Deion Sanders accuses Colts of stealing signals; Dungy says not cheating
Deion Sanders leveled a serious allegation at the Indianapolis Colts during a conversation about the New England Patriots' Spygate scandal on NFL Network.
After colleague LaDanian Tomlinson noted critics would point to Spygate to diminish the Patriots' success, the Hall of Fame cornerback said the Colts stole other teams' defensive signals, and everyone in the NFL knew about it.
"Those same critics, did they say anything about the wins that the Indianapolis Colts had? You want to talk about that too? Because they were getting everybody’s signals," Sanders said, according to Matt Bonesteel of The Washington Post. "Come on, you don't walk up to the line and look over here and the man on the sideline giving you the defense that they've stolen the plays of. We all knew. L.T. knew. Everybody in the NFL knew. We just didn't let the fans know. That was real and that was happening in Indy."
Sanders didn't provide any evidence or a specific time period in which this occurred, but it's likely a reference to the highly successful Peyton Manning era.
Tony Dungy, who coached the Colts for a significant portion of that period, appeared on "Pro Football Talk Live" on Wednesday and defended his former team.
"I think we have to go back to what is cheating," Dungy said. "People accusing us of cheating? I don't think that’s the case. Stealing signals? You can go back to the 1800s in baseball, you can go anywhere there were signals done, and people were looking and watching and trying to get signals. Back in the early days of football the quarterbacks called the plays and the middle linebackers called the defenses and there was no signaling.
"When coaches decided they wanted to call plays you had to find ways to get the information in and there were people watching. My coach, Chuck Noll, was a messenger guard for Paul Brown in the '50s because Paul Brown didn't want to have to signal because people are going to watch them. So that's what happens and it's been done legally for years."
Dungy argued that, if Sanders was referring to his team trying to decipher opponents' signals by simply watching, then every team in NFL history is guilty.
"If you signal, there are people who are gonna watch you signal," Dungy said. "Everybody has done that for years and years and years.
"I hope Deion is not saying we did something illegally."