.

It shows the same brand of subtlety he displayed, say, brushing past someone trying to shake his hand after a loss.

Belichick has been on a particular roll since the last game of the regular season: shoving a photographer during a season-ending win over the Jets; having LaDainian Tomlinson question whether the Patriots who danced at midfield after a playoff win at San Diego took their cues on classlessness from their coach; and blowing off Peyton Manning after the Colts beat the Patriots in the AFC Championship game, followed by Belichick giving CBS’ Solomon Wilcots a short, prickly interview that inspired network analyst Boomer Esiason to call the coach “unprofessional.”

Then on a Sept. 2 radio show, Vikings coach Brad Childress revealed he had a itense conversation with Belichick when Childress wanted to claim a player Belichick had put on waivers in hopes of bringing him back to the practice squad. Childress said Belichick told him he wouldn’t claim a Vikings player if Childress backed off. When he didn’t, Childress said, Belichick claimed a Vikings player. “He was trying to leverage, but you always find out who is honest and straightforward,” Childress told WCCO-AM.

Of course, Belichick has a long history of manipulation. Look at how he works the weekly injury list so no one knows exactly who is hurt and how much, paranoia that runs so deep, Belichick ordered Steelers trainer John Norwig off the field in 2005 when he came to assist injured Patriots offensive lineman Matt Light. Actually, what Belichick was reported to have said was, “Get away from my [R-rated adjective] player!”

If it weren’t for the reports that the Patriots had tried this before, it would seem natural Belichick would reserve his most dastardly schemes for the Jets, given the bad blood that started in early 2000 when he quit as the team’s head coach the day he was promoted to fill Bill Parcells’ absence, continued as he and the Jets filed grievances over his attempt to go to the Patriots, and continued further as defensive coordinator Eric Mangini took the head coaching job last year, reportedly over Belichick’s objections (so much so Belichick, like an angry father of a teenage daughter dating a newly released prisoner, was purported to have changed the locks during Mangini’s courting).

Who can forget such heart-warming images of tough but fair competition as Belichick brushes off Mangini’s handshake in their first game against each other, and Mangini grabbing Belichick’s right arm like Henry VIII locked onto a turkey leg to guarantee a handshake after their second meeting?

Only Belichick’s lack of throwing furniture and his omnipresent monotone keeps his reputation from completely spilling over into Bob Knight territory. He’s a jerk, but not one you hear screaming a lot. Belichick might not completely disdain the comparison to Knight, a good friend of Belichick’s former boss, Parcells. Knight was never one to rush to apologize for his actions, and Belichick doesn’t openly, Nixon-style, declare “I am not a jerk,” instead issuing vague responses that sound like they were written by Alan Greenspan.

But one other thing about Knight. For all of his flaws, he was all about fair play. Belichick is about gaming the system as much as you can.

Particularly if this videotape accusation holds up, the question becomes, with Belichick’s skill, and his players’ talent, why stoop to this?

The answer: because Belichick’s attitude crosses the line from wanting to do everything possible to win to demanding to do anything possible to win. Belichick’s boorish behavior means the videotape accusation, if it sticks, isn’t a sign of some crafty mind engaging in a little gamesmanship. It’s a sign of an obsessed mind crossing the line from being a poor sport to being poor for his sport.

web page

cheaters never win.


oh, wait...

Products of the system
By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
September 11, 2007

The National Football League's greatest rogue philosopher offered the most succinct and enduring mission statement about the league and the game of football.

"Just win, baby," Oakland Raiders managing partner Al Davis always says, cutting to the chase like no one else.

There is no honor in the NFL. This is our most violent game, a cut-throat, all-out, win-at-all-costs sport where cheating – be it holding on the line, bumping in the secondary, or injecting a drug in the corner of a weight room – is, if not applauded, at the very least accepted.

Each sport has a culture and what people raise hell about in baseball, golf or basketball is mostly shrugged off in the NFL. That this is far and away our most popular sporting pursuit – the new national pastime – says as much about America as it does about the league's morals.

So what to make of the NFL's present-day coaching deity, Bill Belichick, the one who has won three of the last five Super Bowls but now is embroiled in a cheating scandal?

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has "determined" that a New England Patriots employee videotaped the New York Jets defensive signals in a 38-14 victory Sunday, according to ESPN. The commissioner awaits the Pats' defense later this week.

So is Belichick the greatest Machiavellian mind in this ruthless game, one who just happened to get caught this time? Or is he just a lout and a cheat?

Is he an NFL problem or is he the NFL; a byproduct of a business where a coach that doesn't seek every last advantage is doomed to fail, like an honest politician?

"I think the Patriots actually live by the saying, 'If you're not cheating, you're not trying,'" said San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson.

Here's the thing with Belichick: this charge fits perfectly with everything we know about him on and off the field. He's no angel, a lifetime of drama that ranged from backing out of contracts, feuding with mentors (Bill Parcells) and protégés (Eric Mangini) alike and even giving the tabloids plenty of fodder for his, ah, extracurricular behavior, if you will.

But it also fits with everything we know about the NFL. Don't coaches hide their mouths when they speak, use multiple sideline signalers and guard playbooks with their lives? Wouldn't they sell their soul to know what an opponent is thinking?

"Really, it's nothing new," said Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin about signal stealing. "When you see offensive coordinators covering their mouth – and that's been going on a long time – that's one of the reasons why that's done.

"You hear rumors of things of that nature," Tomlin said, noting it often comes from the "New England family." "In terms of confirming it, it's never been confirmed in any instance to my knowledge. But usually where there is smoke, there's fire. Those rumors are founded on something. So it's not totally shocking, no."

Not shocking, perhaps. But embarrassing? Absolutely. The Green Bay Packers claim they caught a Patriots employee videotaping their signals a year ago and complained to the NFL.

If New England's defense is as feeble as expected, then the franchise should be punished. The rules are the rules, no matter how often they are broken; no matter the base culture.

Goodell should take a draft pick or even suspend Belichick, who's iron-fisted leadership means no employee would dare try this without his knowledge. Stealing signals via the human eye is one thing. Having an employee use a video camera speaks to an operation that is both brazen and premeditated.

It also shows the depths these coaches will go for a competitive edge. When properly executed, the advantage would be considerable. But in this instance, the risk/reward variable seems painfully small since the Patriots are more than capable of whippin' the Jets all on their own.

Perhaps that's just football. Whether Belichick is actually worse (or better) than any other coach in the league is difficult to determine. All of these coaches are nuts. To be an NFL coach is to work endless 100-hour weeks, sleep in your office and go bleary-eyed looking for the slightest flaw in an opponents’ Tampa 2. Then you wind up losing because a kicker goes wide right.

They sacrifice everything in their lives in pursuit of victories. The casualties are easy to see: health, marriage, children, sanity. It's why NFL football coaches, despite being multimillionaires, are perhaps the single most miserable group of people you'll ever know.

If you are willing to virtually abandon your wife and kids to win a game, what won't you do?

The NFL isn't alone here. Cheating is everywhere. And it can be confusing, each sport has a different culture. In golf, you can't improve your lie an inch, yet in soccer flopping is considered a skill. In baseball, cheating pitchers are colorful but corked-bat hitters are condemned. In NASCAR, a crew chief that isn't pushing the legal limits of engineering isn't doing his job. College sports is often hailed for its "purity," yet illegal recruiting is so prevalent former UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian once surmised, "Nine out of 10 teams are cheating, the other is in last place."

So why expect anything less in the NFL? Fans want victories and nothing else. There are no illusions of purity here. They'll gladly cheer for players who can range from miscreant to felon. The players themselves will vote peers who have been busted taking performance enhancing drugs into the Pro Bowl.

Nobody cares. Nothing matters. If you're not cheating, you're not trying. Just win, baby.

That's the NFL. And that is the world that would lead someone such as Bill Belichick, someone with so much to lose, to insanely risk his reputation on the long shot that a small advantage might provide just one more victory he probably would have gotten anyway.

Dan Wetzel is Yahoo! Sports' national columnist. Send Dan a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

Yahoo Sports

I used to respect this guy and was upset when we lost him (and the team) but over the past few years I've become convinced that he's just a skeez who knows how to win football games... guess now I know why. He needs a Pete Rose pulled on him, forever denied entry into the Hall Of Fame. Bet that would get his knickers in a twist. Question for the commisioner: Which is worse, betting on your team to win or cheating so your team might win?

I think the Steelers steal our Defensive signals too...

Sorry but this whole situation is uncalled for. I hoep Bellichek get's the stiffest penalty possible.

I hope they have to forfeit multiple draft picks. Then they give them to a team with no first round pick.

I dont think the punishment can be severe enough.



I have heard many of the radio talking heads saying the 'how much can it really help' thing when tossing this a side......but IMO if it were really nothing....then the NFL would not have it in the rule book...and the Pats would not have been doing it. (Packers also complained about this)

This is a HUGE deal IMO.....and I dont feel that losing draft picks is a stiff enough penalty.....Not in the day of free agency.....Heck if anything no draft picks just gives a team more money to spend in FA.

I would not only have them give up multiple draft picks for several drafts...not just the next one...but I would also give them a different cap for the next 3 years.....if everyone else gets $100 bucks to spend...the Pats get $75 bucks.

3 years min IMO is needed on this....a message needs to be sent to the entire league that Franchises breaking the rules will not be tolerated.

This is not a SS taking some HGH....and being given a 4 week vacation....this is a FRANCHISE....part of the NFL's Good Ol' Boy Network of owners....cheating on the rest of them.

2008 Season - No day one draft picks and Pats must operate at 80% of the CAP

2009 Season - one day 1 pick (3rd) and Pats must operate at 85% of the CAP

2010 Season - two day 1 picks (3rd, 2nd) and Pats must operate at 90% of the CAP



IMO it needs to be more than picks...it needs to be more than a fine....it needs to not only hurt them for doing it...but dissuade anyone else from ever doing it again.



HACK

I would wholeheartedly agree, but I think you realize just as I do that it will get as "serious" a punishment as tampering does.

It is just one of those things that every one of them will publicly be against, yet privately practice.

Good point, gotta say I agree but that seem like a pretty severe punishment.

I'm sure Goodell will handle it well. His track record so far makes me think he will.

Maybe they could just keep them out of the playoffs for the next two years.

NRTU:

If Browns coaches could steal signals to get an edge, say next week versus Bengals, would it be OK? Would we be willing to let it slide?
I think perhaps.

Belichick may be a jerk as a human being, but believe me, Pats fans love him.
Why? Those Super Bowls. That's why.

I dont think you can just "keep them out of the playoffs" as it makes kind of makes a mockery of the playoff system....You cant have the Pats go 14-2 and then not make the playoffs.

Everyone would be saying....Yeah..but if the Pats were in they would have won.

It would also be a major issue for the Pats when it comes to Vets on the team....and free agents both on the team...and looking to join.

I say let them still compete...but do it at a disadvantage.....you loose the draft picks...and I think the Cap thing is almost a must.......Just taking away draft picks..just gives them more cap money to spend on FA

HACK

Don't they do it in college basketball. I'm sure that it hurts there recruiting chances and seniors on the team.

If they want to cheat they should not be allowed a chance to win.

How long do you think they have been doing this? I am willing to bet they did it when Mangini was there. Probably why they were able to catch them.

I also read that the Pat's had extra sound devices on the sidelines. Which is very unfair if you have extra players with sound in their helmets.

They'll be fined, if found to have cheated.

Source: Patriots could lose draft picks
FOXSports.com, Updated 3 hours ago STORY TOOLS:

The NFL is discussing docking New England one or more draft picks in response to allegations that the Patriots violated a league rule by videotaping Jets defensive coaches on the sideline of their game against New York on Sunday, FOXSports.com's Jay Glazer reports.


NFL security confiscated a video camera and tape from a Patriots employee during New England's 38-14 victory. While the league rule states that no video recording devices of any kind are permitted to be in use in the coaches' booth, on the field, or in the locker room during the game, the Patriots employee is also accused of specifically trying to steal signals from New York by videotaping Jets coaches on the sideline during the season opener.

"With anything along those lines, those are all league-related matters, and anything that deals with an issue like this or anything on a team-by-team basis, those all go to the league," Jets coach Eric Mangini said in his news conference Monday.

When asked if the Jets had in fact notified the league, he said: "It's all a league matter."

The Patriots may also have violated another league rule during the game by having additional audio receivers on their sideline, Glazer reports. However, league sources have indicated that while the NFL may eventually look into those allegations, it is currently focusing on the violations with the videotape.


http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/7216044

They'll lose draft picks, if found to have cheated.