Deflategate is supposed to be over, but controversy just keeps following the New England Patriots.
Pittsburgh Steelers coaches are alleging that their coach-to-coach headsets picked up the Patriots' radio broadcast, preventing them from communicating for a majority of the first half during Thursday night's game in New England. The Patriots wound up winning 28-21, behind Tom Brady's 288 passing yards and four touchdowns — three of which were hauled in by tight end Rob Gronkowski.
However, the main headline following the game wasn't Brady's stellar performance. It was dominated by the headset issue, which Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said has happened to the team repeatedly when playing at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
"That's always the case. Yes. I said what I said," Tomlin told ESPN after the loss Thursday night.
Tomlin added that "eventually," the technical difficulty was resolved.
Meanwhile, Patriots coach Bill Belichick told ESPN that New England's sideline experienced headset difficulties as well.
"We had a lot of problems," Belichick said. "We had to switch headphones a couple of times. The communication system wasn't very good. We deal with that, it seems, weekly."
Being that the tech difficulties were sparked during the first game of the 2015 NFL season and that it involved the Patriots – who have already gone through Spygate and Deflategate scandals – the league released the following statement to the media.
In the first quarter of tonight's game, the Pittsburgh coaches experienced interference in their headsets caused by a stadium power infrastructure issue, which was exacerbated by the inclement weather.
The coaches' communications equipment, including the headsets, is provided by the NFL for both clubs' use on game day. Once the power issue was addressed, the equipment functioned properly with no additional issues.
Think that there's more shady business going on with the Patriots? Or are you just chalking this one up to technical difficulties in inclement weather?
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