The New England Patriots are the most successful franchise in the NFL since Bill Belichick took over 17 years ago, but they also have a stigma of cheating attached to their name. With that in mind, it’s not all that shocking to learn that Rex Ryan was paranoid about having his game plans stolen when playing the Pats.
In fact, according to Jason Cole of Bleacher report, Ryan was so paranoid that he had all of it shredded in his own offices so that janitors couldn’t steal them for the Patriots.
According to @JasonColeBR, teams around the league have taken extra precautions, including shredding game plans, when playing New England pic.twitter.com/5WoVVdQ60I
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 30, 2017
The Patriots have been busted by the NFL twice in the past for cheating.
The first was a video scheme, Spygate, in which they were busted filming the New York Jets from an unapproved location so as to allegedly steal signs and signals.
This was hardly the first time the Patriots had been accused of signal stealing, either. They were accused by Marshall Faulk for knowing too much about the St. Louis Rams’ game plan in Super Bowl XXXVI and by James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers a couple years later.
Spygate occurred two years before Ryan took over in New York, but he clearly believed the Patriots would do anything they could — be it legal or illegal — to gain an advantage throughout his career as a head coach against New England.
Of course the second major violation caused Tom Brady to miss four games this past year — Deflategate. It’s hardly the same as stealing signals or game plans, and to be honest the NFL could never even prove the Pats did anything intentional to alter the footballs. But the cheating reputation the franchise had cultivated absolutely factored into the discipline that followed.
With all that in mind, it’s not shocking whatsoever to learn that teams have taken extra precautions to keep the Patriots from getting an advantage.