In advance of his autobiography “Heart and Steel" written with Michael Holley that goes on sale Tuesday, former Steelers coach Bill Cowher spoke with Ed Bouchette of The Athletic on a variety of different subjects.
Some were covered in the book, while some weren't.
One of the things that was not in the book was Spygate, but when speaking to Bouchette, Cowher defended Bill Belichick.
“It’s only cheating if you get caught,” Cowher said. “Like any player, if you’re going to hold him, don’t get caught. If you get caught you’re wrong, if you don’t you’re right. I always thought we never lost the games to New England because of Spygate. If he got the calls because we didn’t do a very good job of making sure we signaled those in, that’s on us, it’s not on him. Because we’re always looking for competitive edges. I think as any coach whether it’s someone’s stance, someone’s split, someone’s formation (that tips off a play). You’re looking at someone’s eyes, how are they coming out of a huddle? You’re always looking for those little things that give you a competitive edge and that to me is what that was.”
The Patriots beat Cowher's Steelers twice in AFC title games and he wasn't going to make any excuses.
“We didn’t lose the game because of that,” Cowher said. “We lost the game because they executed better than we did.”
Cowher and Belichick have been very friendly over the years, sharing information when they were assistants to now seeing each other from time to time on Nantucket.
“We go back pretty far,” Cowher said. “I have a lot of respect for him. He loves the game. We shared a lot of time together and time off the field, teaching each other about linebacker play and defensive backfield play. It came down to us being finalists for the 1991 Cleveland Browns job and he got the job and I didn’t. We went from friends to adversaries the next year because I found myself the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. As we competed against each other it was just a great competition.”
Cowher coached the Steelers from 1992-2006.