Last night, during the NFL season opener in New England between the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers, a technology malfunction reportedly caused the Patriot’s radio broadcast to air on the headsets of the Steelers’ coaches during the entire first half of the game. The nickname ‘Radiogate’ has surfaced – a play on the Patriot’s previous ‘Deflategate’ controversy that took place during the championship game last season.
“The NFL fixed what it called an ‘intermittent’ reception problem for coach-to-coach communication in the second quarter and the New England coaches did not have to shut down their headsets during the repairs,” ESPN Reported.
The NFL also issued a statement and reported that “the complications were due to a ‘stadium power infrastructure issue’ made worse by bad weather.”
Conflicting reports surfaced about the Patriots coaches shutting down their headsets and some reported that the coaches did in fact shut down the headsets.
The Patriots beat the Steelers with a final score of 28-21. After the game, the Steelers’ frustrated head coach, Mike Tomlin, told reporters that “that headset problems are ‘always the case’ at New England’s Gillette Stadium.”
Tomlin was asked to clarify the constant headset problems. He cut off reporters and said “I said what I said. I’m not indicating nothing. I’m telling you what happened.”
Since Deflategate and Spygate controversies surround the New England Patriots, the EMI occurrence is sure to raise some eyebrows.
Sports Illustrated issued a detailed statement this week about how Gillette Stadium often has headset issues: “Headset failures are not uncommon around the league—Sun Life Stadium in Miami, for instance, is notorious for frequency issues. But representatives from several teams told SI they have experienced problems with the coaches’ equipment at Gillette—echoing a complaint from the Jaguars after their 2006 playoff loss there, when coach Jack Del Rio said his team’s headsets ‘mysteriously malfunctioned’ for most of the first half. In May, Browns linebacker Karlos Dansby told ProFootballTalk.com that his on-field headset stopped working when his Cardinals played the Patriots in 2008, and he does not think it was an accident: ‘They gonna do what they gotta do to win. It’s just how they operate’.”
“Home teams are supposed to provide certain communications equipment, but opponents often don’t trust the Patriots to do it. One team griped to SI that New England supplied a corroded battery pack. Another current head coach brings his own equipment because he doesn’t trust the Patriots to supply anything of quality. A representative of a third team says the Pats provided headset gear that looked “like it had been run over by a lawn mower. Frayed wires, the speaker is all chopped up …”Sports Illustrated added.
After the game, Bill Belichick, the Patriot’s head coach, told reporters “the communication system wasn’t very good. They told us they were on the verge of shutting it off, then they got it working. It was a problem the whole game. Brady almost had to switch helmets toward the end of the game because he couldn’t get plays in to his in-helmet earbud.”
The NFL has gameday frequency coordinators who are responsible for preventing radio interference, according to the NFL website. As of right now, it isn’t clear whether or not the league used these backup frequencies last night.
