Getty Tedy Bruschi ripped the New England Patriots for the latest videotaping scandal.
Tedy Bruschi may have played for the New England Patriots during his entire 13-year career, but he’s not supporting them here.
Following the Patriots’ latest videotaping scandal — one in which they broke NFL rules by having a videographer tape the Cincinnati Bengals‘ sideline from the press box during their Week 14 matchup with an opponent — the Patriots great completely ripped his former team for breaking NFL rules yet again.
Via Ryan Gaydos of Fox News:
“Who thought this was a good idea? They’ve denied it, and [head coach Bill Belichick] has said he has nothing to do with Kraft Productions — and I know Kraft Productions, and they’re a separate part of the building — however, Kraft productions is under the umbrella which is the New England Patriots. So, it looks bad,” he said.
“With everything good that’s going on with the organization, in terms of the celebration of the NFL 100, talking about Bill Belichick as one of the best coaches of all time, him and [Alabama head coach Nick Saban] talking this week about their philosophies and why they’re such great coaches — and then you get this.”
Bruschi Knows All About Spygate Scandal
Bruschi won three Super Bowls with the Patriots and was named to the Pro Bowl after the 2004 season. He was the team’s starting inside linebacker from 1998 until his final season in 2008 and was a key member of New England’s early Super Bowl squads.
Bruschi was also a member of the 2007 team that was engulfed in the Spygate scandal — a scandal which made the Patriots the most hated team in the league. New England was caught illegally videotaping opposing teams’ signals during the 2007 season and it was revealed that they had also done so during Super Bowl walkthroughs at the conclusion of the 2001 and 2003 seasons — which resulted in Super Bowl wins over the St. Louis Rams and Carolina Panthers.
Bruschi: Patriots Haven’t Shed ‘Cheaters’ Label
The former linebacker is well aware of the Patriots’ reputation as “cheaters,” and he didn’t appreciate how this latest scandal — the third of the scandals, just a few years after “Deflategate” — continued to portray that image of his former franchise.
“They weren’t thinking. They weren’t thinking what the optics were. And, I don’t blame the league, and I don’t blame anyone out there that reopens all of this stuff and give you an easy opportunity to call the New England Patriots ‘cheaters’ because of all their success, because the way it looks is terrible. And, I don’t like the way it looks and I’m disappointed that someone didn’t have the awareness in that organization to not go through and say, ‘Wait a minute, maybe we shouldn’t do this because it doesn’t look good.’”
Although this incident was rather minor compared to the “Spygate” and “Deflategate” scandals, Bruschi is right. The Patriots have a well-known reputation as rule-breakers and they should have known better than this. Any slight rule break will give credence to the notion that the Patriots are cheaters — no matter how minor it may be.
As has been the case for the past decade, the Patriots will move forward and try to win a seventh Super Bowl — with everyone outside of the New England area rooting against them.
What else is new?