Seth Wickersham resurfaced Spygate last week with an ESPN story saying that Donald Trump intervened with the investigation.
Bill Belichick was fined, the New England Patriots were fined and the team lost out on a first-round draft pick as a result from videotaping New York Jets coaches in 2007. The incident widely lingered over Belichick’s head and it put a magnifying glass on incidents like Deflategate.
Hall of Fame head coach Bill Cowher caught up with Ed Bouchette of The Athletic and discussed the 2007 situation.
“It’s only cheating if you get caught,” Cowher said. “Like any player, if you’re going to hold him, don’t get caught. If you get caught you’re wrong, if you don’t you’re right. I always thought we never lost the games to New England because of Spygate. If he got the calls because we didn’t do a very good job of making sure we signaled those in, that’s on us, it’s not on him. Because we’re always looking for competitive edges. I think as any coach whether it’s someone’s stance, someone’s split, someone’s formation (that tips off a play). You’re looking at someone’s eyes, how are they coming out of a huddle? You’re always looking for those little things that give you a competitive edge and that to me is what that was.”
Cowher coached the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1992-2006 and lost two AFC Championship games to the Patriots — he didn’t blame it on cheating though.
“We didn’t lose the game because of that,” Cowher said. “We lost the game because they executed better than we did.”
He discussed his relationship with Belichick and detailed the history between the two.
“We go back pretty far,” Cowher said. “I have a lot of respect for him. He loves the game. We shared a lot of time together and time off the field, teaching each other about linebacker play and defensive backfield play. It came down to us being finalists for the 1991 Cleveland Browns job and he got the job and I didn’t. We went from friends to adversaries the next year because I found myself the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. As we competed against each other it was just a great competition.”
There’s many different perspectives on Belichick and the cheating scandals — Cowher holds a unique one.
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