Way before Deflategate and even before ESPN’s Outside the Lines report on the alleged cheating by the Patriots during the Spygate era, former Carolina Panthers general manager Marty Hurney accused the Patriots of creating a “culture of cheating.”
Today’s ESPN report mentions the belief among the Panthers that their practices had been taped prior to Super Bowl XXXVIII, and that offensive coordinator Dan Henning changed their gameplan at halftime.
Thus the reason for the Panthers surging back in that second half.
“Our players came in after that first half and said it was like [the Patriots] were in our huddle,” a Panthers source told ESPN. “Do I have any tape to prove they cheated?. No. But I’m convinced they did it.”
What’s worse: deflating balls or an alleged culture of cheating?
By Glenn Erby
