ESPN issues late-night apology to Patriots

ESPN has finally said “we’re sorry” to the Patriots. But not for the report that turned a curiosity into #DeflateGate!

Instead, ESPN has apologized for repeating as fact a Boston Herald report regarding alleged cheating prior to Super Bowl XXXVI, even though the Herald report that the Patriots videotaped the Rams’ final walk-through practice before the game was prominently retracted years ago.

“On two occasions in recent weeks, SportsCenter incorrectly cited a 2002 report regarding the New England Patriots and Super Bowl XXXVI,” anchor Steve Levy said at 12:20 a.m. ET Thursday, in a one-time-only on-air declaration of regret. “That story was found to be false, and should not have been part of our reporting. We apologize to the Patriots organization.”

The correction, which technically needs to be corrected again because it was a 2008 report not 2002, hasn’t been repeated on the endless Thursday morning SportsCenter loop, which makes it the equivalent of the tiny little correction buried in an obscure location of a newspaper.

Speaking of things buried in obscure locations, the apology appears nowhere that we can find it on the front page of ESPN.com or the ESPN.com NFL home page or the ESPN.com Patriots page. Instead, it shows up on the ESPN.com Corrections page.

ESPN provided PFT a link to the Corrections page, which I otherwise can’t find at ESPN.com. It’s identical to what Levy read on the air — including the erroneous reference to 2002, not 2008.

I then scrolled through the corrections page to see specifically where ESPN.com corrected its report from Chris Mortensen that 11 of 12 Patriots footballs were measured at two pounds under the minimum during halftime of the AFC title game. There’s no correction to be found on that point, and there’s been no on-air apology.

I suppose I’ll have to set my alarm for 12:20 a.m. ET every night to see if Steve Levy has anything to say about it. Or whether he’ll be talking about a grievance being filed against the Patriots on behalf of a player with a very specific type of neck injury.

And, yes, it was former Patriots defensive back Maurice Hurst who had that very specific type of neck injury that Levy so famously shared with us two decades ago.

175 responses to “ESPN issues late-night apology to Patriots

  1. Hopefully someone will have the guts to expose them once this “trial” is over. They have been allowed to do this long enough.

  2. This is literally unbelievable. They misreport and then either don’t correct it for six months or do it in the middle of the night. They then follow that up the next day by providing a forum for Tony Dungy to smear the Patriots with another baseless accusation. Could ESPN be any more in the NFL’s pocket? They’re now like Fox News, mindlessly reporting whatever one group of people wants out there. Shame on them.

  3. It’s good practice since they’ll have more of that to say to the Patriots organization very soon.

    🙂

  4. Tony Dungy was on Dan Patrick show and he said the former Pats who played for the Colts told them that this visitor locker room was bugged. Manning and his OC would talk in the hallway because of it.

    This is a cheater organization, they have been caught and evidence destroyed. Just because not every single charge against them has concrete proof does not mean they are owed an apology.

  5. If an apology is made in the middle of the night and nobody hears it, is it still an apology?

  6. And the Patriots and their fans would like to apologize to the rest of the league and their fans for kicking your butts for 15 years!

  7. Wow, its patently obvious that ESPN takes its marching orders directly from the NFL offices.

    Until Kensil and the NY Jet cabal is removed from the league offices, the bias and libel towards New England will continue.

  8. and it will be another 13 years before they appoligise for promoting the deflategate fiasco

  9. ESPN has mentioned this numerous times in the past 7 months.

    Also, what ever happened to Tedy Bruschi? I see him on NFL Live once defending Brady (back in February), and haven’t seen him since.

    Oh that’s right, ESPN wants to continue owning Monday Night Football….they’ll push whatever NFL agenda they want to, so long as the revenue keeps coming in.

  10. They are responsible for spreading the NFL’s lies throughout Deflategate. From false PSI’s to Kelly Naqui to Brady willing to accept 1 game suspension.

    And don’t forget the NFL’s biggest lie of all…that 243 page pile of ___ that says the Pats cheated.

  11. Next Goodell and 31 owners..But someone will have to pour coffee into Irsay and explain everything to him..slowly

  12. Mike Kensil only lets ESPN’s reporters out of their gimp cage at 1210 am ET, so that’s the only time you’ll hear a retraction. But don’t set that alarm clock til Aug. 19, 2023 for the apology for Mortensen being Goodell’s misinformation mouthpiece.

  13. BREAKING NEWS! Good to hear ESPN is finally taking responsibility for their… oh gosh, I can’t even type it with a straight face. I guess this was an NFL trial balloon at an apology.

  14. What’s happened to Tedy Bruschi? He’s gone for being a flipping homer with no objectivity, that’s why.

    Just because you get thumbs up on profootballtalk from delusional Pats fans doesn’t mean you are a great commentator.

  15. Tony Dungy, who are these former Patriots that played for you that told you this? Let’s be up front here and name names. Let’s hear from those players.

  16. i have a feeling the bosses at Disney are starting to wonder what ethically has going on in Bristol.

    The billion dollar corporation has too many obligations to be squaky clean, and cannot allow ESPN to jeopardize their product.

  17. In addition to their mis-reporting of information, they are also very good at not reporting important details. For instance, I would like to know exactly when during Spygate ESPN ever reported that video taping the opposing side line was completely legal, which it is, just not from the location they did it from. They left that little piece of information out because if people knew that video taping the opposing side line was legal, there wouldn’t have been nearly the outrage. So, they left that little nugget out and began 8 years of Patriots hater commentary.

  18. So, will this story finally prove to people that the MEDIA is too powerful ? Regardless of it being sports or world events.
    The media is too influential and for the most part slanted to the liberal side.

  19. Florio’s justified hatred and accurate criticism of all things ESPN is probably my favorite thing about sports media.

  20. So they tried to bury their mistake?

    You mean like you did when you removed all the links from the story you posted mocking Steven A Smith after it turned out that everything he said was true and you looked stupid?

    Well, at least espn ‘DID’ apologize! That’s more than can be said for you!

  21. Meh…they need to apologize for that best uniforms ranking. The N.E. Cheater unis have looked like dorky rejected USFL designs since the AFL days.

  22. In the cold cruel dark world, where everyone is out to get the Patriots, to spread whatever vicious lies they can muster against this horribly wronged team, isn’t it wonderful that there exists this one tiny refuge, this sanctuary, where the voice and reason and truth prevail. and sure to have the Patriots’ backs.

  23. It’s the equivalent of a newspaper printing an apology to a prominent front-page story several weeks later, burying it at the bottom of page 20, but getting the facts wrong again!

  24. Well they’re one up on you Florio. I’ve been reading your site for about 5 years now and I’ve never seen an apology article posted by you. Even though a quick google search can find instances over the last eight years or so of you reporting false information as fact. Please link me to your apology for those instances. Thanks.

  25. Between this and Kessler borrowing my “ninth grade chemistry” jabs over the Ideal gas law, it’s been a pretty good week. Oh, and my team won the Super Bowl and has been highly competitive for nearly two decades, which is nice. Enjoy the summer everybody!

  26. Who cares they ARE cheaters!!! When Brady retires & BB quits right after that they WILL suck again just like the 70’s, 80’s & early 90’s & every one can’t wait!!! Hell Kraft will probably sell the team when that happens, can’t wait!!!

  27. Patriot fans – turn off ESPN!! the only thing that will get their attention is lower ratings. We need to organize a boycott!!

  28. Regardless, this deflate thing is funny because the goofball QB got caught cheating, the team stealing defensive play calls by secretly taping them was a far worse offense that had real impact on game outcomes and should have been punished much more harshly than it was.

  29. ESPN loves to play politics. The NFL is their buddy so they won’t worry about false reporting that toes the company line. Meanwhile, they now hate hockey because the NHL pulled from their awful network.

  30. Great catch @MikeFlorio

    I wonder if ESPN can see any light of day seeing as they’re so deep in the pockets of the NFL

  31. It really is hilarious how much nfl “fans” don’t know about nfl rules.

    For example, most of the genius’s on this board would be astounded to learn that stealing signals has never been illegal in the nfl, no one in the nfl has ever claimed that it is/was and that EVERY team in the nfl has employees who at least part of their job is to try to figure them out for every opponent their team plays.

    These Einstein’s also don’t have any clue what the patriots were penalized for in Spy gate.

    The rocket scientists seem to believe the patriots were penalized for videotaping in certain places they weren’t supposed to be up until 2007 when in fact there was never any rule against it until the 2007 season and a number of teams did the same thing that was perfectly legal until that season.

    The patriots were fined for still doing it in the first game of that season. They not only went on to win that game and every other game that season until losing in the SB in the last seconds because of a fluky catch.

    As for ESPN, they are not a news station, they are an entertainment media outlet like the National Enquire; no one expects journalistic integrity from them because that is not what they are trying to achieve

  32. You also won’t find an Ombudsman at ESPN anymore – and where the Ombudsman link used to be there’s a “feedback” page – so you can tell ESPN what you think of their biased coverage and support of Goodell and the owner’s fabricated scandal against the Patriots

    The “feedback” page is also disabled

    It’s amazing to me that some fans STILL insist that despite Goodell being caught in a web of lies, leaks (assisted by ESPN) and deciet that they STILL are SO JEALOUS of the Patriots that they believe Goodell

    Amazing – and embarrassing for NFL fans everywhere to think THIS is the IQ of so many fans

    Judge Berman is clearly disgusted with the NFL in this fabricated scandal/sting/witch hunt

    You all should be too

  33. This apology along with another one from Mort should run on the ESPN crawl for until the regular season opens.

    At that point, maybe, a couple of the Haters will realize they have been wrong for years. Critical thinking posters, it doesn’t hurt that much!

  34. Brady should have just admitted his cheating so we could just move on. I hate this story, but the Patriots trying to weasel out of this cheating is ridiculous.

  35. Ask Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner if its false. It was an obvious cover-up. Also, the Spygate findings stated the Patriots had been illegally filming sideline signals since 2001, so its not inaccurate to say the Patriots have been cheating since 2001. Lastly, that report was NEVER proven false, it was retracted because once congress started sniffing around the evidence was burned and the whistleblower was silenced by an agreement with the nfl aka hush money.

  36. ESPN has become so repulsive that it is unwatchable these days. Now ESPN is using Dungy as its stool pigeon by him repeating what some former Colt players who formerly played for the Pats told him about locker room bugging. I will not put much credence into what Dungy says until he start naming names of his former players. When does this smear campaign on the Pats end?

  37. so funny reading these comments and seeing the envy that Pats fans (i’m not one of them) get from the rest of the country

    how soft have people become lol

  38. Mike, the only reason they did that so they can say so if sued.

    I notified ESPN when they did this and posted it to PFT.

    tigerlilac says:
    Aug 12, 2015 10:42 AM
    Wow. ESPN’s Hannah Storm just said during an interview of Ditka that the Patriots “filmed practices” in the past. Total lie. Tat network is an embarrassment.

  39. That “bugging” story involving that perpetual underachiever, Tony Dungy, made me crack up. You know one good way to tell if the opposing coach is in your head? You start getting ultra paranoid and start thinking your locker room is “bugged.” Just goes to show that the Patriots intimidate the bejeesus outta a lot of other teams and their second-rate coaches; on and off the field.

  40. Need not apologize, tomorrow morning, when you wake up, The Patriots will still be the Super Bowl Champs. Anger ensues through your body, whilst childish baby stories emerge from the barracks of jealous losers souls. The most polarizing and successful team in all of pro sports continues to rise exponentially to the top. Jersey sales at record highs, market value firing in on JJ and the Cowboys. Records, success, talent, spirit. 35 World Championships and counting for the incredible town of Boston, and the region of New England. 35 rings, Get the polish out and keep it out until we say so, we have more coming.

  41. ESPN’s late-night apology was meant to be issued in such a way that it would receive minimal media coverage, especially from ESPN themselves.

    Clearly they are following the lead of the Obama administrations by releasing info at times where no one will notice so as to ensure minimal investigation of the content being released.

  42. The on-air personalities at ESPN get all of their sports news from…ESPN!

    It’s like playing whack-a-mole with their false reports.

  43. Hey, the Rashard Mendenhall story about Roethlisberger turned out to be false, but you didn’t see churchofthehoody or any of his Pats fan buds rush over to take back their snide remarks based on the phony report.

  44. Vincent K McMahon has to be pissed he missed out on the Goodell gravy train….XFL could have been amazing

  45. Wow, looks like ESPN went to the Eric Holder school of apologies. On video: “I have absolutely no knowledge whatsoever of a gun running program.” In a private letter a few days later, “Oops, sorry guys I may have heard about that Fast & Furious thing that got old whats his name killed.”

    If an apology falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, did the apology really happen?

  46. The funniest thing about the “locker room is bugged” story is that it’s not very original: the Bills accused Al Davis of the same thing 50 years ago. The Bills coach thought Al had a bug in the light fixture. Al said something like “I won’t say whether or not the locker room was bugged, but it sure wouldn’t be in the light fixture” 🙂

  47. Apologize for what?

    Everyone knows the deflatriots are serial cheaters.

    Any rumor about that despicable franchise is most likely true.

  48. Just face it, the new england patriots are cheaters and always have been. All their championships have an asterisk next to them. Neff said !!!!!

  49. Well people realize even if espn had been right in the first place that there wasn’t any formal rules against videotaping until 2007, right?

    I understand that things like that need to be explained to guys like Warner and Faulk, but most people are at least intelligent enough to realize that, right?

  50. If it weren’t for the perceived trend the organization as set over more than a decade…none of this would be as big a deal as it’s become.

  51. Again all it is….is the cry baby organizations and their cry baby fans….grow up and get over it!!!!! Realize the Patriots are a winning organization that you wish you could be and as fans you want to support!!!

  52. Don’t hold your breath waiting on that next apology!
    ESPN has become a parody of itself. If you have to check their reporting with two or three other stations there is no credibility. That and bring back some hockey coverage and I might watch Sports Center again!!

  53. What a joke ESPN is. They’ve had it out for the Patriots for years. They’re basically in cahoots with the NFL to smear the Patriots at every opportunity. Is it any wonder that Mike Kensil, the Jets fan and Patriots hater in the NFL front office, leaked the bogus info to Chris Mortensen?

    Not to mention all the NY sports fans working at ESPN. They’ve been looking to stick it to the Patriots for years and now here’s their chance to pile on. ESPN has no credibility on DeflateGate because they clearly have an ax to grind against the Patriots. At every turn, they’ve tried to make the Patriots look bad and put on analyst like Mark Brunell and Cris Carter, who clearly have personal beefs with the Patriots. ESPN should be ashamed right now. They’re no better than FOX Noise.

  54. hairpie2 says:
    Aug 20, 2015 11:52 AM
    Hopefully someone will have the guts to expose them once this “trial” is over. They have been allowed to do this long enough.

    ——–

    The league just used deflated footballs to run a multi-million dollar investigation against the Patriots and didn’t find anything except a few texts. There is nothing more to find. They have been exposed and there wasn’t anything.

  55. I heard Hannah Strom incorrectly reference this in an interview she did with Ditka last week.

    So that was one of the “occasions,” to use ESPN’s word.

    12:20 AM. One time apology. Amazing. SMH…

  56. iamkillerfin says:
    Aug 20, 2015 12:14 PM
    Who cares they ARE cheaters!!! When Brady retires & BB quits right after that they WILL suck again just like the 70’s, 80’s & early 90’s & every one can’t wait!!! Hell Kraft will probably sell the team when that happens, can’t wait!!!

    ————-

    And you and your team’s fans will continue to cry because your team will continue to suck as it always has….

  57. “Tony Dungy was on Dan Patrick show and he said the former Pats who played for the Colts told them that this visitor locker room was bugged. Manning and his OC would talk in the hallway because of it”

    Great, more excuses from Peyton Manning, the biggest choke artist in the history of the NFL.

    Makes sense though. You can only blame your offensive line, your defense and your receivers so many times.

  58. rollotomasi14 says:
    Aug 20, 2015 12:53 PM
    Going to be real awkward for Goodell when he has to hand Kraft the Lombardi Trophy and Brady the SB MVP trophy at the end of this season.

    ————–
    Not really. Brady will simply tell Goodell: “Put it down there and get the hell of the stage”….

  59. Hey, the truth is, I go out of my way to NOT watch ESPN because I have had my fill of their “agenda driven” programming.

    Truth of the matter is this; Bill Belichick’s philosophy is to stay out of the media. ESPN hates that. He wont give them interviews so they villanize him.

    Thats the truth!! If anybody is being honest with themselves they could see it!

  60. ” All their championships have an asterisk next to them”

    That’s odd. I just looked up the list of SB champions on Wikipedia and didn’t see a single asterisk.

    New England Patriots – Super Bowl Champions. Suck on it!!!

  61. The citations for the phrase, if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying, or a paraphrase.
    Note, no patriot coach is referenced

    NASCAR driver Richard Petty, in a 1972 newspaper article, was said to have once remarked, “If you ain’t trying to cheat a little, you ain’t likely to win much.”

    The Sunday Oregonian (Portland, OR), “Weekend warriors enjoy playing guerilla games” by John Snel:
    Their team was disqualified from two games for cheating. On one occasion they tried to tie their flag down to make it more difficult for the enemy to steal it. Conway justified the tactic, declaring, “If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’.”

    28 September 1999, Rockford (IL) Register Star:
    Former major-league pitcher Larry Sorensen, who admits now that he scuffed baseballs with hidden sandpaper late in his career, summed it up this way: “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.”

  62. Keep crying haters, won’t make your team any better. Your team will still suck while the Pats are raising a SB banner. Just deal with it. NFL is about to have their ass handed to them.

  63. Congratulations to Goodell for having ABC, CBS, ESPN, and FOX all under his control for all of that programming. It more or less guarantees that no network will go after him. If other teams and fans need excuses for not competing and want to blame everything on Belichick and Brady, nothing is going to stop them and ESPN gives them every reason to believe it.

  64. dansardo says:
    Aug 20, 2015 12:55 PM
    Well people realize even if espn had been right in the first place that there wasn’t any formal rules against videotaping until 2007, right?

    ———————-

    It is still legal as well. Just “not” from the sideline. it is legal in the “specified” location on the field, legal from the stands, legal from the TV telecast, legal from the official NFL tapes they send to the teams every week, etc etc etc.

  65. “whitetrash69 says:
    Aug 20, 2015 12:21 PM
    Ask Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner if its false. It was an obvious cover-up. Also, the Spygate findings stated the Patriots had been illegally filming sideline signals since 2001, so its not inaccurate to say the Patriots have been cheating since 2001. ”

    I like making stuff up too. It was not and is not illegal to film sideline signals. In 2007, the league changed the rules on WHERE you can do the taping. It was the new Commissioner (Goodell) who wanted this tweak of the rules. Pats were arrogant enough to ignore his dictum, but the idea of it being “Cheating” is absurd.

  66. Man everyone needs to stop kissing the patriots a** They but on their big boy pants just like the rest of the teams do

  67. Or “Umpologizie” as Kraft says…

    Chances are that’s exactly what the Pats did.
    But Goodell burned all evidence in SpyGate to help cover for this “organization”
    Now look how the Pats pay him back..

  68. They need to sue for defamation. There is a recklessness to reporting that someone is a de facto cheater when the report was debunked and retracted years ago.

  69. “pondbridge says:
    Aug 20, 2015 11:59 AM
    Mike Kensil only lets ESPN’s reporters out of their gimp cage at 1210 am ET, so that’s the only time you’ll hear a retraction. ”

    Best original post in a long running series goes to pondbridge.

    Wouldn’t a quentin tarantino movie about these NFL guys be great?

  70. Still waiting for an apology for the John Barr OTL report accusing Mickey Loomis of bugging the opposing teams locker room in 2012. The state police investigated (as this would have been a criminal offense) and cleared Loomis and the Saints — still waiting for ESPN to retract that story.

  71. ESPN= The Late George Carlin’s character “Biff-Barf”
    “Biff Barf here spotlight-lighting sports in the sport light spot light. I call them the way I see them. If I don’t see them….I make it up!”

  72. Goodell is a lazy gardener.
    Since the grass has been cut their is no place or the SNAKES to hide.
    But the hypocrites will continue with their rant like Coach Dungy.

    Coach Dungy is the biggest HYPOCRITE of all the jealous NFL crybabies – Dungy wears the crown.

    Dungy was ‘DEFINITELY AWARE’ of the Pumped in Crowd Noise during the 2006 AFC Champ Game at Lucas Oil Stadium where, in addition to PUMPED IN CROWD NOISE, the Refs threw two bogus PI calls against the Patriots Receivers when Brady had the ball. Irsay even had the heat up in the stadium because he knew the Patriots had the flu.

  73. I’m surprised they’re not making more of a thing about this since the P in ESPN stands for Patriots.

  74. Most intelligent fans know that football truly IS a game of inches. Most teams have equal talent, and the margin of victory each and every game day is razor thin.

    What the cry babies who spew their venom in these comments don’t want to admit, is the REAL reason for the Patriots’ remarkable era of success is simply explained. They are just a little bit better prepared, more focused, and more disciplined than their opponent for most games..

    When the game is close, the Pats (as a team) are less likely to make the big mistake and more likely to make a big play. It’s just that simple. They aren’t perfect, but in the NFL they “do their job” more often than any team in the league.

    All that is the product of the system BB put into place over the 15 years he’s been there, and the players he brought in over the years who have bought into the program, and are willing to work just a bit harder and smarter than their opponents.

    There is NOTHING the Pats do that other teams can’t. It really isn’t a secret, but few teams are willing to take the time to REALLY commit to it. And that’s why so few coaches in this league last long.

    It’s the simple minded who can understand this and NEED an easy reason to explain the Pats success, where their own team has to endure ups and downs; so they assume they “must” be cheating. And its not just the hater loser fans who do it. There are owners and coaches who also “hate”. They have to. Otherwise what would they say to their fan bases? “I’m not as smart or competent as BB and that’s why they keep beating us, most of the time,”

    It is SO much easier to go to your fan base and tell them, “those damn Pats win too much, so they MUST be doing something illegal. It certainly isn’t MY fault.”

  75. Man, when did football fans start becoming whiny little bitches?? They should make 32 Lombardi’s to hand out every year, so nobody gets upset that their team didn’t win!

    Everything is awesome when you are part of a team!

  76. toddsuperbowles says:
    Aug 20, 2015 1:30 PM

    The Patriots did record the pre-Super Bowl walk through. No need to apologize
    __________________________

    Correct, they filmed their own.

    Another baseless, completely absurd claim backed by zero facts and/or references from by another Jets fan/Pats Hater who can’t believe his team has produced utterly futile football since 1969.

    This “type-it-and-its-true-disease” is spreading faster than the Walking Dead virus among hater nation.

    Must really suck to be a Jets fan.

  77. ESPN is the new MSNBC. Those phony anchors all know that if they say one thing that “doesn’t represent the beliefs”, of ESPN. They will be fired. Just ask Cowher, Bill. S and others.

  78. When will pats be caught cheating again?

    Most likely something to do with in-game communications, possibly involving the helmet transmitter. But I would not be surprised to hear they are recording opponents calls at the line of scrimmage.

    **** four tainted rings, one 6th round fraud.

  79. Goodell burned the CHEATING EVIDENCE on 31 Teams that Belichick had in his possession.

    Once the Goodell & the Owners reviewed those tapes and how it revealed their cheating, they went into the fire and the blame was SPIN was put on YOU = The Sheeple Public.

    Time to take a STAND against the Corruption of the NFL.

  80. raidernation210 says:Aug 20, 2015 11:50 AM

    No reason to apologize to that cheating organization
    ———————————————————-
    Stay Classy San Diego!

  81. They should apologize for hiring Ray Lewis, allowing Mike & Mike to promote Jets/ND all the time, for airing the joke that is the LLWS this week, allowing Chris Carter to have any type platform to speak on, Stephen A. Smith in general, and acting like gambling is not involved in sports by their anchors right after commercials for fanduel and poker websites. Remember when ESPN was cool. Well MTV once was as well, and now no one cares about that.

  82. Ask Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner if its false. It was an obvious cover-up. Also, the Spygate findings stated the Patriots had been illegally filming sideline signals since 2001, so its not inaccurate to say the Patriots have been cheating since 2001. Lastly, that report was NEVER proven false, it was retracted because once congress started sniffing around the evidence was burned and the whistleblower was silenced by an agreement with the nfl aka hush money.
    _________________________________

    Actually it was never proven to be true, big difference there big guy. It never happened, the guy that they said did was interviewed at his home in Hawaii and that allegations were totally false. As for you spygate reference, please educate yourself. Filming from the sidelines was not illegal until 2007 and even then it was allowed, just not from where the Pats were doing it. Please stop making yourself look foolish.

  83. “Patriots had been illegally filming sideline signals since 2001, so its not inaccurate to say the Patriots have been cheating since 2001. Lastly, that report was NEVER proven false, ”

    Uh it was legal to film from the sidelines before 2007, and many teams did so before it was changed to disallow it, so no, filmong fromthe sidelines priorto 2007 was not cheating

    And yes taping walkthroughs was disproven. 100 million dollar news companies do not retraxt stories and openthemselves to defamation suits if there is the slightest shredof truth to the report.

  84. babygaga19 says:Aug 20, 2015 1:53 PM

    Meanwhile, back in Foxborough, there has been no apology from the Pats home town rag (The Boston Herald) that caused this mess.
    ——————————————————
    Stunning how misinformed posters are here. John Tomase worked for the Herald. Got the story wrong. Took out a full page apology to the Patriot Organization.
    John is now a Red Sox reporter. He still thinks the patriots could be guilty of something? He just doesn’t know what it is?
    Like 99% of the “fans?” that post here!!!!

  85. babygaga19 says:
    Aug 20, 2015 1:53 PM
    Meanwhile, back in Foxborough, there has been no apology from the Pats home town rag (The Boston Herald) that caused this mess.

    The Herald ran a full page retraction on the front page. Google it

  86. iamkillerfin says:
    Aug 20, 2015 12:14 PM

    Who cares they ARE cheaters!!! When Brady retires & BB quits right after that they WILL suck again just like the 70’s, 80’s & early 90’s & every one can’t wait!!! Hell Kraft will probably sell the team when that happens, can’t wait!!!
    ____

    The Pats have made eight Super Bowls since the last time the Dolphins were there. 8 in the last 30 years for the Pats. 0 in the last 30 for the Fish.

    That must suck for you.

  87. Once agin the NFL and ESPN try to make the PATS look bad!!! Polian,Cater,Dungey,Falk # saw losers # bums# one les ring than Brady together

  88. No need to apologize for that. We all know the story was really true. Belichick started taping in 2000. This is a known fact. And we’re expected to believe he didn’t tape before the biggest game of his career? He was a selective cheater…only for regular season games?

    Yeah right.

  89. Funny how all the crap comes from the same sources. Teams that get regularly beat down by the Patriots. Funny how Tony was the coach and did nothing, SAID nothing until now. When he needs to keep his name in the news to stay relevant. Sure thing, Saint Tony.

  90. They must be getting prepared for the defamation lawsuit that either Brady of the Patriots will be filing soon.
    Amazing to me that despite ALL the lies the NFL has been caught telling & the lack of evidence against Tom Brady ( the NFL admitted in court when asked by Jugde Berman there was none) that people still believe that there was tampering of the footballs.
    Kensil & Vincent are both looking pretty foolish for not knowing about the Ideal Gas Law( Boyles ), that Kessler told the judge he learned about in 9th grade. Since the intercepted ball measured 3 different PSI, but all with in the expected decrease due to the law , if those 2 clowns knew that fact, it would have been a non issue.

  91. whitetrash69 says:
    Aug 20, 2015 12:21 PM
    Ask Marshall Faulk and Kurt Warner if its false. It was an obvious cover-up. Also, the Spygate findings stated the Patriots had been illegally filming sideline signals since 2001, so its not inaccurate to say the Patriots have been cheating since 2001. Lastly, that report was NEVER proven false, it was retracted because once congress started sniffing around the evidence was burned and the whistleblower was silenced by an agreement with the nfl aka hush money.

    —————-

    Once again…..filming signals from the sideline is not illegal….even today. The only illegality is “where” it takes place. And despite the whining from former Rams players, the location only became illegal in 2007…long after the Patriots dispatched of the Rams in the SB….

  92. Once again…..filming signals from the sideline is not illegal….even today. The only illegality is “where” it takes place. And despite the whining from former Rams players, the location only became illegal in 2007…long after the Patriots dispatched of the Rams in the SB….

    Dispatched? Please don’t act like the Rams were dominated. The Pats* won on a last second field goal.

  93. ESPN is going to be a dinosaur in a decade.

    Viewership and subscriptions are down. The move to un-bundle-ing cable services is going to destroy it’s revenue stream.

    There’s no sports programming on ESPN you can’t get on-line. They DRASTICALLY over value their importance in the medium.

    Eventually this bloated pig of a “news” agency is going to die under it’s own weight.

  94. I wonder why ESPN would think the Patriots would film the other team before the game? That’s odd? I wonder why the media doubted Stephen A. Smith when he reported the leak about Brady? I will check back here at 12:20 am and see if there is an apology for him reported

  95. toddsuperbowles says:
    Aug 20, 2015 2:57 PM
    SubWay Jared is a Patriots fan

    ++++++++++++++++

    Pictures of him online show him wearing a colts team shirt. Just sayin.

  96. Haha Pats fans biggest hypocrite crybabies asking for apologies yet give none when they have player kill someone or better yet get caught cheating taping the Jets , where was all the Kraft, Bellicheck, Brady homers saying they were so sorry ? Nowhere so go duck off and keep cheating and still get owned by Eli n NYG . 0-2 vs Giants in Super Bowl Kraft, Brady, Bellicheck n rest of shady Pats ..Suck it Losers , 19-0 Denied !!

  97. Google search Jared Fogle Colts and you will find stories and pictures of him, verifying that he is a die hard Colts fan. Even interviews as he attended playoff games.

  98. 49ers fan of 50+ years. Got no dog in this hunt. Read every single one of these comments on this thread. There was 145 at that time.

    It is clear that the worm has turned on the haters, the league, Goodell, ESPN, owners, and supporting ‘talking heads’.

    The NFL has one argument and one only. They can do this because the ‘contract’ allows it. Nothing else matters.

    They can ignore precedence. They can arbitrarily impose penalty without consequence. They can offer any reason without foundation.

    Doesn’t matter if they conduct themselves in an abusive manner. Doesn’t matter if they manufactured this confrontation through their own machination. They can do it because it is contractually allowed.

    Time to strip this organization of its status. They are a protected monopoly. They are protected against anti-trust law and most class action suit. Time to tax the hell out of the owners AND the League/organization.

  99. Let’s all admit the truth:

    As all the above commenters factually state, Patriots cheated filming practices and Brady had the ballboys take the air out of the Ball

    It’s obvious the government is just hiding the evidence

    Also NASA never landed on the Moon, and the Federal Reserve system is part of an effort to start a New World Order

    I will give Brady credit though – he destroyed his cellphone, which is wise, seeing as the world government based in Hollywood plans on using cellphones for mind-control

  100. I’m so glad my coworker told me about the pft app years ago..haven’t had to watch espn(tmz) and listen to their bs anymore. You guys are the best, keep doing what you’re doing!

  101. Hilarious.

    One of many reasons I don’t watch ESPN anymore.

    ESPN has a ‘special’ relationship with the NFL.

    Facts:

    Patriots cheat

    ESPN sucks

  102. Given the restriction of the salary cap that began in 1994, the pats are arguably the most successful team in nfl history during that time. Most of it under brady and Belichick, but they began to be good years before.

    It actually started when the Krafts bought the team in 1994 and the pats first SB appearance during this period actually happened when brady was still in high school.

    You don’t have to win a SB every year to be a dynasty and no other NFL dynasty ever had to work within a salary cap as the pats have for the last 20 years.

  103. Hmm the real truth is the batteries for the cameras were left at the hotel and my owner watched the practice from an obscure location unnoticed. His OC Daboll got the Faulk play by a written X’s and O’s depiction. Yup we were spyin, just no video

  104. Haha Pats fans biggest hypocrite crybabies asking for apologies yet give none when they have player kill someone or better yet get caught cheating taping the Jets , where was all the Kraft, Bellicheck, Brady homers saying they were so sorry ? Nowhere so go duck off and keep cheating and still get owned by Eli n NYG . 0-2 vs Giants in Super Bowl Kraft, Brady, Bellicheck n rest of shady Pats ..Suck it Losers , 19-0 Denied !!

    ==========
    Four SB titles this century, what you have done lately?

  105. Tony Dungy hinted on a radio show that the visiting locker room at Foxboro was bugged. I have to take him for his word. Add that to the list.

  106. When is Robert Kraft and the rest of the Patriots organization going to apologize for their transgressions? I’m sure every team has cheated at one time or another. The difference with the Patriots is that they think that they’re above the law and they don’t even care that they get caught. They are an embarrassment to all of American sports.

  107. ESPN’S credibility has gone down the drain along with The League with it’s handlleing of the Deflatgate issue. Because of their partnership with the NFL, ESPN will be forever cast as the preferred network to spew league propaganda.

  108. rcali says: “Tony Dungy hinted on a radio show that the visiting locker room at Foxboro was bugged.”

    ——
    No, Tony Dungy said that Peyton Manning watched what he said in the locker room because he was afraid that it might be bugged, and that Peyton was obsessive about things like that.

    It might explain Peyton’s less-than-stellar (to put it mildly) Foxboro performances, being so gripped with crazy paranoia.

  109. While it shouldn’t be a problem for any organization or adult to admit when they have made a mistake. I fail to see what all the hubbub is over a sports media outlet that nobody watches or listens too, making an apology for something nobody heard, that nobody is going to hear, that is unless it was repeated erroneously by a certain sports media outlet. Or am I missing something. Hell, I get countless emails from a certain right wing media organization that claim the imminent incarceration in FEMA camps of all non-compliant citizens, have for months, and I don’t expect and apology from Bill O’Reilly.

  110. At this point why bother apologizing for this? They haven’t apologized for all the other botched reports, including the one by Mort at the beginning of this deflategate fiasco. ESPN has about as much credibility as NFL headquarters…

  111. Gotta love the production values, this video looks like its from the mid 90s. Also bonus points for making it seem like there was a rule against where you could film from pre 2007.

    Bravo.

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