FOXBOROUGH, Mass — At a press conference Wednesday, New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick denied having any involvement in filming the Cincinnati Bengals' sideline.
"The football team, the football staff, and the coaching staff had nothing to do with what happened," Belichick said.
In a statement released Monday, Dec. 9, the Patriots admitted they had a film crew at the Cincinnati Bengals - Cleveland Browns game on Sunday, Dec. 8, as part of an online series documenting different departments within the organization.
The team said the crew was there as part of an episode on the team's scouting department. However, the Patriots also admitted that the production crew inappropriately filmed the Bengals sideline.
Belichick is typically available to the media some time in the middle of the day on Wednesdays. Wednesday, Dec. 11 was no different.
Belichick began by praising the Bengals organization. He said that the Bengals' record does not reflect the fact that they do a lot of things well. As an example, he used the team's special teams play.
When asked about the ongoing filming controversy, Belichick was insistent that the team's statement speaks for itself and that he had nothing to add to it.
These types of filming rules were also an issue in 2007, when the Patriots were caught videotaping opposing team signals.
In the scandal that came to be known as Spygate, the Patriots were fined $250,000 and docked a first-round draft choice, and coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000.