Dolphins took anti-cheating precautions against Patriots, got blown out
The Dolphins took extra precautions to assure that the Patriots didn’t cheat when the two teams squared off earlier this year. Miami then proceeded to get waxed.
Adam Beasley of The Miami Herald reports that the Dolphins took more equipment staffers with them to Foxboro in Week 8 than they would for other road games. The goal was to prevent cheating.
When the Dolphins visited New England in late October, they took extra precautions to guard against potential malfeasance, multiple sources tell the Miami Herald.
Most notably: the organization traveled to New England this year with more equipment staffers than they do for a usual road trip. It wasn’t a coincidence. It was a preventative measure.
The extra staffing ensured that no Patriots employee would have any reason to touch (and potentially tamper with) their gear ahead of or during the Thursday night game.
And, once again, we have a prime example of a team being so paranoid about alleged illegal activity from the Patriots that they forget to prepare for the game.
Perhaps it is not a coincidence that the NFL swept the visiting locker room at Gillette Stadium for bugs four days before the Dolphins came to town. Miami’s paranoia may have also been a result of members of the Patriots staff reportedly being interrogated after a complaint from the Jets about radio frequencies.
(Side note: Dolphins executive VP of football operations Mike Tannenbaum was the GM of the Jets when the Patriots were caught filming New York’s signals back in 2007).
To our knowledge, the league uncovered no wrongdoing on the part of the Patriots in Week 7 or Week 8. New England’s 36-7 win over Miami marked the team’s second-largest margin of victory this season. Coincidence? Possibly, but it’s also possible that we saw yet another example of a paranoid team allowing the Patriots to beat them before the game even began.
Let’s not forget some of the pathetic complaints the Steelers made earlier this year when they lost to New England. In many ways, the Patriots’ history of skirting the rules continues to help them win games.