Bill Belichick came out on Saturday for an impromptu press conference and was there for one reason and one reason only, to set the record straight about accusations that have clouded his team's win over Indianapolis after being accused of deflating footballs.
One reporter asked about SpyGate on Saturday, and Belichick didn't back down. (USA TODAY Images)
But one reporter tried to tie in the team's past history of run-ins with the NFL that cost them a previous penalty back in 2007 in the infamous "SpyGate" incident.
Belichick didn't back down, and went right after him.
“I mean, look, that’s a whole other discussion," said Belichick after the reporter tried to question him following an earlier statement that the team tries to err on the side of caution when it comes to the rules. "The guy’s giving signals out in front of eighty thousand people, O.K.? So we filmed him taking signals out in front of eighty thousand people like there were a lot of other teams doing at that time too, O.K.? But forget about that. If we were wrong, then we’ve been disciplined for that.”
The reporter then said that the team didn't err on the side of caution then.
“The guy’s in front of eighty thousand people," Belichick shot back. "Eighty thousand people saw it, everybody’s sideline saw it, everybody sees our guy in front of eighty thousand people. I mean, there he is. So it was wrong, we were disciplined for it, that’s it. We never did it again, we’re never going to do it again and anything else that’s close, we’re not going to do either.”
And that was the end of that. But it clearly showed how Belichick feels about that incident, and it's pretty obvious that it's still a sore subject given the fact it was a widespread practice by other teams as well. But give him credit for hitting those questions head on during what was quite the epic press conferenceon Saturday.
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