ESPN: Patriots employees stole parts of opposing teams’ gameplans
Former Colts coach Tony Dungy said Peyton Manning feared the visiting locker room of Gillette Stadium was bugged. And, perhaps, he’s not far off.
The New England Patriots sent employees into the opposing team’s locker room to steal their gameplan for roughly the first 20 offensive plays of the game, according to a report from ESPN’s “Outside the Lines,’’ which illuminates the fallout from and connection between the Spygate and Deflategate scandals.
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.
On June 5, 2008, Roger Goodell implemented a “Policy on Integrity of the Game & Enforcement of Competitive Rule.’’ The document required a signature at the end of each season from team owners, presidents, general managers, and coaches. By signing it, they swore they had complied with league policies, including one that banned employees from entering unauthorized areas like locker rooms, coaches’ booths, and meeting rooms.
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