Getty Julian Edelman downplayed the Spygate 2.0 scandal.
You can count at least one New England Patriots star who doesn’t take the latest Spygate scandal seriously.
According to Julian Edelman, the Patriots’ top wide receiver and an 11-year veteran,the latest Spygate scandal — which caught a Patriots videographer taping the Cincinnati Bengals‘ sideline during their Week 14 game against the Cleveland Browns — is an absolute joke.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much a joke,” Edelman said, via Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald. “We haven’t even thought about it, honestly. We’ve been thinking about other things. It’s funny, but it is what it is. I don’t know, it’s ridiculous. My focus is on the Buffalo Bills.”
The Spygate 2.0 scandal is the third major incident of the franchise breaking NFL rules during the Bill Belichick era. The first was obviously in 2007 during the original Spygate scandal. After the Patriots were caught illegally videotaping opposing teams’ signals, they were eventually punished and fined. Not only was the franchise fined $250,000, Belichick was docked $500,000 and New England lost their 2008 first-round draft pick.
Patriots Could Be Facing Major Penalties
Although this one appears minor compared to the two previous incidents, it doesn’t mean the Patriots will escape without penalty. CBS Sports‘ Jason La Canfora previously reported that New England could be staring at major fines and a draft pick being taken away.
“The New England Patriots are facing steep penalties for their admitted illegal taping of the Bengals sideline last week, league sources said, which is likely to include the loss of at least one draft pick and heavy fines. There is the possibility of a suspension for a member of upper management and/or ownership as well, sources said, pending the results of the NFL’s full investigation into the matter.”
Tom Brady Also Downplays Spygate 2.0 Incident
It would seem that the Patriots as a team are following a similar pattern of downplaying the latest scandal. Tom Brady had previously said the latest incident wasn’t a distraction for the team, following New England’s victory over Cincinnati in Week 15.
“I don’t think any player gave it one second of thought. Not something that even registered. You just move on, man. There’s a lot of distractions out there and if you lose focus on your job, that is really a waste of your time. There’s a lot of people out there — they can create distractions for us, but we just want to go out there and focus on what we can do and what our job is and try and go out there and play the best we possibly can.” Brady stated.
Here’s the bottom line when it comes to this — as long as the Patriots continue to win games, this won’t be a distraction. It only become a distraction if New England allows it to. Looking back at history, they never really allow these off-the-field distractions affect their play.
In 2007, they went 16-0 and advanced to the Super Bowl after Spygate leaked. At the end of the 2014 season, in the heat of the Deflategate scandal, they still won the Super Bowl over the Seattle Seahawks.
While the Patriots will probably be punished by the league at some point for their latest transgression, it shouldn’t affect how New England plays on the field moving forward.