NFL: The New England Patriots are at it again

There’s no smoke without fire. There are no coincidences in life. And there’s certainly nothing even remotely private going on in the world without a member of the New England Patriots organisation recording it and seeing if it will be of any use to them in the near future.

This latest insight into the organisation that is held up as a ruthless entity, who will cut every corner and force new rules to be invented to combat themselves is, once again, at it.

Video created by Patriots' crew reportedly focuses on Bengals' sideline for eight minutes https://t.co/1AtY718NCN

— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) December 10, 2019

The Patriots were caught red-handed filming the Bengals sideline last week and it has to prompt the question – at what point do they start to undermine their legacy, given the consistency with which they go above and beyond the realm of decency?

While there is no doubt that Kraft, Belichick and co have always built great teams (they’ve won Super Bowls with slightly above average teams), you need to question why, with this approach that works all the time, they feel the need to cheat.

One hypothesis of course is that they’ve been doing this for decades and they’re only rarely caught. And while that is a stretch, it’s worth considering the possibility.

If nobody saw the Patriots employee last week, would it ever have “happened” at all?

Another thing worth noting: at 1-13, the Cincinnati Bengals are the worst team in the NFL. If they felt to need to do it for a matchweek prep against them, they’re surely scouting beyond their ethical boundaries when it comes to the better teams, too. ‘Drones, Phones and Other Unknowns’ is probably what I’d call the documentary.

Of course, there’s a school of thought that you can do it until you’re caught – or in their case – until you’re properly punished. Tom Brady was banned for four games over Deflategate. The Patriots felt no loss as Jacoby Brissett was in the building and he’s now a perfectly serviceable quarterback for the Colts.

Perhaps if the NFL bans them from the playoffs one year – or they start them on -.100 for the season, then they’ll stick doing what they’re doing. On Sunday evening, the Patriots were robbed by officials as they faced the Kansas City Chiefs.

They, at worst, had a big chance to beat Andy Reid’s charges, and, at best, were denied the momentum to go on and do just that. But there was no empathy – just catharsis.

It was actively enjoyable watching the Patriots being screwed.

As Mahomes celebrated a win in Foxboro, there was no sympathy – none. That is the best indicator that the New England dynasty is tainted. It’s not jealousy, either. Nobody begrudges Pittsburgh or Green Bay unless they’re from Baltimore, Cincinnati, Chicago or Minnesota.

But it’s a question of morality – can the Patriots age well in spite of the clear infringements upon the wrong side of dignity? The thing is – they likely don’t care, and that above all else sums them up as an organisation.