In the NFL, games are rarely decided by one grand idea alone. Sometimes, the difference comes from something so small that it can easily be overlooked: a detail buried beneath the obvious, a tactic nobody else thought to explore, or a tiny advantage that could become meaningful when the stakes are highest. That is why no detail is considered too insignificant, and no possible edge is left untouched. That mindset is exactly what the New England Patriots believe in.

So, when football analytics and game-management leader Ryan Paganetti discovered what the Patriots had been doing with their video boards to get an advantage, he was quite fascinated. The NFL, though, learned from it all and quickly changed the rules. The question, however, is: how many rules can the league change?

After all, Paganetti took to X and teased, he had “more things to post that will apparently get banned by the NFL, too,” meaning he may have more aspects to reveal about the Patriots or other NFL teams.

However, he didn’t hint at what else he might have up his sleeve. Ryan Paganetti’s discovery of a little-noticed Patriots video-board practice has already produced a change in the NFL.

After he revealed how the Patriots would have their “video board displayed a reverse view of the kick, placing a second, offset set of yellow uprights directly behind the real ones,” the league was pushed to take immediate action. Why?

Well, because the yellow lines directly behind the yellow field goal would create an illusion, leading to kickers missing the goal.

Here’s the thing: the league had previously allowed teams to use an All-22 view or static image, provided the display did not use flashing images, blinking effects, or moving text and images. Yet the Patriots found a way to exploit the existing rules. But not anymore.

Under the revised rule, teams must show the same All-22 angle or static image for both teams during kicks. Violations can lead to disciplinary measures, according to the memo obtained by ESPN.

Paganetti’s original discovery helped bring this problem to light. The rule change traces back to his research. He went through more than a decade of footage of Patriots broadcasts and found repeated instances in which the Gillette Stadium video board showed a reverse All-22 view while visiting kickers were preparing for field goals.

The effect was unusual. The display could make the goalposts look doubled. Paganetti said the effect could be distracting for kickers, particularly when the wind indicators on the screen did not match the direction of the actual streamers.

According to Paganetti, he came across dozens of instances involving visiting kickers. He said he also checked 52 Patriots field-goal attempts from that period and did not find a single example of New England’s own kicker facing the reversed display.

ESPN reported that the Patriots were operating within the rules at the time and that other teams had experimented with video-board displays that were also permitted.

Did the Patriots’ trick work?

From 2000 to 2025, visiting opponents at Gillette Stadium had the lowest made field goal percentage compared to all other stadiums. Patriots kickers made 84% of their field goals, while visitors made 75%.

Paganetti further shared his thoughts about it.

“It legitimately looked like there were four uprights across,” Paganetti said on the Paganetti and Underhill podcast earlier this month. “If you quickly looked at it as a kicker, it would almost certainly cause some level of hesitation because it looked so weird.”

Paganetti’s tell-all post quickly gained millions of views, bringing the Patriots’ display practice into the wider NFL discussion. The league addressed the issue in a September 7 memo, stating that both teams must receive the same treatment.

Paganetti worked for the Eagles and was part of the organization during its Super Bowl-winning 2017 season. He later worked for the Jacksonville Jaguars as director of football analytics and joined the Las Vegas Raiders in 2025 as a head-coach research specialist. His background is in using data and game research to look for small advantages.

No wonder he eventually spotted such a tactic. In fact, his team tried replicating this during his time in Philadelphia, but the location of the video boards made it impossible.

But the specific setup was not limited to only New England. In January 2017, Panthers kicker Graham Gano complained after Tampa Bay’s video board showed his field-goal setup, making it look like there were two sets of uprights. The NFL did not rule that the Buccaneers had broken any rules.

“You look out there, there are two uprights you’re looking at,” Gano said after the game. “I know the league talked to them about it before when we played here a couple of years ago. So it’s a bit bush-league.”

All that said, it would certainly be interesting to know what else Paganetti can reveal.