The New England Patriots have a reputation for bending the rules in order to gain an advantage over their opponents, and it appears Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott thought they were up to some of their old tricks on Sunday.
As the Bills were going through their warmup routine prior to kickoff of Sunday’s game, McDermott was seen confronting a couple of Patriots staffers who were spectating while Buffalo ran through their plays. The coach did not seem happy.
Sean McDermott shooing a couple of Patriots staffers off the field who were watching the end of #Bills warmups.
McDermott appears pretty unhappy#BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/6CV8a0sOQc— Thad (@thadbrown7) September 29, 2019
As Ryan Hannable of WEEI noted, one of the staffers was Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s son Brian.
The Patriots had no choice but to walk by the Bills after they finished with their own warmups. While the visiting team always leaves the field first, the setup in Buffalo makes it so the visitors have to walk by the Bills on their way to the locker room. Belichick also appeared to watch a couple of plays, which you could argue is a violation of unwritten rules.
The visiting team ALWAYS leaves the field first for warmups.
The Patriots were warming up on the far side of the field, so they had to run past the Bills to reach the only tunnel to the locker room.
The Bills choose the setup for warmups.
Still… likely a breach of decorum.— Thad (@thadbrown7) September 29, 2019
Teams have gone to great lengths in an attempt to prevent the Patriots from spying on them in the past, and that paranoia often works in New England’s favor. It’s unclear exactly what McDermott said or if the Patriots were blatantly scouting when they shouldn’t have been, but it’s no surprise McDermott reacted the way he did.
