In discussing the Spygate scandal of 2007, Patriots owner Robert Kraft insisted his coach didn’t do anything “deliberately” wrong.
But that doesn’t mean he thought taping the Jets’ coaches was a good idea.
In a passage from his new book, “Coaching Confidential: Inside the Fraternity of NFL Coaches,” New York Daily News columnist Gary Myers revealed the Kraft had some choice words for Bill Belichick.
“Everybody has their idiosyncrasies, but if there is trust, that’s the key in business, in marriages,” Kraft said (via the Boston Globe). “You build a sense of trust so you go through rough times. Look what happened with this bogus thing with the Jets. I stood by him pretty darn good. That was rough.”
That “bogus thing” was secretly taping signals, for which Belichick was fined $500,000 and the team was fined $250,000 and lost a first-round draft pick.
“How much did this help us on a scale of 1 to 100?” Kraft asked Belichick.
“One,” Belichick replied.
“Then you’re a real schmuck,” Kraft said he told Belichick.
Kraft defended his coach, and said he never thought about firing him.
“He would take every edge he could get but he would never knowingly break the rules or cross the line,” Kraft said. “I know him. I’m not saying he was a choir boy.”
Schmuck or not, Kraft stood by him.