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SUPER BOWL
Super Bowl 50

Spy patrol? Panthers haggle to keep practice peepers away

Jarrett Bell
USA TODAY Sports
Ron Rivera watches his team stretch during practice in preparation for Super Bowl 50.

SAN JOSE – You can’t blame Ron Rivera if he felt a bit paranoid.

People were watching – from a rooftop.

After at least three fans sat on top of a house overlooking the practice fields, checking out a Carolina Panthers midweek practice session, the team came up with a tried-and-true method to supplement the security at the practice facility at San Jose State University.

“We cut a deal with them: ‘Stay off the roof, and we’ll get you an autographed football,” Rivera explained. “Our guys thought that something like that would be good.”

The bargaining worked – to an extent.

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On Thursday, the fans weren’t on the roof…but some had to be chased out of a tree by security.

“They were hanging out in a tree,” Rivera told USA TODAY Sports. “Somebody said, ‘Don’t forget. We’ve got a ball riding on it.’  So they calmed down.”

The fences surrounding the field were outfitted in a black tarp that prevented fans from peeking in from ground level, and the provided the Panthers with the heavy security presence that is typical for a Super Bowl.

Yet with several houses and trees in close proximity to the fields, Rivera still had to get creative. It became an issue after fans refused to come down from the roof during a closed practice on Monday.

“They asked (one of the fans) at his private property and the guy said, ‘Nah, I’m not coming down. This is my private property,” Rivera said. “So we took another step.”

Given a culture of paranoia in the NFL, which was bolstered a few years ago with the Spygate episode that resulted in stiff penalties after the New England Patriots’ systematic filming of opponents’ signals, you can never say never.

During Wednesday’s practice, Panthers quarterback Cam Newton flipped a football to fans on the roof, drawing cheers.

“They got fired up about that,” Rivera said.

That gesture might have also inspired the bargaining with fans. On Wednesday, Rivera had reason to harbor “a little bit of concern.”

“One of them had a camera, was trying to be slick, recording it down here,” Rivera said. “Hopefully, it doesn’t end up on YouTube or something like that.”

On Saturday, during a walk-through that marked their final session of the season, six fans watched from rooftops, according to a pool report. It is unclear whether they were the same fans poised to get an autographed football.

“This isn’t our property,” Rivera said earlier this week. “That’s the hard part for us. As far as we’re concerned, (on Thursday) they were good about it.”

Former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher, who attended practice on Thursday with others from the CBS broadcast team, could feel for Rivera. Cowher had his paranoia at times.

Recalling a case where he became nervous about vantage points that provided opportunity to watch practice, Cowher said that he had his offense practice plays using 12 players – the idea being that using a decoy player to camouflage the plays in practice.

The Panthers worked with the standard 11 players. But it cost some footballs.

Follow Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.

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