Warren Sapp: Patriots cheat, 'but if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying to win'
Add Warren Sapp to the list of those who classify the New England Patriots as cheaters.
The Hall of Famer accused the Patriots of being deceitful while speaking with WEEI's Rob Bradford on Friday at the David Ortiz Celebrity Golf Tournament in the Dominican Republic. He's not necessarily against it, though.
"They cheat," Sapp said. "But if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying to win."
Sapp then shared a story from when his Tampa Bay Buccaneers traveled to New England during the 2000 season, Bill Belichick's first with the Patriots.
"When Tony Dungy took us, the 2000 Tampa Bay Buccaneers up there for Week 1, we dumped all our playbooks in Tampa," Sapp said. "We had a bin outside the bus. (Dungy) said throw all your playbooks in here. So all our offensive players threw their playbooks in there. … We went out and got off to a 14-0 lead and (they) came rumbling back after the second half.
"How many people come to Foxborough and have a 14-point lead? It's usually the other way around, right? That's how y'all cheat."
Sapp believes the Patriots have cheated since the "Deflategate" scandal too, citing the headset issues the Pittsburgh Steelers dealt with during their Week 1 game at Gillette Stadium as evidence.
"The latest example would be (Thursday) night when Mike Tomlin was sitting there listening to y'all's radio broadcast in his headphones," Sapp said. "How do you explain that? And then they tell people it was raining, and it wasn't raining at that point, you know that, right? At the beginning of the game, it wasn't raining, and that was the narrative that came out the next morning.
"I remember (broadcasters) Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, because I've worked with Cris. I remember his face going, 'Well, how do you explain this?' Tomorrow morning we'll put a spin on it. We will tell you it was raining, the communication and something went wrong."
Sapp once again reiterated that he doesn't have an issue with cheating.
"Listen, man, I don't have any problem with Belichick and anything they are doing up there," he said. "They are winning. I believe in cheating. If you ain't cheating, you ain't trying to win."