Former Bills general manager and Steelers executive Doug Whaley joins The Fan Morning Show every Wednesday from 9-10 am in-studio and will continue to throughout the football season.
Being in the AFC East, the Bills played Bill Belichick and the New Engalnd Patriots twice per year, including at least one game on the road in Foxborough, MA.
Whaley explained how the Bills guarded themselves against the Patriots potentially gaining extra information from them…to the point of not leaving a trace behind them.
“We would actually take our garbage away,” said Whaley. “Rex Ryan says when the game is over, 'All that garbage? Let’s go. Let’s take it.
You never know about this dude.’ The equipment guys would load it with all the soiled jerseys and uniforms.”
“We would carry it back to Buffalo and throw it all away in Buffalo.”
That’s right. They wouldn’t even stop somewhere along the way back to dispose of it. They only trusted it if it came all the way home with them.
“Don’t put anything past that mad scientist. He’s going to do whatever it takes to win, by any means necessary,” said Whaley.
Belichick’s schemes were viewed as crafty at first, but then a clear line was crossed in how he operated.
“For me I was thought: smart guy who’s going to push the boundary. But when it tipped off where I’m like, ‘Alright Bill, come on' is when he got busted for videotaping the signals against the Jets (Spygate), and who was coaching the Jets? (Eric) Mangini. A guy that worked for him so he knew he was going to do it.”
“That’s when I was like 'alright dude, you just got some brass cojones and you just don’t care.' After that I was like, I respect what you did as a coach in winning those Super Bowl titles, but I don’t respect how you went about it.”
And does he think Belichick is still doing things that aren’t all above aboard?
“I think he is. Absolutely. Just different things and hopefully not brazen enough to do it against Brian Flores who’s worked with him and knows his tricks.”