Coach Brad Childress was asked this morning during his conference call with the New England media to explain his comments about the Patriots legally stealing defensive signals in the Patriots' 31-6 victory over the Vikings four years ago.
"I said what I said," Childress said. "That's in the past. We all try to get any tips that we can glean, stand on the sidelines and I'm sure it's done throughout the league and we do it, as well. So, just let those stand. You know what? I have a great deal of respect for Coach (Bill) Belichick and the way he's formulated that program in the last 10 years and I've told him so. He has a mentally tough team that are great competitors that's played the way I hope one of my team plays one of these days."
In Childress' defense, I do think he was trying to compliment the Patriots. But it obviously didn't come out that way.
Childress was asked if he felt the Patriots benefitted from stealing signals in that win four years ago.
"No, I would say I don't have any knowledge of that, at all," he said.
Asked if he understood how his comments would be perceived in New England, Belichick said:
"I didn't mean any offense to any of those people, just the way I viewed it."
I asked Belichick on our conference call this morning if he could use the comments as extra motivation. He said:
