Sideline-Gate? Jets Investigate Patriots Employees During Week 7 Game

The Patriots have never been caught using listening devices in the opposing locker room, but rumors of such have emerged in the past, most recently in Sports Illustrated's examination of the Pats' history of breaking and bending the rules.

Esiason very casually mentions that the Jets asked the National Football League to sweep their locker room for bugs, and it isn't until his co-host, Craig Carton, stops him to point out what a big scoop this is that Esiason reveals where he heard it from. The request complained about stadium operations and radio frequencies, according to the Herald. The employee reportedly photographed each person, interrogated them and then checked their cellphones and radios to ensure they were operating on correct channels.

The report regarding the questioning is the latest news to come out that Jets game, which include a reported sweep of the New York locker room before the game for listening devices. The three employees are responsible for stadium entertainment.

Needless to say with DeflateGate still looming after the league filed their appeal this week, "routine" or not, the NFL still seems to be searching for a few sort of smoking gun from a Patriots team who is just three wins away from adding another 10-win season to the record books, having won 10 or more games in every season dating all the way back to 2003 while also not having a losing season since 2000. Second, why were those three employees the ones selected for interrogation?

Those reports indicate that the primary focus of the search was to find bugs discreetly planted for the goal of eavesdropping.

On Friday morning, Boomer Esiason of CBS Sports reported on WFAN that the Jets asked the National Football League to sweep the visitors' locker room at Gillette Stadium for bugs before their game against the Patriots on Sunday. League spokesman Brian McCarthy tweeted on Friday, "We have for years conducted regular and random checks". "That's the paranoia about going up to [New England]".

A few members of New England's staff were subject to questioning last Sunday.