Antonio Smith, left, gets pressure on Tom Brady Sunday. Credit: Getty Images
Houston Texans defensive end Antonio Smith is no stranger to controversy … well, this year at least. Smith tried to clobber Miami’s Richie Incognito (ever heard of him?) with his own helmet in the preseason and two weeks ago, Smith was reportedly fined $15,750 for an illegal hit on Chad Henne.
Sunday, Smith tried to stoke the mostly dormant flames of one of the NFL’s biggest all-timescandals, that being SpyGate.
“I’m very suspicious,” Smith told ESPN after the Patriots came from behind to beat Houston, 34-31. “I just think it will be a big coincidence if (the Patriots’ halftime adjustments) just happened by chance. I don’t know for sure, but I just know it was something that we practiced this week.”
“Either teams are spying on us or scouting us,” Smith said. “I’m saying it seemed like it. You can’t never be for sure on anything because I ain’t over there in their huddle, in their locker room, but it just felt like it.
“I can’t tell you an example because it’s G15 classified,” Smith said about the Texans’ defensive schemes. “It’s a defensive thing that we might continue to use … The way, I’m trying to say it without giving it away. When you watch film of the team do something a certain way all the time no matter what team they play, it’s been 12 games played and they always did it. And then all of a sudden it’s changed? It was pretty clever and pretty suspicious.”
The Patriots were found guilty by the NFL for using video cameras to steal hand signals by New York Jets assistant coaches in 2007 and head coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000. The Pats also lost a 2008 first round draft pick due to the scandal.
Follow Metro Boston sports editor Matt Burke on Twitter @BurkeMetroBOS
