text: Videotaping incident On September 10, Bill Belichick was accused by the Jets of authorizing his staff to film the Jets’ defensive signals from an on-field location, a violation of league rules. The Jets confiscated the video camera used by video assistant Matt Estrella to film the signals during the game and filed a complaint to the league office, detailing the accusations.
  On September 13, Belichick was officially fined $500,000, while the Patriots were also fined $250,000, and forfeited their first round draft pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. If the Patriots had missed the playoffs, they would have instead forfeited their second and third round selections in the 2008 draft. Goodell said that he fined the Patriots as a team because Belichick is effectively the team's general manager as well as head coach, and exercises so much control over the Patriots’ on-field operations that “his actions and decisions are properly attributed to the club.” Goodell considered suspending Belichick, but decided that taking away draft picks would be more severe in the long run.
  Belichick later issued a statement in which he apologized for what he called a “mistake” in his interpretation of the rules. However, he denied ever using videotape to gain an advantage while a game was underway.
  Week 2: vs. San Diego Chargers