Just how brazen was Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots during their Spygate years?
Well according to this ESPN Outside The Lines report, Belichick would have lower level Patriots employees sneak into the opposing locker rooms and steal playsheets.
In fact, many former New England coaches and employees insist that the taping of signals wasn’t even the most effective cheating method the Patriots deployed in that era. Several of them acknowledge that during pregame warm-ups, a low-level Patriots employee would sneak into the visiting locker room and steal the play sheet, listing the first 20 or so scripted calls for the opposing team’s offense. (The practice became so notorious that some coaches put out fake play sheets for the Patriots to swipe.)
According to the report, the Patriots were so bold that opposing coaches started sitting out decoy sheets for the Pats to steal.
The Patriots would also have someone look through the visiting team hotel for playbooks or scouting reports.
By Glenn Erby
