Count Houston Texans defensive end Antonio Smith among those inclined to believe the post-Spygate New England Patriots are still cheating.
On Sunday, the Patriots trailed the Texans 17-7 at halftime, but scored 27 points in the second half to record a 34-31 victory, allowing them to keep pace with the Denver Broncos for the top seed in the AFC.
Smith was skeptical of the Patriots’ sudden ability to adjust to the Houston defense in their prolific second half.
“Either teams are spying on us or scouting us,” he said, according to the Boston Globe.
Smith explained that the Texans introduced new wrinkles into their defense this past week — wrinkles that would not be on any previous game film.
“We had some ways that we were going to play this week that just got put in this week, and it was just miraculous that they changed up some things that they did on offense and keyed on what we put in this week to stop what they were doing,” he said. “It was things that they had never done before out here. It just seems miraculous to me.”
Smith was asked whether he was saying the Patriots knew what the Texans were going to do on defense.
“There’s no way . . . we have not done it ever before and they had never changed it ever before,” Smith said. So it was just kind of fishy how it got changed. It just let me know that something just ain’t right.”
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady responded to Smith’s accusations on WEEI Radio in Boston on Monday morning: “We’ve kind of been through a lot of this before. I don’t really think much of it, truthfully. I just kind of have moved on.”
This isn’t the first time Smith has made headlines this season. In a preseason game in August, he engaged in a scuffle with Richie Incognito, the Miami Dolphins offensive lineman who is currently suspended from the team in the wake of the Johnathan Martin incident.
Incognito appeared to put a hand on Smith’s helmet, and then throw a punch. Smith responded by yanking off Incognito’s helmet and swinging it at him, earning a suspension for the team’s final two preseason games as well as Week 1.