Give the Patriots a Break. All Football Teams Cheat.
With the New England Patriots making it into the Super Bowl yet again, people of social media have been bringing up the fact that they are cheaters. While I do not condone cheating, I find it hard to believe they are the only ones. Before you pull out those pitchforks hear me out.
In 2007 it was Spygate, in 2014 it was Deflategate. Controversy swirls around the New England Patriots, especially for head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. Someone commented on a video of ours referring to the Patriots as "Cheateroits." Honestly, I just think that's way too difficult to say. However, let's be real there is NO way no other team in the NFL has cheated before.
Before I did some research, I never believed for a second that the Patriots were the only team to cheat. Most athletes cheat. In baseball you have many players coming out admitting to using steroids, pitchers putting a substance on the balls to throw better, and players putting cork in the center of a bat to hit farther. In basketball, the opposing team used to spit on the ball before a foul shot to make it slippery. Lance Armstrong admitted to using steroids. The list goes on and on.
After arguing this point to many people, some agreeing and some not, I decided to do some digging. It turned out to be WAY easier than I thought it was going to be. The most interesting thing is that the Patriots are not even the most cheating team in the NFL.
I went on Google and searched ""football teams cheating" to see what articles came up. A website popped up called YourTeamCheats.com which proved to be most helpful. Guess what I found? Every single NFL team have been caught cheating. Even the Eagles have cheated. The Patriots haven't even cheated the most.
The headline of the website is hysterical, "So you think there's only one NFL team that cheats? You're wrong. All 32 NFL teams cheat. Yup, even your favorite team is a dirty cheater, but since they are not that good, nobody really cares."
The website sources all of the accounts to other websites and verifies before posting. I went in and vetted a few of the cheating scandals and found the website to be legitimate.
So, which team has cheated the most?
The Denver Broncos with 14 total cheats.
One of the 14 accounts encompasses 12 players that have used performance enhancing drugs. The websites puts them all into one "cheat". The Denver Broncos have more players that have been found using performance enhancing drugs than any other team.
Do you think the Patriots are the only ones that have a Spygate controversy? Nope. The Broncos, in 2010, got caught filming the 49ers' walk through practice. A year before the Patriots' Spygate the New York Jets got caught filming the "Patriots' plays and defensive signals."
So which teams cheat the least?
The Jacksonville Jaguars, Arizona Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs, and Houston Texans.
How many times have the Eagles and Patriots cheated?
The Philadelphia Eagles have cheated 6 times. One of those "cheats" includes 6 players that have used performance enhancing drugs. The Eagles have held illegal tryouts and in 2004 had their own Deflategate, just to name a few.
The New England Patriots have cheated 8 times, with 5 players that have used performance enhancing drugs.
So next time you hate on the Patriots for cheating remember that every team cheats. Is it right? No. Will there always be cheating in football? Definitely.
Source: YourTeamCheats.com
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