In Defense of Tom Brady: A Brief History of “Cheating” in the Football
Spy Gate and Deflategate have inflated conspiracy theories throughout the league about the lengths to which Teflon Tom Brady and the much-maligned New England Patriots will go to gain an advantage over opponents.
But Brady and the Pats are far from the first player and team to push the envelope when it comes to the rules.
A Sticky Situation
Earlier this year, Jerry Rice confessed on Jim Rome’s radio show that he used stickum on his gloves during the prime of his career.
“I know this might be a little illegal, guys,” Rice told Rome with a laugh, “but you put a little spray, a little stickum on them, to make sure that texture is a little sticky.”
Rice has since declined to comment on his comments.
Stickum, the revolutionary adhesive spray that Lester Hayes made famous in the 1970s — was banned from the league in 1981. Today the NFL rulebook prohibits any, “adhesive or slippery substances on the body, equipment, or uniform of any player.” This doesn’t include football gloves, which usually have sticky surfaces on their fingers and palms, as long as the adhesive material doesn’t rub off on the football or make it harder for other players to handle.
This rule didn’t stop players from using it, according to former NFL official Bruce Maurer, 67, who refereed in the league for 15 years beginning in 1987.
“Anytime somebody mentioned, ‘Hey he’s got stickum,’ we would check the gloves,” Maurer said during a recent interview. “That was very common place. But technology everything is so dramatically different now than it was back then.”
A Slippery slope
Some players would rather be slippery than sticky, according to Hall of Fame QB Joe Montana, the man Brady calls his idol.
Montana gave his own take on the Deflategate scandal in June during an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, pointing out that his team’s offensive lineman routinely sprayed silicone on their jerseys to prevent defenders from grabbing and pulling on them during plays.
“Everybody is trying to do something different,” noted the four-time Super Bowl champ. “Once you get caught, you get caught… It might be a dumb rule, but it doesn’t matter.
“Everybody is afraid to say it, but if the guy did it, so what?” Montana added of Brady. “Just pay up and move on. It’s no big deal.”
Big Sky Conference officials didn’t feel the same way in November of 2002 when Sacramento State University lineman were photographed spraying PAM cooking oil on their jerseys in a game they lost to Montana State Bobcats.
Conference officials investigated and eventually the perpetrators were “reprimanded,” but not suspended. Bilal Watkins, one of the rule breakers, admitted he and his teammates got the idea after seeing NFL nose tackle Jim Burt, a former 49er and NY Giant, do the same thing on TV.
“We didn’t think it was going to give us an unfair advantage, and that’s why we didn’t think it was a big deal,” Watkins told the Deseret News back then. “If we were trying to hide something, we would’ve never done it out there in the open so everybody could see.”
NCAA Ref Dennis Morris, who’s been a Big Ten back judge for five years, says greasing jerseys is an offense rarely checked or enforced.
“It’s pretty hard to detect that and how are you going to prove it?” he added. “Once those guys get sweaty, that would be a tough one for something like that.”
“Rubbing” players the wrong way
Tight ends like Antonio Gates and Jimmy Graham aren’t the only thing the NFL took from basketball. The rub route, one of the most common offensive red zone plays used today, was inspired by the basketball pick and roll, a play where ball handlers dealing with tough man-to-man defenders deliberately cross paths with teammates who impede the assigned cover man’s path, freeing up the dribbler for a shot.
In football, this is called a rub route, and technically it’s illegal, but that doesn’t stop offenses at every level of the sport from using it routinely, says Mauer.
“When I joined the league in ’87, it was one of the biggest things we talked about,” he said. “You see a lot of that inside the 20 yard line. We would cross our arms every time to say be aware of the pick play.”
The “rub,” on the rub route is in how officials interpret it. While deliberately impeding a defender’s path is considered offensive pass interference, when it happens, officials have to decide whether the offensive player is deliberately picking a defender or simply running their own passing route.
“The rule says the receiver is responsible for avoiding the defender,” noted Morris. “We would enforce that as strictly as we can, but we may not always know.”
The Denver Broncos were running a rub route-style play in 2013 when receiver Wes Welker crashed into and injured Patriots Cornerback Aqib Talib, who was in man-to-man coverage on Welker’s teammate, homerun hitter Demaryius Thomas.
Talib was knocked out of the game with a knee injury. No flags were thrown and the maneuver, which Pats Coach Bill Belichick called said was “one of the worst things” he’s ever seen, ultimately was ruled legal a legal hit by NFL officials.
“You’ll find in all sports, a coach or player will look for any legal advantage until the rulebook says it’s not OK,” notes Morris. “Every rule that’s been in place, it’s because of something that’s happened. You and I can sit down and think of every scenario. They’ve addressed it. Now what’s going to be the next circumstance?”
