ESPN OTL Drops Bombshells on New Patriots Cheating Practices

ESPN and their most reliable investigative team dropped a bombshell today that's certain to dominate headlines this week:

The New England Patriots are cheaters.

The timing couldn't have been better with the release of the report with the Patriots ready to open up the 2015 season on Thursday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The news also comes just days after a judge nullified a four game Tom Brady suspension.

Overall, the broad spectrum of the report details the scandal that rocked the NFL several years ago: Spygate.

According to the report, Roger Goodell ordered the tapes to be destroyed "so they couldn't be exploited again."

(Listen to Senior NFL and investigative reporter for Yahoo! Charles Robinson with RIch Quinones)

Here are more excerpts from the report, in which, implicate the Patriots ways of pushing the envelope when it comes to fair and foul play:

As the Patriots became a dynasty and Belichick became the first coach to win three Super Bowls in four years, an entire system of covert videotaping was developed and a secret library created. “It got out of control,” a former Patriots assistant coach says. Sources with knowledge of the system say an advance scout would attend the games of upcoming Patriots opponents and assemble a spreadsheet of all the signals and corresponding plays. The scout would give it to Adams, who would spend most of the week in his office with the door closed, matching the notes to the tapes filmed from the sideline. Files were created, organized by opponent and by coach. During games, Walsh later told investigators, the Patriots’ videographers were told to look like media members, to tape over their team logos or turn their sweatshirt inside out, to wear credentials that said Patriots TV or Kraft Productions. The videographers also were provided with excuses for what to tell NFL security if asked what they were doing: Tell them you’re filming the quarterbacks. Or the kickers. Or footage for a team show.

The report also includes the Eagles and their Super Bowl loss to the Patriots in 2004:

When Spygate broke, some of the Eagles now believed they had an answer for a question that had vexed them since they lost to the Patriots 24-21 in Super Bowl XXXIX: How did New England seem completely prepared for the rarely used dime defense the Eagles deployed in the second quarter, scoring touchdowns on three of four drives? The Eagles suspected that either practices were filmed or a playbook was stolen. “To this day, some believe that we were robbed by the Patriots not playing by the rules … and knowing our game plan,” a former Eagles football operations staffer says.

The Patriots released a statement in response to the report:

“The New England Patriots have never filmed or recorded another team’s practice or walkthrough. The first time we ever heard of such an accusation came in 2008, the day before Super Bowl XLII, when the Boston Herald reported an allegation from a disgruntled former employee."

To read the full article, click here.