Fox News Today:
Here we go again.
Not much appears to be going in the right direction for the New England Patriots at this point in the season.
The 10-3 team was booed off the field on Sunday after a rare home loss and Tom Brady, their legendary quarterback, has been struggling, compared to his own high standards.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, center, argues a call in the second half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Now the team– still trying to distance itself from the 2007 Spygate scandal– had to deal with a new report that said a video crew working for the team filmed the Cincinnati Bengals sideline during Sunday’s game. The latest allegations came to light when Bengals coach Zac Taylor, whose team plays New England on Sunday, confirmed that the league was investigating the crew’s activities.
The Patriots said in a social media post that a three-person crew for a web series titled “Do Your Job” “inappropriately filmed the field from the press box” as part of a feature on the scouting department. The filming took place “without specific knowledge of league rules,” the statement said.
The team also said that while it was granted credentials for the crew from the Browns, the home team, “our failure to inform the Bengals and the League was an unintended oversight.”
An NFL spokesman did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press seeking comment.
When confronted, the team said the crew “immediately turned over all footage to the league and cooperated fully.”
“The sole purpose of the filming was to provide an illustration of an advance scout at work on the road. There was no intention of using the footage for any other purpose,” the statement said. “We accept full responsibility for the actions of our production crew at the Browns-Bengals game.”
Asked about the reports during his radio show on Monday, Belichick told WEEI radio that the video crew was completely separate from the football staff.
“We have absolutely nothing to do with anything that they produce or direct or shoot,” said Belichick, who did appear on camera in an earlier episode of the series, on the equipment manager. “I have never seen any of their tapes or anything else. This is something that we 100 percent have zero involvement with.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report
