Browns linebacker Karlos Dansby joined PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio to promote Montez Renault, a new skin-care line he developed with former teammate Chris Butler. In so doing, Dansby had some interesting comments about the #DeflateGate controversy.
For starters, Dansby believes Patriots quarterback Tom Brady should be suspended for a full year, if deflation was happening and if he knew about it. Dansby also pointed out that he has separate suspicions about the Patriots.
In 2008, Dansby’s Cardinals faced the Patriots in New England during Week 16 of the 2008 season. The Patriots needed a win to keep their postseason hopes alive. And Dansby said the coach-to-headset communication system, which was first implemented by the NFL in 2008, didn’t function at Gillette Stadium during that snowy day in December.
“My headset was working fine, every game,” Dansby said. “Until the very last game of the year. We get in Foxboro, they couldn’t get my headset fixed, for nothing in the world.”
In that same game, Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart also had trouble with his own headset. Leinart’s former backup at USC, Matt Cassel, three for 345 yards and three touchdowns in a 47-7 rout.
“I didn’t have not one problem until I went into Foxboro,” Dansby said. “You can ask anybody on that team that year. We didn’t have no problems with my headset until I got to Foxboro. And, man, I tell you every time I came to the sidelines, taking my helmet off trying to fix it. They was trying to fix it, they couldn’t get it fixed. So we had to give hand signals, and we were dead in the water. They ran when they wanted to run, they threw it when they wanted to throw.”
So I asked if it was accident or something deliberate?
“C’mon, man. C’mon,” Dansby said. “It’s not a secret. They gotta do what they gotta do to win, man. They gonna do what they gotta do to win. It’s just how they operate.”
Whether it’s perception or reality, the Patriots already had a hard time escaping that reputation after Spygate. With #DeflateGate, it becomes nearly impossible.