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Dolphins Stealing Pats Signals ‘Just Football’

John Clayton reports that the NFL is not concerned about whether the Dolphins stole the Patriots’ signals.

The NFL doesn’t have any plans to investigate rumors that Dolphins coach Nick Saban may have purchased audio of quarterback Tom Brady’s cadence and protection calls. The reason is simple. A league spokesman said, “that’s just football.”

First of all, the league would have no chance of proving it. Saban has already gone on record as saying he tried to pick up a team’s cadence from television broadcast. “You always try to get the other team’s cadence,” Saban said. “I’m sure they try to get ours, so when you know when a guy’s checking off, when he isn’t checking off.”

Teams are always trying to steal signs and signals off other teams. As the NFL said, that’s just football.

It would be one thing if the Dolphins were using electronic eavesdropping devices to hone in on Brady’s calls. Certainly, listening to audio from television broadcasts is perfectly legitimate. Indeed, I’d be surprised if teams weren’t already doing this.

Update(Bill Jempty)- A Palm Beach post article today quoted a former GM as saying-

One former NFL general manager, who wished to remain anonymous, isn’t sure the Dolphins could get that much information off a TV telecast.

“It’s really hard to decipher what’s said on television, even with a guy that makes loud calls like Brady,” the former GM said. “It’s all suspicious, to say the least.”

There is technology that can filter sounds out of a recording. If the Dolphins could do such a thing, why only for one game?

Back in 1978 I remember another accusation of signal stealing. It was a game between Dallas and Washington which the Redskins won 9-5. Some people(at least one Miami based sports announcer) was saying Washington knew whether Dallas was about to run or pass based on whether a certain Dallas RB(Preston Pearson or Robert Newhouse) had his chin strap on or off. The news program showed a few plays to try to prove their case.

I wasn’t able to find anything on the web to backup my memory from 1978. Maybe a hardcore Redskin or Cowboy fan recalls the game in question.

 
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