Patriots Caught Cheating; Lions Were On to It Last Year

by Sean Yuille on Sep 11, 2007 10:10 PM EDT in News Comment 0 comments

You know the phrase "If You Ain't Cheatin', You Ain't Tryin'?" Well, apparently it applies to the NFL as well as NASCAR.

The Patriots were caught videotaping the Jets' defensive signals during a 38-14 win on Sunday, and Roger Goodell is set to punish New England.

NFL security officials confiscated a camera and videotape from Patriots video assistant Matt Estrella on the New England sidelines when it was suspected he was recording the Jets' defensive signals. Sources say the visual evidence confirmed the suspicion.

Goodell is considering severe sanctions, including the possibility of docking the Patriots "multiple draft picks" because it is the competitive violation in the wake of a stern warning to all teams since he became commissioner, the sources said. The Patriots have been suspected in previous incidents.

One of those previous incidents involved the Lions when they played at New England last December, as John Tomase reports.

According to league sources, the Packers and Lions also nabbed the Patriots filming their defensive signals, while the Bills suspected it and now are reviewing last year's game tapes. Casserly's report dealt with either the Jets, Bills, Broncos or Bengals.

According to an ESPN report, the eight-man competition committee could investigate. Among its members are Titans coach Jeff Fisher and Colts president Bill Polian, who have clashed with the Pats in the past, as well as Lions general manager Matt Millen, whose team believes it caught the Pats doing the same thing last December.

As far as the punishment goes, I'd say taking away some of New England's draft picks would be sufficient, depending on what round they are from. Suspending Bill Belichick would also be an option, but it'd have to be more than just one game in my opinion.

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