TEAM: The Philadelphia Eagles

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: Performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) are used by players to illegally improve athletic performance above what legal training and preparation can do.

Players who illegally improve their performance unfairly penalize players who follow the rules. They not only put those players at risk for physical injury, but they also affect their economic livelihood by impacting their perceived value and their ability to secure appropriately-valued playing contracts.

SEVERITY = 0.5 video cameras per punished incident. Includes all documented infractions from 1960 to present with this Wikipedia page as the primary source.

• G Ron Solt (1989)
• DB Matt Stevens (1997)
• CB Joselio Hanson (2009)
• LB Jake Knott (2014)
• OT Lane Johnson (2014)
• OT Lane Johnson (2016) - suspended 10 games

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? Yes

PUNISHMENT: Each player was suspended for four games for violating the league's performance-enhancing drug policy.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/PHI#PEDSgate-1989

AWARDS EARNED: Everyone Was Doing It!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 6.0

TEAM: The Philadelphia Eagles

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: The Philadelphia Eagles forfeited a third-round draft pick for holding an illegal tryout.

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? Yes

PUNISHMENT: The Eagles lost a third-round draft pick.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/PHI#Tryoutgate-1980

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 3.0

TEAM: The Philadelphia Eagles

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: On November 23, 1989, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Dallas Cowboys 27–0. Following the game, which was broadcast on CBS and later dubbed the Bounty Bowl, Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson alleged that Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan had taken out a bounty on two of the former's players, kicker Luis Zendejas and quarterback Troy Aikman.

Said Johnson: "I have absolutely no respect for the way they played the game, I would have said something to Buddy, but he wouldn't stand on the field long enough. He put his big, fat rear end into the dressing room." Ryan denied the bounty accusation, saying that film of the game "show that Small had no intention of hurting Zendejas." The Philadelphia coach asserted it would have been in the Eagles' best interests to keep Zendejas in the game because he was in a slump. Ryan also joked about Johnson's accusations.

Two weeks later, the teams played Bounty Bowl II.

VICTIM: Dallas Cowboys

PUNISHED? No but ... it's more probable than not that this was cheating

PUNISHMENT: This wasn't the first time Buddy Ryan put out a "contract." He was even rumored to have offered an incentive to flatten Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/PHI#Bountygate-1989

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 3.0

TEAM: The Philadelphia Eagles

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: Ex-Eagles and retired Pro Bowl quarterback Jeff Blake confessed in an interview that removing air from footballs was common when he played in the NFL from 1992-2005.

"I'm just going to let the cat of the bag, every team does it, every game, it has been since I played," the ex-Eagles QB said Wednesday in a radio interview on the "Midday 180" show on Nashville's 104.5 The Zone. "Cause when you take the balls out of the bag, they are rock hard. And you can't feel the ball as well. It's too hard.

"Everybody puts the pin in and takes just enough air out of the ball that you can feel it a little better. But it's not the point to where it's flat. So I don't know what the big deal is. It's not something that's not been done for 20 years."

Blake says that he'd order ball boys to let air out of his footballs just before the start of games during his entire NFL career, which included time with the Eagles in 2004.

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? No but ... it's more probable than not that this was cheating

PUNISHMENT: He admitted doing it

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/PHI#Deflategate-2004

AWARDS EARNED: Hip-Hip-Hypocritical!Everyone Was Doing It!Avoid Media Scrutiny!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 2.0

TEAM: The Philadelphia Eagles

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: The NFL sent memos to several teams, telling them to hold on to their phone records because the league would be investigating agreements teams reached with players during the three-day negotiating period.

The news came a day after the NFL sent letters to all 32 teams, stating its displeasure with the release of contract terms before free agency officially began at 4 p.m. ET March 10, 2015. "The memo makes clear that we will look into any potential violations of the rules," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.

The NFL sent its memo after news leaked, beginning March 8, 2015, of several agreements between high-profile free agents and teams, including Ndamukong Suh with the Dolphins, Byron Maxwell with the Eagles and Jeremy Maclin with the Chiefs.

The legal tampering period began on March 7, but teams were not allowed to agree to contracts with players on other teams during the negotiating period, which ended March 10.

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? PENDING...

PUNISHMENT: Not punished yet, but currently under investigation. There's some smoke here, though. The Eagles announced a contract with a player before he became a free agent and before the start of the league's legal tampering period.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/PHI#Tampergate-2015

AWARDS EARNED: Everyone Was Doing It!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 0.0

TEAM: The Philadelphia Eagles

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: Former Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski admitted that when he played, his backup quarterback would spy on the defense and signal Jaworski by dropping red flags to indicate blitzes.

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? No

PUNISHMENT: Videotaping your opponent's signals has never been illegal in the NFL

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/PHI#Spygate-1977

AWARDS EARNED: Falsely Accused!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 0.0

TEAM: All 32 NFL Teams

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: Tampering with free agents is rampant, it's laughable and it is against the rules (PDF). It's so bad across every team in the league that the NFL had to create a three-day legal tampering period. However, tampering still regularly occurs long before that annual three-day window opens. On March 9, 2015 the league once again felt compelled to warn all 32 teams about not tampering.

Why is tampering considered a problem? Because tampering with players still under contract makes it difficult for clubs to re-sign their own talent. It also puts those few teams that actually follow NFL guidelines at a distinct disadvantage. In many cases, contract agreements are in place days before any negotiations are allowed to begin.

This isn't fair, it isn't legal, and it is blatant cheating by the teams who engage in the practice.

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? No but...

PUNISHMENT: NFL commissioner and former Jets public relations intern Roger Goodell is doing all he can to curtail and punish the "commonplace" practice, although it admits that there is so much tampering that it is hard to police it all.

The CheatPoints earned for this leaguewide cheat is for all of this team's tampering incidents that have gone undiscovered or unproven. If specific instances are discovered, they are punished on top of this leaguewide penalty.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/PHI#Tampergate-1960

AWARDS EARNED:Everyone Was Doing It!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 4.0

TEAM: All 32 NFL Teams

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: it's a common complaint around the NFL. In late, close games, the helmet communicators of visiting teams suddenly "malfunction" and stop working. It has been accepted as standard practice in the league. Are you on the road and the game is close? Then you are going to have problems with your headset.

In recent years, the Patriots have accused the Colts of doing it and the Jaguars have made the same charge of the Patriots. The Redskins accused the Buccaneers of disabling their headsets, and Tampa Bay accused Dallas. The Giants openly bragged about doing it way back in 1956. The charges go on and on and on.

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? No

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/PHI#Headsetgate-1980

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 4.0

TEAM: All 32 NFL Teams

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: Stealing your opponent's signals has always been common and never been illegal.

Said former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher, "We had people that always tried to steal signals. Stealing someone's signals was a part of the game, and everyone attempted to do that." Admitted former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson: "When I came into the NFL, back in 1989, I talked to a Kansas City scout and he said, 'Here's what we do, we videotape the opposing team's signals and then we sync it up with the game film.' So I did it." Bragged, former Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan: "Our guy keeps a pair of binoculars on their signal-callers every game, with any luck, we have their defensive signals figured out by halftime. Sometimes, by the end of the first quarter."

NFL commissioner and former Jets public relations intern Rodger Goodell confirmed this himself in 2008, saying that the issue was not stealing signals, that is allowed "and it is done quite widely." The issue is where and how you record them. If you chose to videotape them, then (after 2006) you have to do that from a league approved location. If you hire lip readers, they can do it from your coaches lap, if you want.

After 2006, examples of allowed videotaping locations are: the luxury boxes, media booths and other enclosed spaces. Expressly prohibited locations are the sidelines, the field, locker rooms, the coaches booth or any other place accessible to team coaches and staff. The point of the rule is to not allow the footage to be useful in the current game.

Prior to the September 6, 2006 memo and, 2007 follow up, from NFL head of football operations Ray Anderson, there was no league restriction on filming location, which is the reason the memo was sent.

Many NFL head coaches have downplayed the significance of the practice, saying that attempting to decipher opponent's signals was a long standing practice and entirely common throughout the league.

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? No

PUNISHMENT: NFL commissioner and former Jets public relations intern Rodger Goodell suggested that the responsibility was on teams to conceal their messages, not on the ones trying to steal them. During his news conference before the 2007 Super Bowl he said that any coach who did not expect signals to be stolen was "stupid."

Prior to 2006, every NFL team is assumed to have done it, but none of them broke a rule. You can't punish something that is not prohibited. Filming from the sidelines was not prohibited until 2006 and filming your opponent's signals from approved locations has never been prohibited, even today.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/PHI#Spygate-1960

AWARDS EARNED:Everyone Was Doing It!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 0.0

TEAM: All 32 NFL Teams

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: Sign an opponent's recently-cut player to your practice squad to get intel on their plays, signals and tactics. This is not illegal and is a leaguewide practice.

Said one player, who chose to remain anonymous as he was still in the league as of 2015, "If teams have an opening at a certain position, they might not be looking for perhaps the best player to fill it on their practice squad. Instead, they might go for someone who has access to the opposing team’s playbook."

“Let’s say we’re playing the Jaguars in seven days and you want to know more about their playbook. From time to time teams will sign people off of practice squads. You don’t have to put them on active roster so if there’s a need for more depth at linebacker and you’re playing Jacksonville, there would be more of a chance to sign a linebacker off the team you’re about to play’s practice squad and hoping that the person you’re about to sign will divulge information about the playbook.”

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? No

PUNISHMENT: Not illegal.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/PHI#Scrapsgate-1960

AWARDS EARNED:Everyone Was Doing It!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 0.0