After the Patriots beat the Texans in Week 13, Texans defensive end Antonio Smith said that he thought “it was kind of fishy” that the Patriots seemed to change up things on offense to combat things the Texans put in just for this week.
Any reference to spying that involves the Patriots and Bill Belichick is going to generate a response and Smith’s comments did just that. Both Belichick and Tom Brady were asked about them on Monday, shrugging off the suggestion without much emotion in the response, and then Smith was asked about it when he met the media.
The defensive end said he was “tickled” by the reaction to what he said as a joke, but apologized for using the word spying as part of his attempt at humor.
“I said it, but you have to check the manner in which I said it,” Smith said, via the Houston Chronicle. “I didn’t accuse them of beating us with cheating. Come on, don’t you have a sense of humor? Though it may be something I was curious about it, I wasn’t thinking they spied on us or they were cheating. Half the stuff I say is spontaneous and witty, and I don’t think anything else about it. I’m sorry I said the word spying. I was joking and having fun with it.”
Joking or otherwise, that should bring a close to this chapter in Spygate references.