Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward told the Pittsburgh media today that he believes the Patriots were cheating during their upset in the 2002 AFC Championship Game, and maybe again in the 2004 playoffs. The Patriots won first game 24-17 and Ward said the Patriots knew what was coming.
“Oh, they knew,” he said. “They were calling our stuff out. They knew, especially that first championship game here at Heinz Field. They knew a lot of our calls. There’s no question some of their players were calling out some of our stuff.
“You would hope that, during their run, when they were winning all their Super Bowls, all that stuff wasn’t going on,'’ Ward said. “You look back in the past, and we played them in the championship games, and you kind of wonder. It seemed like they were a step ahead of us at all times, but those games are behind us. There’s nothing we can do about it. You just look forward and see what the commissioner will do.”
