Cowboys coach Wade Phillips once again today denied making comments about Spygate attributed to him by Sports Illustrated writer Peter King during Wednesday's episode of HBO's "Inside the NFL."
King, who spoke to Phillips by phone Tuesday, quoted him as saying, "Hey, New England was caught cheating, and it is a black mark on their success."
In his typical homespun fashion, Phillips wasted no time Friday refuting King's statement during his Friday news conference.
"The writer evidently got me wrong," he said. "To quote me as saying blackmark, that's an Eastern word...I might use smudge."
HBO and King have both said they stand behind the report, prompting Phillips to say, "I stand behind what I say."
Said Phillips: "The only thing he had right in there is that I did have a conversation with him."
King brought up his conversation with Phillips during a segment about the Spygate aftermath with Bob Costas and Cris Collinsworth, who strongly criticized the league for not being more transparent during the investigation.
Phillips didn't mention King by name, but pointed out that the two of them speak a different language.
"I'm from Texas, he's from somewhere else," Phillips said. "He probably didn't understand what I was saying."
Before moving on to another topic, Phillips joked that he would be taping all one-on-one conversations from now on.
