[TSFH Fan]

Report: Steelers will file complaint with NFL about headset issues vs. Patriots
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/13629 ... riots-game

The Pittsburgh Steelers say their coach-to-coach communications during Thursday night's season opener in New England were interfered with.

The Patriots say theirs were, too. The NFL took responsibility for the breakdown, saying it controls communications equipment, including headsets, for both teams.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said after the game, a 28-21 Patriots victory at Gillette Stadium, that Pittsburgh's coach-to-coach headsets picked up New England's radio broadcast for the majority of the first half, preventing his staff from communicating with each other. Yahoo! Sports, citing an unnamed source, reported that the Steelers will file a complaint with the league about both the equipment failure and officials not turning off headsets on both teams' sidelines.

Friday morning, a report on Steelers.com, the team's official website, said that whenever an NFL representative was on the Patriots' sideline, the Steelers' headsets cleared, but when the representative walked way, the game broadcast returned. ESPN has not been able to independently confirm that report, which was unattributed.

A source with knowledge of the NFL's reaction said Friday morning that when the league determined Pittsburgh's communications were down, it was in the process of shutting down the Patriots' headsets when the problem was resolved. The problem resurfaced briefly, but was then resolved and did not recur.

The NFL released a statement Friday morning explaining that coaches' communications equipment, including the headsets, is provided by the NFL for both teams' use on game day, but that the home team "is responsible for the installation and maintenance of that equipment."

"Every team's game day communications personnel are required to work with the NFL communications consultants to ensure wireless equipment is free and clear of interference and address any problems," Michael Signora, the league's vice president of football communications, said. "Technological and stadium infrastructure issues of this type happen at many stadiums around the league and whenever there are issues of this nature, we do a thorough review."

Signora said Thursday night that the interference in coaches' headsets was caused by a stadium power infrastructure issue in Foxborough.

When pressed after the game, Tomlin said headset issues have occurred repeatedly in New England.

"That's always the case," the Steelers coach said. "Here?" a reporter asked. "Yes, Tomlin answered. When asked if he got a satisfactory resolution, Tomlin said: "Eventually."

Tomlin is a member of the league's competition committee.

Because there wasn't a complete system failure, New England's coaches were not required to shut down their headsets during the repairs. However, the Patriots said they experienced issues as well.

"We had a lot of problems," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Thursday night. "We had to switch headphones a couple of times. The communication system wasn't very good. We deal with that, it seems, weekly.

"They told us they were on the verge of shutting it off, but then I guess they got it working. I don't know, but it was a problem the whole game. We almost had to switch helmets with [Tom] Brady there at the end. Couldn't get the plays in to him. It was a problem all night."

On Friday, Belichick spoke on a conference call and was asked about Tomlin's "that's always the case" in Foxborough remark.

"I'm not going to get into a back and forth on this," Belichick said.

Asked if his team has the same issues on the road with headsets, Belichick said, "Yeah, I'm focused on the game here. I'm not going to keep talking about it. I'm really not."

All of this led to another controversy involving the NFL, the Patriots and Gillette Stadium on the eve of the first full weekend of NFL games.

Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy was asked about the matter Friday and said, "I think anytime you compete in this league long enough there's things that go wrong and you adjust. It's definitely not the first time [headset issues have] happened in a game, and I'm sure it won't be the last."

The Packers played the Patriots in their preseason opener Aug. 13 at Gillette Stadium, the first time longtime assistant coach Tom Clements called the team's plays. After that game, quarterback Aaron Rodgers was asked what he thought about Clements' performance.

"Well, it was a good start for us. Tom was very calm on the headset and he enunciated well," Rodgers said. "We had a headset issue at one point, but that's kind of preseason."

There have been notable instances of headset failures from past seasons:

In the 2010 AFC Championship Game between the Jets and Steelers in Pittsburgh, Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez had trouble receiving calls over the radio in his helmet. At one point during the game, the Jets had to use a walkie-talkie to relay play calls to Sanchez.

In a 2005 wild-card game between the Jaguars and the Patriots in Foxborough, the Jags experienced communication malfunctions between coach Jack Del Rio and his assistants as they tried to send the plays in to Byron Leftwich for much of the first half. Del Rio said he asked officials to take those systems away from the Patriots but was told there was no rule requiring that.

In May, Karlos Dansby told NBC Radio that the headset in his helmet stopped working during 2008 game at New England in 2008 and that he suspected foul play. It was snowing that day and the Patriots won in a blowout.

"My headset was working fine, every game," Dansby told Pro Football Talk. "Until the very last game of the year. We get in Foxborough, they couldn't get my headset fixed, for nothing in the world."

[TSFH Fan]

At least five teams have suspected Patriots of headset tampering
Posted by Michael David Smith on September 11, 2015, 9:38 AM EDT
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20 ... tampering/

The term “Headsetgate” has just been coined and may not last, but the allegations that the Patriots tamper with visiting teams’ communications at Gillette Stadium are nothing new.

With the Steelers suggesting that something was afoul on Thursday night in New England, there are now at least five teams that have accused the Patriots of tampering with communications:

1. After the Jaguars lost to the Patriots in the playoffs following the 2005 season, then-Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio said the headsets “mysteriously malfunctioned.”

2. In 2006, then-Lions offensive coordinator Mike Martz suspected the Patriots of preventing him from communicating with his quarterback. As reported by Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated, Martz had Detroit’s offense off to a good start until he lost the ability to call plays because the communications system went out. According to that report, it happened to the Lions twice, both times in the middle of drives when the Lions were picking up steam.

3. Bengals coach Marvin Lewis was quoted by Zimmerman as responding to Martz’s accusation by saying the same thing that happened to the Lions had happened to the Bengals as well: “Yeah, I know,” Lewis said. “Headset went out. It happened to me in Foxboro, too.”

4. Karlos Dansby said in an appearance on PFT Live this year that he suspected the Patriots of wrongdoing in 2008, when Dansby’s Cardinals visited New England and had trouble with their coach-to-helmet communications system.

5. The Steelers now become at least the fifth team making accusations, with the team saying that its coach-to-coach communications repeatedly faced interference from the Patriots’ radio broadcast, and that the interference would stop when a league official came to the sideline to deal with it, only to start up again when the league official walked away.

Unlike Spygate and Deflategate, these cheating accusations have not resulted in NFL discipline. But they’re part of a perception around the league that the Patriots win by skirting the rules.

[TSFH Fan]

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/11/us/pittsb ... index.html

A game story by Bob Labriola on Steelers.com didn't mince words, calling it "no surprise at all" that it happened.

"This is the kind of stuff that happens to the visiting team in Gillette Stadium all the time," Labriola wrote. "From the start of the game through the opening 14 minutes of the first quarter, the Steelers' coaches' headsets were receiving the Patriots Radio Network broadcast of the game. The broadcast was so loud that the Steelers coaches were unable to communicate, and the NFL rule is that if one team's headsets are not working the other team is supposed to be forced to take their headsets off. It's what the NFL calls the Equity Rule. Strangely enough, whenever an NFL representative proceeded to the New England sideline to shut down their headsets, the Steelers' headsets cleared. Then as the representative walked away from the New England sideline, the Steelers' headsets again started to receive the Patriots game broadcast."

http://www.steelers.com/news/article-1/ ... e9aee21c5f

[Elvis]

Or maybe they won't?

[Hacksaw]

Pile on the Patriots. lol
Couldn't have happened to a nice bunch. I will never forgive them for '02 ''' or Grogan.

This last tweet is what I expected though. Bad form among each other. Still, all eyes are on the sleeveless sweatshirt regime now,,, so let's see if they start losing more games.

[moklerman]

Gee, I wonder if the league is in "sweep it under the rug" mode again? Perhaps the Steelers are being urged to drop it for the good of the league?

[Stranger]

The Patriots say theirs were, too.

I don't believe this at all.

[Elvis]

With the Patriots well deserved reputation as cheaters, everything is gonna seem like cheating. Usually that will turn out to be wrong. And in the end they'll seem like the victims...

[snackdaddy]

Their history of long term cheating opens them up to this type of speculation. You would think with all that has happened they would be on their best behavior. Especially in the first game on National TV. But you never know. They could think they're untouchable the way the commish sweeps it under the rug.

[The Ripper]

It has happened multiple times at Heinz field and one those times was when they beat the Jets in the AFC Championship a few years ago. That was a bigger problem since the issue was with the communication between Mark Sanchaz and the coaches.