Ex-Patriots player Heath Evans says ‘loser’s mentality’ behind 2008 cheating accusations
The war of words surrounding the Patriots continues to expand beyond Deflategate.
Heath Evans, a fullback who spent four seasons in New England and is currently a NFL Network analyst, blamed “a loser’s mentality’’ for a suggestion by Cleveland Browns linebacker Karlos Dansby that the Patriots may have cheated during a 2008 game.
Dansby implied the Patriots somehow sabotaged his team’s headset when he visited Gillette Stadium as a member of the Arizona Cardinals late in the 2008 season.
“My headset was working fine every game until the very last game of the year,’’ Dansby said Thursday on PFT Live with Mike Florio. “We get in Foxboro, they couldn’t get my helmet fixed for nothing in the world. Nothing in the world. Every time I come to the sidelines, I’m taking off my helmet giving it to them: ‘Man, I can’t get no calls.’ 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 it.’’
Evans fired back at Dansy on Friday during a segment on NFL Network. He offered a different take on the game won by the Patriots’ 47-7.
“Our heaters didn’t work that day,’’ Evans said on NFL Network, as game highlights showed the snowy conditions from the game. “I don’t know about our communication system between our coaches and everything else, I can’t speak for that. I hate to say it, but this is such a loser’s mentality. So you can go to Spygate and say, ‘Oh there’s precedent, they’ve done this before.’ No, the score was what, 47-7?’’
Evans wasn’t done there.
“The problem is, he accused us of cheating? I’ll accuse Karlos of not bringing his defense to Foxboro that day, because it was a butt whooping,’’ he said. “That’s what it was. Period. The end.’’
You can watch Evans’ response in its entirety here.
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