New England Patriots Accused of Cheating by Texans’ Antonio Smith

After the New England Patriots gutted out a close win over the Houston Texans on Sunday, there were some interesting words spoken to the media. New England had a tough time putting points on the board in the first half as they went down early 17-7, but in the second half they exploded for 27 to come back and win the game 34-31.

What sparked the offensive output? Well, Texans defensive end Antonio Smith seems to have an idea.

“Either teams are spying on us or scouting us,” Smith said to reporters after the game. “I’m very suspicious,” Smith said. “I just think it will be a big coincidence if that just happened by chance. I don’t know for sure, but I just know it was something that we practiced this week.”

Smith is referring to a few new aspects of their defensive scheme that they introduced over this past week, stating that the Patriots somehow knew it was coming and that he’s suspicious someone from their organization had spied on them, thus knowing what to expect.

He was asked what exactly he thought the Patriots knew differently in the second half but couldn’t divulge specific information.

“I can’t tell you an example because it’s G15 classified,” Smith said. “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.”

Now, did Smith come right out and say that he thought New England cheated? No, but that’s exactly what he’s inferring. It will be interesting to catch the aftermath of his comments this week as the Patriots will surely be asked to respond.

Ryan Heckman is a Senior Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryanmheckman, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.