Cowboys Hall Of Fame Coach Voices Opinion On Spygate After Bill Belichick Snub
Legendary New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick reportedly did not get enough votes to get into the Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot.
According to ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham, Belichick’s involvement in Spygate and Deflategate played a role in his not getting in.
“Multiple sources told ESPN that Spygate and Deflategate, the twin cheating scandals during the Patriots’ championship run, came up in deliberations among voters,” ESPN wrote on Tuesday. “A voter who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Polian, an ardent Kraft supporter and former general manager of the Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts — a chief Patriots rival during their dynasty — told some voters he believed Belichick should ‘wait a year’ before induction as penance for Spygate, the 2007 cheating scandal that cost the team a first-round draft pick. Commissioner Roger Goodell also fined the Patriots $500,000 and fined Belichick $250,000.”
Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson spoke out about Spygate being used as an excuse against the legendary Patriots head coach.
Johnson admitted that the Patriots were not the only team that tried to steal signals from other teams. Johnson himself was voted into the Hall of Fame as a member of the class of 2020. He is a two-time Super Bowl champion with the Dallas Cowboys and also coached the Miami Dolphins for four years.
Belichick won eight Super Bowls in his career. Six of those came as the head coach of the Patriots and two came as an assistant with the New York Giants. He is second in all-time wins to Don Shula, and he is third in regular-season wins.
If Spygate is why Belichick did not get into the Hall of Fame this year, then everyone involved should also have to wait a year. Will the voters keep Tom Brady out in his first year of eligibility for Deflategate, for which he served a suspension? Probably not.