Smizzy Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 Bills | Team suspects Patriots signed J. Smith to gather information Mon, 11 Sep 2006 07:26:37 -0700 Karen Guregian, of the Boston Herald, reports several members of the Buffalo Bills suspect the New England Patriots signed WR Jonathan Smith last week just to gather information of the Bills' playbook before the two teams met in Week 1. The Patriots released Smith before the game. "It's not the first time they've done it," said Bills WR Lee Evans when asked about it. "It's the nature of the business, part of the game, I guess. There's not a whole lot you can say about it. It's just what they wanted to do." Evans wasn't alone in his assessment. Other players in the opposing locker room agreed the Smith signing had a foul smell to it. Bills CB Terrence McGee, however, saw Smith in the hallway of Gillette Stadium following warm-ups, so he wasn't sure what was going on. It's possible he was just visiting players, or doing the double-reverse on the Pats, and feeding the Bills info, or Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has other ideas for him. If the double-reverse scenario is the case, it's curious the Pats didn't wait to release him until after the game. Bill is such a quality guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnny green balls Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 i'm surprised herm didn't use this ploy to get the secret recipe for buffalo's famed hot wings sauce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jetlag Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 I've suspected Bill of doing this for years now. This is part of the reason I feel the Patriots have always signed a billion lower level FA's and always smart ones, so they can pick their brains about their former teams. Bill's not a genius he's a f*cking thief in more than one way (Leon Hess). Suck on that Patriot fans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bitonti Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 didn't we just do this with Sloan Thomas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
124 Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 Sloan Thomas is on the PS and he's going to stay on the practice squad...unlike Smith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garb Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 Yup, and it worked really well yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFJF Posted September 11, 2006 Share Posted September 11, 2006 It's part of the game...teams do it all the time. If it was cheating, the league would do something about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smizzy Posted September 11, 2006 Author Share Posted September 11, 2006 It's part of the game...teams do it all the time. If it was cheating, the league would do something about it. They used to say the same thing about steriods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheShow Posted September 12, 2006 Share Posted September 12, 2006 Bills Say Patriots Signed Ex-Buffalo Receiver Just to Pick His Brain Posted Sep 11th 2006 10:56AM by Michael David Smith Filed under: Bills, Patriots, AFC East, NFL Rumors The life of a marginal, practice-squad quality football player isn't easy. You're working just as hard as your teammates but often getting paid as little as 1 percent of their salaries. When you meet someone in a social situation and tell them you're a professional football player, you usually hear, "Really? I've never heard of you." And, if what the Buffalo Bills are alleging is true, you can be signed to a team, asked to give up trade secrets about your previous team, then released as soon as you've given up your information. That's what the Bills claim happened with receiver Jonathan Smith. The New England Patriots signed Smith away from the Bills last Sunday, then cut him before yesterday's game between the two teams. Some of Smith's former Bills teammates are saying the Patriots never really wanted Smith, and that they simply brought him along to pump him for information about the Bills' playbook. If this actually happened, it's dishonest, unethical, and the NFL ought to investigate. The league's eight-man practice squads exist to enhance player development, but they'll quickly turn into little more than espionage units if everyone is allowed to join another roster just long enough to give information about an opponent. In the business world there are clauses in contracts that prohibit giving trade secrets to competitors, and it should be the same in sports. No player should do this and no coach should allow it within his organization. The Boston Herald also floats the idea that Smith could have been a double agent, actually helping the Bills during the week he was on the Patriots' roster. If that's true, this incident is more intriguing than that Brady Bunch episode where Marcia's boyfriend, who plays for a rival school, tries to steal Greg's playbook, leading Greg to create a phony playbook, allow him to steal it, and score an easy victory for his team when the opponents are ill-prepared. In any event, the Bills say the information Smith has about their offense definitely could have helped Bill Belichick's game-planning. "No doubt," [bills wide receiver Lee] Evans said. "He's been with the (Bills) organization for the last few years. He's been through three training camps. He knew what we were doing over here. I'm not saying he gave up everything, but I'm sure they tried to get some questions answered out of him. That's just the way the game goes." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackout Posted September 12, 2006 Share Posted September 12, 2006 cheaterssss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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