TEAM: The Washington Redskins

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: The NFL took away millions of dollars of salary-cap space from the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins for unfairly front-loading contracts during the uncapped 2010 season, according to league sources. The Redskins were punished primarily for the way they structured their big contracts with defensive tackle Albert Haynsworth and cornerback DeAngelo Hall.

At the time, the 2012 salary cap was estimated to be $120.6 million. The Cowboys were penalized $10 million in cap space, and the Redskins $36 million. Twenty-eight NFL teams received $1.6 million of additional cap space, the sources said. The teams receiving money were allowed to chose how they split it over the 2012 and '13 seasons.

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? Yes

PUNISHMENT: The Redskins were penalized $36 million in future cap space, paying $18 million a year for two years.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/WAS#Salarycapgate-2010

AWARDS EARNED: Avoid Media Scrutiny!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 7.0

TEAM: The Washington Redskins

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.

• FB Frank Wycheck (1994)
• CB Cedric Griffin (1994)
• CB Phillip Buchanon (2011)
• OT Jordan Black (2012)
• DE Jarvis Jenkins (2013)

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/WAS#PEDSgate-1994

AWARDS EARNED: Everyone Was Doing It!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 5.0

TEAM: The Washington Redskins

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: The National Football League fined the Washington Redskins $20,000 for breaking league crowd-noise control rules by using their public address system for cheerleading during the team's victory over Tampa Bay on Oct. 1, 2000.

Greg Aiello, the NFL spokesman, said that league officials imposed the fine on Oct. 9, 2000. The NFL also investigated whether the Redskins committed a similar violation in their October 2000 game against Baltimore but did not impose an additional penalty.

VICTIM: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

PUNISHED? Yes

PUNISHMENT: The Redskins were fined $20,000 for blasting cheerleader noise through their stadium PA system

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/WAS#Noisegate-2000

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 3.0

TEAM: The Washington Redskins

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: The NFL fined the Washington Redskins $20,000 for violating the NFL's procedures for reporting injury information.

The Redskins did not properly update for the televising network and news media quarterback Robert Griffin's status during the October 7, 2012 game versus the Atlanta Falcons. In reviewing the matter, the appropriate medical care for Griffin was never in question.

Griffin left the game after taking a hard hit in the third quarter. The Redskins announced that he was "shaken up" and his return was questionable. There was no further update on his injury or playing status during the game. After the game, the Redskins confirmed that Griffin had sustained a concussion. The medical staff said it informed Coach Shanahan during the game that Griffin was being taken to the locker room to be evaluated. Coach Shanahan stated that he inadvertently characterized after the game what the trainers had told him during the game and that he was not informed Griffin had a concussion until after the game.

Head athletic trainer Larry Hess stated that the team medical staff confirmed a diagnosis of concussion with "2-3 minutes" left in the game. Since that diagnosis ruled Griffin out while the game was in still in progress, at that point the team should have updated Griffin's status for the televising network and news media from "questionable" to "out with a concussion," especially since it involved a starting quarterback in a close game that could have gone into overtime. Clubs are required to provide accurate and timely injury information during games.

VICTIM: Atlanta Falcons

PUNISHED? Yes

PUNISHMENT: The Redskins were fined $20,000.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/WAS#Injurygate-2012

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 2.0

TEAM: The Washington Redskins

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: The Dallas Cowboys had several botched shotgun snaps during their 2011 game against the Washington Redskins, with center Phil Costa hiking the ball to Tony Romo before Romo was ready. After the game, the Cowboys said that was because the Redskins were cheating.

NFL rules prohibit defensive players from making “disconcerting signals” by pretending to call out the quarterback’s cadence, but Romo said after the game that’s exactly what some Redskins defensive linemen were doing.

“We've got to get the snap thing worked out,” Romo said. “Costa said the D-line kept calling out the snap count. We’ll get that worked out. We’ll tell the league and see if that’s something that can be fixed because you’re not supposed to be able to do that. So we’ll see. But we can’t have that happen. We shouldn't have been in that situation.”

VICTIM: Dallas Cowboys

PUNISHED? No

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/WAS#Audiblegate-2011

AWARDS EARNED: Schoolyard Cheating!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 2.0

TEAM: The Washington Redskins

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: Washington sports blogger Dan Steinberg reported that multiple fans who were at the 2012 NFC Wild Card Game between the Seattle Seahawks and the Washington Redskins at FedExField in Maryland reported hearing crowd noise coming from stadium speakers.

Scandal? Maybe, but this is something that some NFL teams get accused of all the time, and although it may be bush league, it likely happens at games, especially playoff games, every single week. Even if there was fake crowd noise, it didn't do much to help the Redskins overcome the Seahawks. They lost 24-14.

VICTIM: Seattle Seahawks

PUNISHED? No

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/WAS#Noisegate-2013

AWARDS EARNED: Everyone Was Doing It!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 2.0

TEAM: The Washington Redskins

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: The NFL investigated a report that the Washington Redskins tampered with safety Lawyer Milloy while he was still under contract to the New England Patriots.

Initially, Milloy said that his agent Carl Poston "called some teams to see who would want me" and "the Redskins gave us a bigger offer than the Patriots." He later backtracked, saying he wasn't negotiating with other teams before his release.

Tampering charges are hard to prove, and like most, this one wasn't punished.

VICTIM: New England Patriots

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

PUNISHMENT: Some teams are not as dumb as others. In this case, although Milloy admitted up front that he was negotiating while under contract, there was no public statement the league could point to as hard evidence of guilt.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/WAS#Tampergate-2003

AWARDS EARNED: Everyone Was Doing It!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 2.0

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/WAS#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/WAS#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/WAS#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/WAS#Scrapsgate-1960

AWARDS EARNED:Everyone Was Doing It!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 0.0