Linebacker Tedy Bruschi and other Patriots players discussed the team’s kangaroo court in a USA Today article.

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The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

FOXBORO — By now, it has been well chronicled that one of the reasons for the New England Patriots’ success in recent seasons, particularly with bringing in so-called “difficult” players, has been the culture in the locker room. Respected veteran players rule the roost, and the players police themselves.

Conform and be a good teammate, and there are no problems. One of the ways the room is policed is with petty fines, and an article in Wednesday’s USA Today detailed how the fines are assessed and then the pot is used as a reward for players in the next game.

The story was lighthearted, and had Richard Seymour, Tedy Bruschi and Adalius Thomas discussing the fine and reward process. But the article ended with this: “One problem. It’s also a violation of NFL policy. But that’s an issue for someone else to police.”

League rules prohibit such financial extras, as they could escalate into bounties, whereby players may be rewarded for knocking a running back out of a game or injuring the quarterback. The rule states, “Clubs and players are prohibited from offering or accepting bonuses to a player for his or his team’s performance against a particular team, a particular opposing player, or players or a particular group of an opposing team.” The problem is in the distribution of the fines collected. If the fines were donated to charity or used to buy a supply of candy and gum for the locker room, there wouldn’t be a problem.

But since they are given back to one player, it could be considered a performance bonus and is a violation of the rule. For the record, last week’s share of the pot for the defense went to Asante Samuel for forcing the first turnover of the game, his 40-yard interception return for a touchdown against the Eagles.

But for a team already treading lightly thanks to the Spygate scandal, the article likely did New England no favors. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello referred questions about the cash rewards back to the Patriots, and New England media relations head Stacey James said, “The team is handling it internally.”

Bill Belichick stresses to his players the importance of using the company line with the media, and the story of the Patriots’ fine system — and the attention it will likely get from the league — only re-emphasizes Belichick’s stance.

The Pats aren’t the first team to have such a system, and aren’t the first team to have their kangaroo court exposed in the last month: The NFL also looked into a story out of Green Bay that claimed defensive backs offered $500 each to the defensive linemen if they held Minnesota rookie Adrian Peterson under 100 yards rushing when the teams played. Peterson ended up with a knee injury in that Nov. 11 game and hasn’t played since, though he may be back this week.

In the USA Today article, Bruschi says that it was former New England linebacker Willie McGinest who instituted the fines, and they are assessed for players being even two seconds late to a meeting; Seymour said defensive linemen can incur a financial hit for missing a technical assignment.

Though the players make thousands of dollars per game and winning the pot means they get just a fraction of that, the pride of winning it is more important than the financial gain. No one would say how much Samuel claimed, but according to Seymour, “Asante got a nice little stash.”

smanza@projo.com