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" ESPN&amp;#039;s eye-opening\u00A0report\u00A0on the New England Patriots&amp;#039;\u00A0record of brazen, relentless cheating\u2014and the NFL&amp;#039;s determination to cover it up\u2014may represent a pivotal moment in the modern history of the league. It may also constitute the last nail in the coffin for embattled commissioner Roger Goodell. ESPN enlisted 90 different sources from in and around professional football to help tell the\u00A0story of corruption, collusion, and cover-ups. It is a record of collaboration between the highest levels of NFL leadership and a franchise as it built a dynasty, winning three Super Bowls in four years.\u00A0 Here are three major\u00A0\u00A0revelations from the report. 1. Spygate was far more sophisticated, extensive, and shady than previously known. ESPN reports that Bill Belichick and the New England\u00A0Patriots videotaped other teams&amp;#039; play signals during 40 different games between 2000 and 2007. The organization developed an entire covert system for spying on other teams, one that a former Patriots coach said &amp;quot;got out of control.&amp;quot; It involved an advance scout who would &amp;quot;assemble a spreadsheet of all the signals and corresponding plays&amp;quot; and a &amp;quot;Director of Football Research,&amp;quot; Ernie Adams, who spent the entire week between games &amp;quot;in his office with the door closed, matching the notes to the tapes filmed from the sideline.&amp;quot; He created files for each team that eventually grew into a massive library of illegal material. More than that, the team also employed an array of incredibly shady tactics to hide what it was doing: During games, Walsh later told investigators, the Patriots&amp;#039; 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\u00A0\u2026\u00A0during pregame warm-ups, a low-level Patriots employee would sneak into the visiting locker room and steal the play sheet, listing the first 20 or so scripted calls for the opposing team&amp;#039;s offense. (The practice became so notorious that some coaches put out fake play sheets for the Patriots to swipe.)\u00A0 2. Roger Goodell helped cover it up. After the Patriots were caught in a sting videotaping a Jets practice, the NFL mounted a swift, three-day investigation and meted out a punishment: a $500,000 fine for Belichick, a $250,000 fine for the team, and the loss of\u00A0a first-round draft pick.\u00A0According to ESPN&amp;#039;s sources, Goodell did not believe the Patriots&amp;#039; explanation for the incident, but didn&amp;#039;t press for details: &amp;quot;Goodell didn&amp;#039;t want to know how many games were taped.&amp;quot; Next, the NFL sent three executives, including general counsel Jeff Pash, to the Patriots&amp;#039; headquarters. They obtained eight tapes of opposing teams and a stack of notes on other teams&amp;#039; signals, which Goodell ordered destroyed. In what sounds like a\u00A0scene out of a mob movie, the NFL executives &amp;quot;stomped the tapes into pieces and shredded the papers inside a Gillette Stadium conference room.&amp;quot; Then, to put the scandal to bed, Goodell sought other public voices that agreed the whole thing was no big deal. Rams coach Mike Martz says Goodell called him personally, urging him to make a statement publicly that the spying did not affect the outcome of St. Louis&amp;#039;s 2002 Super Bowl loss to the Patriots. Representatives of the Steelers and Eagles\u2014also defeated by the Patriots on their way to championships\u2014did so. 3. The outsized Deflategate punishment was a &amp;quot;makeup call&amp;quot; from Roger Goodell. Consistency is one of the most valuable attributes in a good referee. Based on how he has handed out punishments in high-profile NFL disciplinary cases, Roger Goodell would be a terrible ref. Ray Rice was initially suspended for just two games after he was caught on video brutally assaulting his wife in an Atlantic City hotel, but when Tom Brady and the Patriots were accused of deflating footballs, Goodell brought the hammer down, banning the star quarterback for twice as many contests. It didn&amp;#039;t make much sense at the time, but ESPN&amp;#039;s reporting sheds light on the gears working behind the scenes. After Goodell protected the Patriots (and, by extension, the NFL) throughout Spygate, the owners of the league&amp;#039;s 31 other teams expected the pendulum to swing when Deflategate exploded into relevance. &amp;quot;It was,&amp;quot; ESPN reports an owner saying, &amp;quot;Time for &amp;#039;a makeup call.&amp;#039;&amp;quot; It all looks like bad news for the Trump campaign, which seems to have struck up an alliance with the Brady-Kraft axis just in time for the controversy.  Update:\u00A0Both Roger Goodell and the New England Patriots have responded to ESPN&amp;#039;s report.\u00A0 &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m not aware of any connection between the Spygate procedures and the procedures we went through here,&amp;quot; Goodell said on\u00A0ESPN&amp;#039;s Mike and Mike radio show. &amp;quot;We obviously learn from anytime we go through any kind of a process\u2014try to improve it\u2014get better at it. But there&amp;#039;s no connection in my mind to the two incidents.&amp;quot; He also said he would be open to a diminished role in future NFL disciplinary proceedings, but not to a third-party arbitrator, because &amp;quot;the standards of the N.F.L. are important to uphold, and we don&amp;#039;t want to delegate that responsibility or standard.&amp;quot; Meanwhile, the Patriots have\u00A0firmly stated\u00A0that they didn&amp;#039;t spy on anyone, and even if they had it wouldn&amp;#039;t have made a difference because Bellichick and Brady are that good: [H/T ESPN, Deadspin] "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/sports/news/a37727/espn-deflategate-spygate/>