Spygate to Deflategate and everything in between.

The New England Patriots have a bad reputation under the direction of coach Bill Belichick and owner Robert Kraft.

ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” dropped another bombshell on Tuesday, releasing a robust report which alleges Spygate being much more expansive than originally reported and that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell played a role in minimizing its importance.

According to the well-written and thoroughly investigated report by Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham, the Patriots videotaped play signals in 40 different games from the 2000 to 2007 seasons, which would undoubtedly include several games against Nick Saban’s Miami Dolphins — a primary AFC East rival.

Saban coached the Dolphins during the 2005 and 2006 seasons. Saban went 2-2 against Belichick’s Patriots during that stretch.

Saban worked on Belichick’s staff as a defensive coordinator from 1991-94 with the Cleveland Browns.

From ESPN’s report:

“Looking back on it, several former Patriots coaches insist that spying helped them most against less sophisticated teams — the Dolphins and Bills chief among them — whose coaches didn’t bother changing their signals.”

According to Sports Illustrated, “at various times over the last decade, at least 19 NFL franchises took precautions against the Patriots that they didn’t take against any other opponent, people who worked for those teams.”

The Patriots strongly denied the filming allegations after the story went live and released the following statement via Twitter:

“The New England Patriots have never filmed or recorded another team’s practice or walkthrough. The first time we ever heard of such an accusation came in 2008, the day before Super Bowl XLII, when the Boston Herald reported an allegation from a disgruntled former employee. That report created a media firestorm that extended globally and was discussed incessantly for months. It took four months before that newspaper retracted its story and offered the team a front and back page apology for the damage done.

Clearly, the damage has been irreparable. As recently as last month, over sever years after the retraction and apology was issued, ESPN issued the following apology to the Patriots for continuing to perpetuate the myth: ‘On two occasions in recent weeks, SportsCenter incorrectly cited a 2002 report regarding the New England Patriots and Super Bowl XXXVI. That story was found to be false, and should not have been part of our reporting. We apologize to the Patriots organization.’

“This type of reporting over the past seven years has led to additional unfounded, unwarranted and, quite frankly, unbelievable allegations by former players, coaches and executives. None of which have ever been substantiated, but many of which continue to be propagated.