Which means that it may have happened, but that the Jets didn’t request it.
Advertisement
According to the latest reports, the National Football League conducted a sweep of the opponent’s locker room prior to the Patriots’ October 25 contest against the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium.
Neither the Globe nor the Herald mentioned any specific reason why the Jets-or the Kremlin, or Joe Friday, or Chief Wiggum-asked the National Football League to question the Patriots’ employees about any of this stuff.
On Friday, on his show on WFAN, Esiason repeated his claim regarding the bug-sweeping. I’m not one of these mouthbreathers that believes the Patriots truly won an AFC Championship game 45-7 because they let the air out of a few balls, but the Patriots organization has clearly been shady over the history of Bill Belichick’s tenure and I’d probably do the exact same thing as the Jets in this situation.
“I don’t think anybody’s acknowledged it”, Esiason said in regard to the Patriots, Jets or the NFL.
Says league spokesman Brian McCarthy: “No such request was made by the Jets”. That year, New England posted an undefeated record of 16-0 in the regular season, only to fall to the New York Giants, 17-14, in Super Bowl XLII. First place takes home $100,000!
It seems that the Jets kept this in mind ahead of their game at Gillette Stadium last week.
“Peyton Manning has always thought that there were listening devices in there”, Esiason said.
Advertisement
In stories in Sports Illustrated and on ESPN.com last month, it was suggested that other teams are suspicious that the Patriots might have bugged the visiting locker room, despite no evidence to back up that concern.
