This apparently is being made into a bigger deal than first thought.
On Sunday, Kraft Sports Productions had a credentialed staffer at the Bengals-Browns game in Cleveland filming an advance scout for an upcoming episode of "Do Your Job."
According to reports, members of the Bengals organization saw the taping occurring and alerted officials. The league then obtained the video after speaking with the Patriots employees. The video is said to be of the Bengals sideline, which was to be used for B-roll.
New England got permission from the Browns for the project, but did not contact the Bengals or the league until afterwards. With that being said, the Bengals believe the Patriots were stealing signs from their sideline.
Bill Belichick addressed the matter Monday on Ordway, Merloni & Fauria.
“Yeah, I heard about this and evidently this is our production people on the TV show that were there and I have absolutely nothing to do, we have absolutely nothing to do with anything that they produce or direct or shoot," he said. "I have never even seen any of their tapes or anything else. This is something that we 100 percent have zero involvement with. This is something you’d have to talk to the production people about and what they were doing, or whatever it was. We have never seen anything that they’ve shot, other than what has come down on TV.”
The coach said he's been made aware of the situation, and that the tapes have been turned over to the league, but he had nothing to do with it.
Belichick added the scouts understand the rules when it comes to what can and cannot be videotaped. He maintained the scout was not recording the Bengals' sideline.
“From a football standpoint, we have absolutely nothing to do with the production people and what they do for the TV show and everything else other than I tape a TV show with them," he said. "There is no involvement whatsoever with them. I have never seen a tape or anything that they have shot anywhere in any capacity.”
Belichick added: “Again, from a football standpoint we absolutely know what the rules are and we are 100 percent in compliance to the best of my knowledge of every single rule that we’re responsible for. What another part of the organization does or doesn’t do as part of their -- whether it is game presentation or TV shows -- I have no idea what that is.”
The Patriots will travel to Cincinnati on Sunday.
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