NEP/NYJ Headgame Hangover
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by Brittschramm
It seems that the contenious rivalry between the New York Jets and New England Patriots just becomase more so. A video camera and its correpsonding tape, which was being used by an unnamed Patriots employee, was confiscated by NFL Security during Sunday's game according to the Worldwide's hardest working man in the NFL business, Chris Mortensen. The reason for the tape seizure was based on observations by Jets Security that the person operating the camera was trying to steal play signals by Jets coaches. The tape was sent league's competition committee for investigation. Funny thing is that this incident is not the first time that the Patriots have been accused of stealing signs. The Green Bay Packers also verified a similar instance with the Pats last year.
This announcement has me puzzled. Is this a case of the Patriots be the only ones doing this practice? That's highly doubtful. In a world of position coaches taking performance enhancing drugs, I can't imagine that this idea hasn't been tried by other teams. Another question is why the Pats use a regular camera? If cops can use pin-sized cameras to for sting operations, why not dress up someone with those ugly black glasses with the camera in them? Why be so obvious with the handheld?
More than likely, this is another case of one team trying to stick it to the other whenever possible. But if the results from stealing signs are a 108-yd TD KO return and a 51-yd bomb into triple coverage, I wouldn't be surprised to see more teams try to become the NFL's version of "To Catch a Thief".
