A former NFL analytics staffer says the Patriots pulled off a subtle bit of visual gamesmanship at Gillette Stadium for more than a decade, using the video board behind the uprights to make opposing kickers see something a little different from reality.
Ryan Paganetti, who spent 10 years in the league and worked for the Eagles, Jaguars and Raiders, said he went back through more than a decade of TV broadcasts and found that when visiting kickers lined up for field goals at Gillette Stadium, the board behind the end zone showed a reversed angle of the kick. That effect, he said, created a second set of yellow uprights that appeared offset behind the actual ones.
Paganetti also said the illusion got even trickier in windy conditions, when the orange streamers shown on the board seemed to move opposite the physical streamers sitting atop the real uprights.
According to Paganetti, he found dozens of examples of the setup being shown on opposing teams’ kicks. He also said he checked 52 Patriots field goal attempts and never saw the same visual trick used on New England’s own tries.
The post set off a lively reaction online. Pat McAfee called it “a great piece of intel” in a post that has drawn more than a million views, while others argued the tactic was perfectly fair and just smart use of the rules. On the other side, plenty saw it as an exploitation of a loophole that crossed the line from savvy to shady.
Paganetti has some credibility behind the claim. A Bedford, Massachusetts native and former Dartmouth running back, he spent six seasons with the Eagles from 2015 to 2021, handling analytics and in-game decisions from the press box for Doug Pederson, including during Philadelphia’s Super Bowl LII win over the Patriots in 2018. He later worked in analytics for Jacksonville and most recently served as head coach research specialist for the Raiders under Pete Carroll.
Gillette’s video board has already been part of the kicking conversation. The Patriots installed a new 370-by-60-foot board in 2023, and Bill Belichick said then that the larger screen was changing wind patterns inside the stadium and affecting kickers.
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