Deion Sanders dropped a noteworthy accusation on Sunday that seemingly got lost in the Super Bowl shuffle, and the Hall of Fame cornerback is now annoyed that his comments have become a national story.
When the topics of Spygate and Deflategate came up after the New England Patriots’ miraculous comeback against the Atlanta Falcons, Sanders defended Bill Belichick’s team by claiming the Indianapolis Colts used to steal signals and everyone knew it. On Wednesday, former Colts coach Tony Dungy gave a lengthy response to the allegations from Sanders.
In an appearance on PFT Live, Dungy explained how there is a difference between legally and illegally stealing signs. He explained how sign-stealing has been a part of sports for nearly 200 years.
“Deion, I’m sure on every scouting report that he ever got, the first thing that’s on there on the defensive scouting reports, who is the live signal caller, who signals the personnel groups in. And that’s what happened,” Dungy said. “And you looked over there because you wanted to know as a defensive player: Is it going to be three wide receivers? Is it going to be two tight ends? Who’s in the game? There’s a person over there signaling and Deion Sanders and every other defensive player would look at the offensive sideline to get that signal. So that is football. And I’m not sure what Deion is referring to, really.
‘That’s all part of the game, but doing it legally and illegally, that’s the difference. I hope Deion is not saying we did something illegally. Of course we got signals when we had an opportunity to do that, and so did Deion.”
After Dungy’s response gained steam, Sanders fired off a series of tweets. Was he backpedaling? Was he standing by what he said? It’s kind of hard to tell.
I guess aint nobody sports wise got anything to fill their boring talk shows or columns up so they're bringing up a old issue thats accurate
— Deion Sanders (@DeionSanders) February 8, 2017
You got that right. And tjats all im saying on this issue. You know me and i dont lie! #Truth https://t.co/1F5lN2zEvj
— Deion Sanders (@DeionSanders) February 8, 2017
Never mad my man. I like when u get the facts right. Boys get mad men dont. https://t.co/6QblRqsuHv
— Deion Sanders (@DeionSanders) February 8, 2017
The biggest issue with Spygate was that the Patriots were illegally videotaping signals. Unless Sanders has information about the Colts doing something similar, you can understand why Dungy — who is notoriously paranoid about cheating — was offended by the accusation.
