Longtime Philadelphia sports radio host Howard Eskin joined Kirk & Callahan Wednesday morning from Radio Row to defend his argument that the Eagles did not get a fair shot against the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX. To hear the full interview, visit the Kirk & Callahan audio on demand page.
"I've learned to dislike the Patriots when I found out they cheated, and we know they cheated," Eskin said. "Don't even deny it."
He first criticized Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for his role in Deflategate, saying Brady knowingly violated the rules, though four games may have been an unfair length for the suspension. Eskin admitted to not reading the Wells Report when pressed by Kirk Minihane and Gerry Callahan on Brady's wrongdoing in the scandal, but said that Brady deflated the footballs.
"The quarterback, if he doesn't know that that's going on, (the equipment guy) is gone, and he was fired anyway," he said.
Eskin then went on to say that the Patriots were taping Eagles practices in the lead-up to Super Bowl XXXIX, something never alleged or proven.
"I try to have proof, but I don't waste my time," he added.
Perhaps his most bizarre claim of the interview came when Eskin described an incident during the 2015 regular season contest at Gillette Stadum between New England and Philadelphia. Safety Malcolm Jenkins intercepted Brady and returned it 99 yards for a touchdown. After scoring, Eskin claims that the Patriots requested that the ball be returned to the New England sideline until the game was completed. No evidence or proof of this has ever been produced or even alleged. But that doesn't matter to the WIP-FM host.
"I know the Patriots cheat, you just don't know how they do it," Eskin added. "Once a cheater, always a cheater. If you're not cheating, you're not trying, so the Patriots do it better than anybody else."
