ESPN report blows open lid on SpyGate

Washington Post ^ | September 8 | Matt Bonesteel

[sparklite2]

In fact, many former New England coaches and employees insist that the taping of signals wasn’t even the most effective cheating method the Patriots deployed in that era. Several of them acknowledge that during pregame warm-ups, a low-level Patriots employee would sneak into the visiting locker room and steal the play sheet, listing the first 20 or so scripted calls for the opposing team’s offense. (The practice became so notorious that some coaches put out fake play sheets for the Patriots to swipe.)

Numerous former employees say the Patriots would have someone rummage through the visiting team hotel for playbooks or scouting reports. [Patriots video employee Matt] Walsh later told investigators that he was once instructed to remove the labels and erase tapes of a Patriots practice because the team had illegally used a player on injured reserve.

At Gillette Stadium, the scrambling and jamming of the opponents’ coach-to-quarterback radio line — “small s—” that many teams do, according to a former Pats assistant coach — occurred so often that one team asked a league official to sit in the coaches’ box during the game and wait for it to happen. Sure enough, on a key third down, the headset went out.

[sparklite2]

Patriot fans must be so proud.

[big'ol_freeper]

First four letters in the title tell me all I need to know. Not credible.

"..the Jealousy and Envy Crowd what I meant was that there are gonna be people that oppose Brady just 'cause he got the girl, oppose Brady 'cause he's tall and good-looking and a star quarterback and wanted him punished on that basis... a lot of alignment against Brady was simply based on jealousy and envy and a lot of people hoping Brady got the four games just 'cause it's justice. "Nobody should be this lucky to be that good-looking, that tall, that good an athlete, with that good-looking kids get the beautiful girl. Nobody should have that kind of luck!" Those people are all over the place. You'll find them all over the place, and those are the people that will be upset here.” ~Rush Limbaugh

[maineman]

Calm down, it’s ESPN reporting this.

[TangibleDisgust]

that franchise has a long history of cheating.

[safeasthebanks]

Just read the entire ESPN article that this WaPo article references. Had a lot of good information about Spygate that I never knew or had forgotten.

Ultimately it probably won't change any minds on either side, but was very interesting just to see the inner working of the NFL and the various personalities involved.

Most importantly, I do think it did a good job of laying out how Spygate is connected to Deflate-gate (in terms of old grudges and perceptions, not the actual actions behind the "cheating" (?) in each case, obviously).

[gallandro1]

I see ESPN is taking marching orders from their overlords... the NFL. The fact this is a hatchet job is so patently obvious. You get you butt handed to you in court... the solution... more “leaks.”

Hopefully this time around the leaked info has a little more credibility than Chris Mortensen’s previous “reporting.”

Get over yourself Goodell...

[McGruff]

Are you crying? There’s no crying in football.

[dmz]

I think futher examination of all of this is unnecessary.

Outside of New England, the Patriots are the Cheatriots.

Just like outside of Baltimore, Ray Lewis is a murderer.

And nothing will change either of those 2 things.

[nascarnation]

Brush guy, LOL.

(was there anything in the rules preventing that?)

[Southack]

“But thanks to Mark Henderson, stadium snowblower and convicted burglar, he plowed a perfect spot right where the Patriot’s were about to kick the game winning field goal. Coincidence? I don’t think so. And guess what? The NFL didn’t do anything about it.”

[nascarnation]

“If you don’t cheat, you look like an idiot; if you cheat and don’t get caught, you look like a hero; if you cheat and get caught, you look like a dope. Put me where I belong.”

Darrell Waltrip, 1976

[billyboy15]

PATRIOT JOCK SNIFFERS UNITE!!!! WE MUST DISCREDIT THIS STORY!!!

[Major Matt Mason]

Yep, ESPN is a no-go zone for me at this point. The fact that the WP is re-reporting ESPN's "findings" makes it an easy one to dismiss (and I am not a fan of the Patriots, BTW - the Bills have lost plenty of games to this team in the past 15 years).

[billyboy15]

So you believe ESPN has manufactured this story? Do you think they asked Peyton Manning if they could make up a story about him and his fear of the Pat’s cheating ways?

Why not read the article and then take it apart part by part.... If you think you can.

[meridenite]

I would bet that NFL leaked info to espn.

[billyboy15]

Lol, tell me where they got all these people, like Manning to comment?

No one would make up a story like this...:: no one and the WAPO wouldn’t print it without proper vetting. After all it isn’t a political story.

[TBP]

So the Pats cheat systematically. No news here.

[Ingtar]

The original article is much more critical of the NFL. This article cherry picks information from that. Still, it is ESPN.

[csmusaret]

Was it Chris Mortenson again?

[csmusaret]

You don’t have to be pro Patriot to believe ESPN reports rumors and innuendos as fact.