“Deflategate” has once again put the Patriot’s in the spotlight for actions that put the very integrity of the game in jeopardy and although this along with “Spygate” are two transgressions that have been made public, former Panthers’ GM Marty Hurney questions whether unknown cheating tactics gave New England an edge in Super Bowl XXXVIII.
[ESPN]
“There isn’t a day that goes by since [then] that I haven’t questioned … that there were some things done that might have been beyond the rules that may have given them a three-point advantage,” Hurney said during his radio show.
“And I can’t prove anything, and that’s why I’m very angry. And the anger has come back over the last couple of days that commissioner Roger Goodell decided to shred all of the evidence after ‘Spygate,’ because I think there were a lot of things in there that would bring closure to a lot of people.”
“To me this isn’t about ‘Deflategate’, this isn’t about anything having to do about any particular game last week,” Hurney said. “And it certainly isn’t fodder to get by the first week before the Super Bowl.
“This is about a culture. Is there a culture of cheating at probably what most people look at as the best franchise in the National Football League?”
“There are people who swear to me that the Patriots taped our practice down in Houston during Super Bowl week,” Hurney said. “I can’t prove it. I don’t know. And I hate talking like this because I feel like a bad loser, but it just gnaws at you and this latest incident brings it back up.
“You go to ‘Spygate’ after our Super Bowl and things came out about a rumor about a video guy, and he had tapes and he goes to Hawaii and kind of disappears. … These are all rumors and I can’t substantiate any of this. But it gnaws at you.”
Hurney brings up a good point. New England got caught with Spygate and although the formal investigation is incomplete, Belichick’s and Brady’s press conferences yesterday gave us no reason to believe they haven’t been caught again. If you think these are the only two times the Patriots have cheated I have a bridge in Alaska to sell you. This is why a strong message has to be sent by Goodell in punishing the Patriots if in fact they are found in any way negligent or at guilt.