Spygate before there was spygate

[amazinPats]

From the October 9, 1967 edition of Sport Illustrated:

George Allen, the head coach of the Rams, was confronted with the spy charges when the club landed in Dallas Friday evening but, understandably, he denied all and filed a countercharge of his own.

"There was a guy sitting in a eucalyptus tree overlooking our practice field Thursday," said Allen seriously. "By the time we saw him and sent someone after him, he climbed down and ran away. From the rear he looked like Bucko Kilroy."

Kilroy is a Cowboy scout and weighs in the vicinity of 300 pounds. It is hard to believe that he could have climbed a eucalyptus tree, much less perched among the limbs of one to take notes, as unnoticed as a sparrow.

Lol! Here's the link:

IN DALLAS, SPYTALK AND A ROUT

 

[Jackson 2]

From the October 9, 1967 edition of Sport Illustrated:

George Allen, the head coach of the Rams, was confronted with the spy charges when the club landed in Dallas Friday evening but, understandably, he denied all and filed a countercharge of his own.

"There was a guy sitting in a eucalyptus tree overlooking our practice field Thursday," said Allen seriously. "By the time we saw him and sent someone after him, he climbed down and ran away. From the rear he looked like Bucko Kilroy."

Kilroy is a Cowboy scout and weighs in the vicinity of 300 pounds. It is hard to believe that he could have climbed a eucalyptus tree, much less perched among the limbs of one to take notes, as unnoticed as a sparrow.

Lol! Here's the link:

IN DALLAS, SPYTALK AND A ROUT

From Wikipedia: "As the head of scouting in the early 2000s Bucko was instrumental in drafting many of theplayers that won three Super Bowls for the NE Patriots. Kilroy died in Foxborough, MA on July 10, 2007."

 

[RecoveringCowboy]

If - IF there has been an NFL coach that looked harder to find an advantage than BB, it would be George Allen. They did not have a salary cap in those days, but GA obviously didn't care with his "the future is now" approach.

 

[RobertWeathers]

If - IF there has been an NFL coach that looked harder to find an advantage than BB, it would be George Allen. They did not have a salary cap in those days, but GA obviously didn't care with his "the future is now" approach.

They all did. Lombardi, Landry, Brown, Noll, Shula.....all of them.

 

[Silver Blue&Red]

The difference, if you're comparing "BS gate" to this, is the Pats were filming during a game, not a practice.
Unless I'm missing something here? I could be wrong, and if so, I apologize, in advance.

 

[jmt57]

It is interesting to compare George Allen's preparation as noted in that article and contrast that to Bill Belichick during his tenure with the Patriots.

In the week before their game with Dallas, the Rams prepared themselves so meticulously that Tex Schramm, the president of the Cowboys" (note, my words: essentially whined and accused Allen of cheating).

In a fine rage, Schramm fired off a hot wire to Commissioner Pete Rozelle, complaining of what he called the Rams' "chicanery."​

Sound familiar?

"We get a hundred-page scouting report on Monday of every week, covering the club we play the next Sunday," said Max Baughan, the linebacker who came to the Rams from the Philadelphia Eagles and now captains the defensive unit. He was in the Ram dressing room after the game, his uniform drenched in perspiration, his thin, sandy hair plastered flat on his head. "From Monday to Wednesday I live in a state of confusion," he went on. "By Thursday it begins to come clear. By Friday we have it down pat and we're ready to play our game. Coach Allen gives us a completely different defense for each club. I mean our defenses are basically the same, but the application is different for each team. We knew just about what the Cowboys would try to do to us, and they didn't have any surprises."​

Gee, I wonder what current era team this sounds most like?

After the game the man responsible for the preparation, Allen, said: "They did just about what we thought they would do. We knew we had to shut off Bob Hayes, and we concentrated our efforts on that. How many balls did he get? Two for 18 yards. We shut him off pretty good."​

How many times have we seen Belichick focus on limiting the opponent's primary offensive weapon, and win by daring the other team to win with their second option?

Two of the best runs of the afternoon, though, were turned in by Tommy Mason, the back Allen obtained from the Minnesota Vikings and kept out of the preseason games, saving him for the regular season.​

Shades of Randy Moss in 2007.

By the end of the long, hot day it was obvious that the Cowboys had been beaten by a better team, one with bigger and stronger defense and a smooth, beautifully articulated offense. The Rams needed no notes from Johnny Sanders sitting in a yellow Chevrolet outside a Dallas practice field to win this one. Spies will not be a deciding factor, either, in the remainder of their schedule. The Rams clearly are one of the three best teams in the league.​

'Nuff said.

 

[RecoveringCowboy]

He'd beat you any way by hook or crook

For finding an edge, I'd put GA in the top 3 of all time (Rick Perry moment ) I can't name the third.

GA in other areas was not at all like BB. He led in the trash talk to a level beyond Rex Ryan...as if the Cowboys = ISIS. The draft? To hell with it.

 

[RedSleevesPinkStripes]

Obviously...

Bill Belichick is a cyborg who traveled back in time to plant this story, in a vain attempt to make it seem that his patented and innovative, yet dastardly approach to signal stealing was actually a commonplace practice used by virtually every coach in the modern era, in order to make people overlook his blatant disregard and repeated practices of undermining the sanctity and INTEGRITY of the game we all hold so near and dear to our hearts.

This simple explanation is all you need to know folks, OPEN YOUR EYES!!!

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Back during cameragate, we had a collection of a few of these.

There was a big article on spycraft in a Sport Magazine article of the same era.