The NFL’s investigation officially is underway as it looks into the New England Patriots.
As you probably know by now, New England allegedly sent a film production crew to Cleveland during the Browns’ game against the Cincinnati Bengals. A producer, who was employed by Kraft Sports and Entertainment, was spotted filming the Bengals’ sideline, which is against NFL rules.
Dave Mondillo, the man behind the camera, was suspended. The Patriots released a statement and said the rule unintentionally was broken, but insisted their “football staff had no other involvement whatsoever in the planning, filming or creative decisions made during the production of these features.”
But some new details have come to light regarding the investigation, and it doesn’t exactly make the NFL look good. ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio on Sunday reported, citing sources, that the investigators are frustrated in being unable to connect the Patriots to any wrongdoing.
“League investigators also collected devices from certain individuals, for the purposes of attempting to establish a connection to the team’s football operations,” Florio wrote. “As one source explained it, there’s a sense that investigators want to make that connection, and a perception that they are showing frustration when unable to tie the video crew to the football employees.”
That’s … something.
ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss reported the Patriots could receive their punishment “as early as this week,” so it certainly will be interesting to see what the NFL comes up, if it’s anything at all.
New England wraps up its regular season Sunday when it welcomes the Miami Dolphins to Gillette Stadium.
