Patriots' kicker tactic branded 'diabolically clever'

It started when Ryan Paganetti, a football analytics expert who won a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles, noticed something unusual about how the uprights were displayed on the video board at Gillette Stadium.

The story has drawn reactions ranging from apathy to outrage, as all corners of the NFL community weigh in.

DAZN News breaks down Paganetti's claim, the counter-claim, and the numbers behind it all.

Paganetti's Patriots claim

Paganetti says he reviewed more than a decade of broadcasts and found something he described as a "diabolically clever piece of Patriots gamesmanship."

"When opposing kickers lined up at Gillette Stadium, the video board displayed a reverse view of the kick, placing a second, offset set of yellow uprights directly behind the real ones," he said.

But that wasn't all he discovered.

"In windy conditions, even the orange streamers on the video board appeared to point in the opposite direction from those atop the physical uprights, making the illusion even more disorienting."

Paganetti says he checked 52 Patriots' field-goal attempts from the same games and never once found the same display shown in those.

His football background lends some weight to the claim. Paganetti spent six years with the Philadelphia Eagles under Doug Pederson, a period that included their Super Bowl LII win over New England.

He has also worked for the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Las Vegas Raiders under Pete Carroll, and has consulted at the FBS Power 4 level.

The Patriots' explanation

A competing account appears in a story from The Athletic.

Quoting a league source, the report says that in the early 2010s, Stephen Gostkowski reportedly told Patriots coaches that the video board footage of his own kicks was distracting and asked for a static image instead.

The same article explains that the Patriots received confirmation from the league that the all-22 camera angle the Patriots had been using was permitted.

The numbers behind the Patriots' theory

Maddie Meyer / Staff

There is a stark disparity between the Patriots' field goal success and failure rates and those of their opponents at Gillette Stadium.

As Paganetti pointed out, "over Bill Belichick’s 24 seasons with the Patriots, visiting kickers made 76.6% of field goals, the NFL's lowest home rate."

Compare that rate to the league-wide average of 82.5% over that same period, and it becomes clear why this story has gained so much traction.

The NFL community reacts to the Patriots drama

Pat McAfee called Paganetti’s findings "a great piece of intel" in a post on X.

Reaction elsewhere has split fairly evenly between admiration for the ingenuity and accusations of rule-bending.

One fan said, "Bill was a genius and Ernie Adams was also a genius with stuff like this. Ernie I don’t know will ever get the credit he deserves for the Pats Dynasty."

Another seemed less impressed, posting, "It's called cheating or bad sportsmanship."

Analysis: Gamesmanship, but not cheating

DAZN NFL writer, Jason Abbey

The evidence overwhelmingly supports the claim that this was a conscious decision and that it had a significant effect on the outcome of field goals.

But whether you love or hate the Patriots, there was nothing in the rules to stop New England from taking this approach.

For that reason, it cannot be called cheating and must be chalked up as gamesmanship.

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