Spygate. Deflategate. Now Headsetgate?
The New England Patriots are no stranger to being accused of cheating, but Thursday’s NFL season opener at Gillette Stadium between the Patriots and visiting Pittsburgh Steelers brought a new level of absurdity to the table.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, who was defensive coordinator for the Vikings in 2006, said he and other Steelers coaches had trouble communicating because the Patriots’ radio broadcast of the game was playing in their headsets.
"That's always the case."
"Here?"
"Yes."ICYMI: Mike Tomlin wasn't happy about the headset snafu in New England. http://t.co/wfkJwap5za
— ESPN (@espn) September 11, 2015
Tomlin said “that’s always the case” when they play in New England.
“We were listening to the Patriots’ radio broadcast for the majority of the first half on our headsets, coach to coach. I’m not indicating anything; I’m telling you what happened. We let the league officials on site handle it, is what we do,” Tomlin explained, via the Steelers website.
Pittsburgh is the fifth team in recent years to have a player or coach accuse the Patriots of tampering with headsets, Pro Football Talk reports.
The Patriots won the game 28-21 as they never found a way to slow down Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski.
The NFL issued a statement saying the headsets malfunctioned due to “a stadium power infrastructure issue, which was exacerbated by the inclement weather.” There was heavy rain in the area much of the day Thursday.
But the Steelers took accusations further, according to Yahoo’s Jason Cole, who
This is an ugly accusation from the #Steelers website about #Patriots: pic.twitter.com/jVkUJOEXbe
— Jason Cole (@JasonCole62) September 11, 2015
” target=”_blank”>tweeted a screen shot from the Steelers’ official website.
“Strangely enough, whenever an NFL representative proceeded to the New England sideline to shut down their headsets, the Steelers headsets cleared. Then as the representative walked away from the New England sideline, the Steelers’ headsets again started to receive the Patriots game broadcast.”
This is an ugly accusation from the #Steelers website about #Patriots: pic.twitter.com/jVkUJOEXbe
— Jason Cole (@JasonCole62) September 11, 2015
