The New York Jets reportedly prompted an investigation into three Kraft Sports employees, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
The Patriots have been at the center of potential cheating incidents for almost over a decade now. Whether it's Spygate or Deflategate, there seems to always be something the Patriots might be involved in. The Jets likely didn't want to be another team to get cheated on Saturday and reportedly asked for their locker room at Gillette Stadium to be swept for bugs, according to Boomer Esiason of WFAN.
A source for Pro Football Talk has stated that the Jets did not ask for the locker to be swept for bugs, but the source would not deny that the locker room was swept for bugs. No listening devices have ever been found in the any locker rooms at Gillette Stadium, according to Florio.
Whether Jets asked to have the locker room swept remains a mystery, but it is now known that the Jets prompted an investigation into three Kraft employees that were near the Patriots sideline during their game last week.
"Jets Security Director Robert Mastroddi made an inquiry with NFL Security regarding the presence of two individuals wearing headsets and Patriots attire who were position outside of the bench area on the Patriots sideline," stated and email obtained by Pro Football Talk. "Mastroddi requested to know who they were, and expressed concern given their proximity to the Patriots bench."
Following the request, NFL Security Lenny Brandy and Dick Farley questioned the three Kraft employees. The three employees are responsible for stadium entertainment. One of the employee's duties is to keep fresh batteries in the referee's in-stadium microphone. Mastroddi didn't except that explanation and could not understand how people responsible for the referee's microphone could be affiliated with the team playing.
Jay Reid of the officiating department confirmed that the teams handle referee's microphones. The three employees reportedly all had their pictures taken and were hovered over until the third quarter when a stadium operations manager told the NFL security to take all further inquiries to the Patriots and Gillette Stadium management, according to Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald.
"We have for years conducted regular and random checks," said NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy regarding the Jets locker room being swept for bugs, via the Boston Herald.
The league found that there is nothing to indicate that conduct or actions taken during the Jets Patriots game were inappropriate, according to Florio. The Jets face the Patriots again on Dec. 27 in MetLife Stadium.
