Tomlin: Headset malfunction Majority of 1st half

Yeah, but let's say the Cheatriots see the Steelers substitute 2-3 players after a down, suddenly the coach headset to Timmons messes up, now you have Timmons having to look to sidelines and relay in to everyone what the play is while New England is already at the line and getting ready to snap it. Think that could have added to some of the confusion and coverages.

 

Again..the player communication wasnt effected.....just coach to coach..all the reports are clear on this.

 

Not true. Ever heard of "hacking" ? The guys that are contracted by the NFL to run the communications are not experts in security. They are communications experts...and typically one or two of them on hand are the experts and the he or she is the person in charge of a bunch of grunts. I've met a communications crew before...at a bar and very drunk. They were actually contracted by the NFL and work for a private company. They were an over worked and exhausted group of guys that would have no ability to prevent a security breach. Especially by the home team who knows everything about their stadium communications and networks.

 

Not to be too much of a devil's advocate here, because I think cheating in any sport is lame and should be dealt with - especially if it's an organization that has been suspected/caught multiple times such as the Pats. HOWEVER, I think the better question here, for our own benefit, is why haven't WE practiced 'going dark' and communicating without headsets KNOWING that we're playing at a stadium known to have those issues every time we show up? Seems we shot ourselves in the foot on this one a bit...

 

Do not buy into the excuse that the NFL controls the headsets. Even with NFL control the Patriots could be doing one of two things.
1) Hacking into the frequency in attempt to steal the Steelers communications.
or much more likely
2) They are radio jamming to F with the communication system for both teams. Even though their own headset would be out in this scenario, they could A) plan ahead for it, B) take advantage of the quiet home crowd while the opponent has to try to communicate verbally or with hand signals (hand signals that are likely stolen).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_jamming

 

If the coaches can't communicate then it becomes a problem relaying information to the players. They cheated again and got away with it like they always do. The NFL is a replica of the WWE anymore and this is yet another example.

 

Who has the authority to do that? It sure isn't NotSOGoodell anymore!

 

Same game, different name. You are still slowing down the process against a fast moving offense. I assume ( you are more knowledgable about football than me, TTF, I admit) that the reason you even have the coaches in the press box sending down info to sideline coaches is it is easier to see what subs are made and what sub packages the Steelers need to send in. You delay this 10-12 seconds, so now you have sideline coach trying to see who ran into NEs huddle. I would be interested to see the game film that if NE sent in their subs with the huddle being formed in between our coaches and where the subs for NE ran on the field.

 

If you don't understand the difference between frequency hopping and spread spectrum radio you probably don't know enough to have an informed opinion about how wireless headsets are messed with. Not saying it can't be done, but the technology is hard to mess with in a way that doesn't just totally black out the channel.

 

This would be VERY easy to do...especially if it's wireless. Basic stuff that anyone could do with the right piece of equipment.

Or if you know anything about network security anyone with some knowledge of network security could hack the system and listen in....or tamper with the communications. I think the Patriots have already shown they are more than willing to go to great lengths to cheat. They employed a known code breaker for crying out loud. They had employees recording, analyzing, and organizing 1000's of hours of tapes of opponents plays and signals. They were willing to break into locker rooms and steal playbooks. Messing with the opponents communications and listening in would be the OBVIOUS move by anyone doing what they were doing. Why would they not try this?

 

They have tape on our hand signals.

 

Steelers are officially filing a complaint. Wonder what that will do?

 

I thought about that as well. The fact is, regardless of whether you love or hate the pats, they seem ready for every single situation. Last night Gronk even said after the game that they practice busted coverage plays. Bill loves Sun Tsu and it's well documented and he said that every battle is won before it is ever fought. In other words, preparation is the key to victory and they almost ALWAYS seem HIGHLY prepared.

 

Yeah, but I think their is a difference between highly prepared and "listen, we need to move at a fast pace because we are going to jam their communications and they have a first year d-coord and a young defense".

 

Exactly! Also, this seems that it would be VERY hard to catch them at. And knowing how hard, they would be just the a-holes to do this excessively in THIS game as another F you to the NFL. It could be some compartmentalized set of tech guys doing this with no real way to trace wireless signals jamming up the communication.

 

hopefully someone will review the timing on this

 

Here's the league office investigating complaints of cheating against the Patriots ...

 

I was listening to the The Fan - Pittsburgh show this morning and they said the NFL statement about "malfunctions common due to weather, they happen at different stadiums."

They mentioned they spoke with a communications specialist at CBS Radio and he mentioned the weather excuse is complete horse$hit and a complete line of bunk that should be of no issue for one of the best facilities in the NFL.

I was listening in on Washington sports radio as well and a Pats yahoo fan calls in and said the Patriots have the same issue and really these problems happen all the time at other places. The sports host came back with a great comeback and said "Sir - I went to the Nationals game the other night and there was some bad weather and I was able to fill out my fantasy league at the game on my smartphone. It seems a little strange that a $1B+ organization can't put forth the effort to overcome a facility problem that numerous organizations have complained about."

The NFL's statement was basically another "run along .... nothing to see here" statement.

 

The best part of that was it doesn't work on the Giants

 

This may be true...BUT when you know it's going to happen, you're prepared.