Paranoia is a dominant gene among the NFL head-coaching ranks and playing the New England Patriots multiplies that nervousness tenfold. Since the Patriots were caught filming the Jets’ walkthroughs during the 2007 season, teams have been wary about facing them. In big games, that paranoia reaches “Ray Liotta-leerily-surveying-the-sky-for-black-helicopters-in-Goodfellas” levels.
The surveillance state had the Philadelphia Eagles on edge prior to Super Bowl LII, as well. No, the Eagles didn’t accuse the feds of bugging their locker room prior to The Big Game. Instead, Philly was on edge like Rockwell about the possibility of being videotaped by the New England Patriots.