The rivalry between the Patriots and the Steelers is not new. These two teams have faced off in multiple high-stakes games including memorable playoff battles, such as the 2004 AFC Championship game. In that game, the Patriots team left an infamous black mark in the history of the NFL that the former Steelers offensive tackle Barrett Brooks recently recalled again.
Most NFL fans want healthy competition among the teams to cheer their team up, yet Spygate for the opposite team blocks the road and pours water on the teams’ achievement whether it is for a championship or for a divisional game.
Patriots accused of cheating by the opponents
One of the league’s dominating teams, the New England Patriots, threw dust in the eyes of the whole NFL world through Spygate under their mastermind head coach Bill Belichick for nearly 7 seasons.
During that time frame, the Steelers faced off against the Patriots in the 2004 AFC championship which was also under Tom Bradys’ teams’ Spygate scandal. Recently former Steeler player Brooks who was in the team for 2003-06 took a shot in ‘Legal Hands to the Face’, a show hosted by Bill Colarulo.
Amid the conversation, Colarulo recalled a memory of his time in Pittsburgh which let Barrett recall the AFC Championship game where they experienced a tragic 41-27 loss against the Patriots. Naturally, the former NFL star player accused and bashed the Patriots for their cheap act.
That time the Patriots had gone for an astonishing 15-1 season and Brooks felt they achieved it through collecting information of the opposite team.
“I can remember going into the game, and they knew the plays before we did,” said Brooks. “I can hear all of those guys, Rodney Harrison say, ‘Draw, draw, draw, draw, draw.’ And then Ben comes in, he calls a draw play and I’m like, ‘What is going on?’ Teddy Bruschi knowing the play, ‘Hey, hey, hey—they’re going to sprint to the right, sprint to the right.’
Whenever I think I’m over Spygate… 😡 Former Pittsburgh Steelers & Philadelphia Eagles player Barrett Brooks explains how bad it was. Are the New England Patriots cheaters? #spygate #nfl pic.twitter.com/ao6KAvJvJu
— Legal Hands To The Face (@LegalHands2Face) July 7, 2023
Brooks won one Super Bowl with the Steelers, albeit the former player regarded that the other Super Bowl was also going to be loaded in his pride NFL journey which the Patriots shattered in pieces through their Spygate,
“And then moving an entire defense over because they knew our plays before it happened. So yeah, they cheated me out of a—I should have two Super Bowls now. We were supposed to be in that Super Bowl against the Eagles. This was all Pennsylvania Super Bowl.”
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The Patriots videotaped the signals of opposing coaches in 40 games between 2000 and 2007. The Patriots were discovered to be taping the New York Jets’ signals from the defensive coach at the time in 2007, even though they had been carrying out their atrocious act covertly for years.
Later, the NFL learned that the Patriot’s head coach reportedly asked video assistant Matt Estrella to tape the Jets’ signals. However, the team was forced to pay the ultimate price for Spygate, as the NFL fined Belichick the maximum $50,000 allowed by league rules. The team was also hit with a $250,000 fine and threatened with losing a first-round draft pick in 2008.
Belichick recorded accolades that only a few head coaches could achieve and many could only dream of. Though the Patriots leading coach won six Super Bowls for the team, Spygate tarnished most of his accolades in pieces establishing him as a villain rather than a hero for the franchise.
