The New England Patriots admitted that a crew last Sunday "unknowingly violated a league policy by filming the field and sideline from the press box" of the Cincinnati Bengals who they play this Sunday. One day, things aren’t looking good at all for the New England Patriots. The next, the defending champs are grappling with a very bad look. A day after officiating blunders and another poor passing performance by Tom Brady were the biggest takeaways from New England’s first home loss in two years, the Patriots acknowledged that a video crew working for the team filmed the Cincinnati sideline during the Bengals’ game at Cleveland. Cincinnati plays New England this weekend. Yes, another camera-spying flap from the team that brought the term “Spygate” into the NFL lexicon in 2007 when the Patriots were caught videotaping opposing team signals in a scandal that cost them a first-round draft pick and $250,000 and made Bill Belichick’s bank account $500,000 lighter. Crucial calls made in the final minute of the Dolphins-Jets game and the 49ers-Saints showdown in a wild Week 14 were overshadowed by the Patriots’ mushrooming problems. In a statement posted on Twitter and the team website, the Patriots said a three-person crew for a web series titled “Do Your Job” “inappropriately filmed the field from the press box” as part of a feature on the scouting department. The filming took place “without specific knowledge of league rules,” the statement said. The Patriots said the Browns, the home team, granted the crew credentials but in an “unintended oversight,” the team failed to inform the Bengals or the NFL and when confronted, the crew “immediately turned over all footage to the league and cooperated fully,” the team said. Spygate, as The AP’s Jimmy Golen wrote, helped fuel a widespread distrust of the team that reverberated a decade later when the Patriots were accused of illegally deflating footballs used in the 2015 AFC championship game. Brady was suspended four games, and the team was fined $1 million and docked another first-round draft pick. A few years after Spygate, Josh McDaniels, who was head coach in Denver between stints as Brady’s offensive play caller, was fired in the aftermath of a video scandal in which Steve Scarnecchia, the son of longtime Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia and who followed McDaniels to Denver, illegally filmed the 49ers’ practice ahead of a 2010 game against the Broncos in London. Asked about the latest vexing videotape reports during his radio show on Monday, Belichick told WEEI the video crew was completely separate from the football staff: “We have absolutely nothing to do with anything that they produce or direct or shoot. I have never seen any of their tapes or anything else. This is something that we 100% have zero involvement with.” t hardly seems necessary for the Patriots (10-3) to need special intel on the signals of the Bengals (1-12). Then again, the Patriots’ past rap sheet means football fans outside New England don’t give them the benefit of the doubt. On Sunday, the Patriots didn’t get the calls that seemingly always went their way at Gillette Stadium. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm QUICKTAKE ON SOCIAL: Follow QuickTake on Twitter: twitter.com/quicktake Like QuickTake on Facebook: facebook.com/quicktake Follow QuickTake on Instagram: instagram.com/quicktake Subscribe to our newsletter: https://bit.ly/2FJ0oQZ Email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. QuickTake by Bloomberg is a global news network delivering up-to-the-minute analysis on the biggest news, trends and ideas for a new generation of leaders.