Report: Patriots Facing ‘Significant Penalties’ For Taping Scandal

The New England Patriots are caught in the middle of a huge scandal, and history may be repeating itself. New England was hit with penalties in 2007. The team lost money and a first-round pick. Both the organization and head coach Bill Belichick were fined.

The NFL considers imposing “significant penalties” on New England for videotaping the Cincinnati Bengals sideline during the game against the Cleveland Browns. The information was confirmed by several sources. But, what does this “significant penalty” involve?

“The New England Patriots are facing steep penalties for their admitted illegal taping of the Bengals sideline last week, league sources said, which is likely to include the loss of at least one draft pick and heavy fines,” CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora reported. “There is the possibility of a suspension for a member of upper management and/or ownership as well, sources said, pending the results of the NFL’s full investigation into the matter.

“The Patriots are repeat offenders for violating the league’s game-day operations regulations in the past — twice being stripped of first-round picks for either illegally doctoring footballs or illegally taping an opponent — which will also factor into the ultimate discipline in this case, the sources said. The NFL takes these matters very seriously and has regularly taken away draft picks and used fines and suspensions for similar infractions, whether it be illegal use of cell phones on game day (Browns) or pumping in fake crowd noise (Falcons).”

Things don’t look good for the New England Patriots at this point. Mark Maske from The Washington Post’s has something else to say about the scandal.

“The NFL is likely to penalize the New England Patriots for their admitted violation of league video policy last weekend and is contemplating disciplinary measures in line with those imposed on teams in recent seasons for infractions of game-day rules, according to people familiar with the deliberations.

“That could mean a fine in the hundreds of thousands of dollars and potentially the loss or reduction in value of a draft choice, typically a lower-level pick.”

La Canfora’s report is slightly different than Maske’s take on the incident. Both reports suggest that Tom Brady’s team will be punished for the filming of the “Do Your Job” film crew.

New England plays the Bengals on Sunday, and it will be interesting to see the teams compete amid the allegations against the Pats. How will the whole thing end for the team? We’ll have to wait and see what happens in the next few weeks.