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This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
Patriots fans have joked for years about the team’s “mysterious pink stripes,” a long-running bit about unexplained home-field quirks at Gillette Stadium. But one analyst says he’s found something far more concrete hiding in plain sight.
Ryan Paganetti, a former NFL team staffer, posted his findings on X this week after digging through more than a decade of broadcast footage. What he described sounded almost too specific to be a coincidence.
His claim centers on the stadium’s massive video board and how it has displayed opposing kicks.
The Video Board Reportedly Creates A Visual Illusion
According to Paganetti, the board showed a reverse-angle replay of the kick whenever opposing kickers lined up at Gillette Stadium.
That replay placed a second, offset set of yellow uprights directly behind the real ones. In windy conditions, he says even the orange wind streamers on the board pointed in the opposite direction from the real ones atop the physical uprights, compounding the disorienting effect.
Paganetti says he reviewed 52 Patriots field-goal attempts from the same games he studied. The illusion, he claims, never once appeared during a Patriots kick.
“It is the perfect encapsulation of the Patriots dynasty,” he wrote. “No detail was too small, and no possible edge was left unexplored.”
He added that he tried replicating the tactic himself while working for the Eagles, but Lincoln Financial Field’s video board placement made the trick “nearly useless” there.
Gillette’s Video Board Has Already Drawn Scrutiny For Kicking Struggles
Paganetti’s claim aligns with previously reported concerns about the stadium’s board affecting kickers in general.
Special teams coordinator Cam Achord addressed the issue in 2023, explaining that the board’s massive size actually worsened wind conditions on the field rather than blocking them. “It’s actually kind of made it even more difficult because the wind is circling, it’s got something to bounce off of,” Achord said at the time.
Gillette Stadium’s video board ranks among the largest in the NFL. It measures 370 feet wide and 60 feet tall, installed in 2023 as part of a $250 million renovation.
Paganetti discussed his findings further on the latest episode of the ‘Paganetti and Underhill‘ show, released this week on YouTube.
Of course, it remains unclear whether the alleged pattern was intentional or simply a byproduct of how the broadcast feed was configured. But it does appear that the team has been using its board to give it an edge.
