Pittsburgh Steelers: Former Coach Bill Cowher Says Steelers Tried Stealing Signals

I often found it comical (and still do) when Pittsburgh Steelers fans make their claims that they were cheated by the New England Patriots during the so-called Spygate years.

Jan 29, 2013, New Orleans, LA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers former coach Bill Cowher at CBS sports Super Bowl XLVII press conference at the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

This coming from a franchise who some could say cheated their way to four Super Bowl championships in the 1970s by having many of the offensive and defensive lineman using steroids.

There were always two reasons why I felt the Spygate issue really wasn’t that big of a deal as it pertained to the Steelers in the 2004 season.

The first of which deals with the fact that the Patriots were the much better team that year and in following seasons.

Secondly, it was always my opinion that everyone was doing it.

You just couldn’t convince me that the Patriots were the only team in football looking for any advantage they could get.

Former Steelers’ head coach Bill Cowher confirmed many of my suspicions during a segment on 93.7 The Fan on Wednesday when he said that the Patriots weren’t the only team trying to steal signals during the time of the Spygate scandal.

Cowher said the Steelers were doing it also:

"“We didn’t lose the game because of any Spygate, because of them having any additional things,” Cowher said, referring to the 41-27 loss to New England that ended the Steelers’ season following a 15-1 regular season. “I think if they’re guilty of anything, they’re guilty of arrogance because they were told not to do something. But it was something that everybody does.”"

Cowher added more to his statement moments later.

“The only thing they got caught (was) doing it with a camera,” Cowher told the radio station. “We had people that always tried to steal signals. Stealing someone’s signals was a part of the game, and everyone attempted to do that.”

Cowher also went on to say that Bill Belichick will be remembered as the greatest coach of all time, scandal or not. That’s another point I am in complete agreement with.

I found Cowher’s comments very interesting and honest. He’s in a position now where he doesn’t have to sugarcoat things. Cowher gains very little by not being completely honest about the situation.

I may be in the minority but I never found the Spygate scandal to really be that big of a deal. I thought it got blown out of proportion and by the time the news came out, the NFL had to make an example of someone and that happened to be the Patriots.

Hopefully Cowher’s comments can put some Steelers’ fans minds at ease. At the end of the day, the Spygate scandal really did little to prevent Pittsburgh from winning games.