'Spy Gate: The story that almost destroyed the New England Patriots dynasty

Since the beginning of the century, the New England Patriots have been the greatest franchise in the NFL, winning six Super Bowls since 2000.

Under coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, the Patriots were the flagship team of the 2000s, becoming a dynasty by winning their first three Super Bowls between 2001 and 2005.

However, on September 9, 2007, the empire the Patriots and Belichick had built looked to be crumbling down after being found illegally videotaping the New York Jets coaches, according to the History website.

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Just before half-time of the Patriots' 38-14 win over the Jets, a 26-year-old New England video assistant named Matt Estrella was caught filming the hand signals from New York's defensive assistants on video.

As reported by Sportskeeda, Roger Goodell and the NFL launched an investigation and found that the Patriots had been illegally filming the opposition coaches from their own sideline. The investigation was dubbed 'Spy Gate.'

Videotaping opposition coaches isn't completely illegal in the NFL because there are designated areas allowed by the league to do such taping. However, because it was done from the sideline, Goodell deemed it deliberate and a violation of league rules.

As reported by the Boston Globe, the Patriots were fined $250,000, Bill Belichick was fined $500,000, and they were docked their first-round draft pick in 2008.

The New England Patriots didn't let Spy Gate affect them as they stuck together for Bill Belichick, winning 16 out of their 17 regular season games, and making the Super Bowl against the New York Giants.

As Spy Gate continued to unfold around their impressive season, the NFL required the Patriots to overturn every tape possibly related to filming opposition players but the Patriots didn't want any to leave the building.

As reported by ESPN, because the Patriots didn't want the tapes to leave the facilities, NFL officials went to the Patriots arena and destroyed them without thoroughly looking through them.

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US senator Arlen Specter criticized Goodell for destroying the tapes just two days before the Patriots played the Giants in the 2008 Super Bowl to go a full season undefeated.

According to the Boston Globe, after a meeting between Specter and Goodell, it was revealed that there were tapes as far back as 2000, including the St Louis Rams walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl in which the Patriots won.

With the fresh allegations making the media spotlight, the Patriots weren't able to finish the season invincible, losing 17-14 to Eli Manning and the Giants.

Matt Walsh, a former Patriots video assistant in 2001, told the media he had material and information regarding the Patriots' videoing practices. The NFL and Walsh agreed he would send eight videotapes from 2000 to 2002.

The Boston Globe reported that Walsh and other Patriots employees were present at the Rams walkthrough, but there was no evidence of filming them. Goodell told the media that the Patriots would face no further penalties in May 2008.

Spy Gate may have hindered the success and dynasty created by Bill Belichick, but it would later be forgotten, having won three more Super Bowls in 2015, 2017, and 2019.

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