New England Patriots' Asante Samuel Fires Back at Pittsburgh Steelers' Cheating Accusations

Asante Samuel ripped into the 2004 Pittsburgh Steelers position-by-position after prominent members of the team claimed they lost to the New England Patriots by means beyond their control.

Spygate? More like Crygate, Asante Samuel claims.

The former New England Patriots defender took renowned members of the Pittsburgh Steelers to task on an episode of his "Said What Needs to Be Said" podcast. Jerome Bettis and Ben Roethlisberger recently re-opened old wounds brought about by the 2004 season's AFC Championship Game by claiming the Patriots cheated their way to a 41-27 victory that granted them entry to Super Bowl XXXIX. The black-and-yellow duo claimed that New England stole and deciphered the Steelers' offensive hand signals.

Bettis and Roethlisberger's case is riddled with inaccuracies (and unforced errors) as is but Samuel tore it apart on a position-by-position basis.

"Are you crazy?" Samuel rhetorically asked. "This is what determined the outcome of the game: Tom Brady was better than Ben Roethlisberger, Rodney Harrison was better than Troy Polamalu, Corey Dillion was better than Jerome Bettis." 

Samuel makes sure not to forget himself, as he remarked that he had a better game than Deshea Townsend.

While the Steelers in question may have won some individual statistic battles (i.e. Roethlisberger throwing for 226 yards compared to Brady's 207), the Patriots undoubtedly played a cleaner game to the tune of forcing four turnovers without losing any on their end. Bettis (one fumble) and Roethlisberger (three interceptions) were responsible for each of those lost possessions. 

At that time, Samuel was a second-year defender. He said that the mistakes that he and the defense forced Roethlisberger into convinced him that he was destined for big things at the NFL level. Samuel would fulfill that potential with an 11-year NFL career that earned two Super Bowl rings and four Pro Bowl invites.

"It's as simple as that," Samuel declared. "We were better than you in pretty much everywhere in the game. Actually, I knew, in that game, in front of everybody, AFC Championship, Big Ben, that you made me realize that I can be a player in this game."

Asante Samuel rips Ben Roethlisberger for 2004 cheating allegations

Bettis and Roethlisberger aren't the first Steelers to accuse the Patriots of stealing (put intended) an AFC title game victory. Another member of that group, offensive lineman Barrett Brooks, made similar claims on an NBC Sports Philadelphia podcast over the summer. 

Don't count then-Steelers head coach Bill Cowher among the whining. Unlike his players, Cowher never blamed the supposed signal-stealing scandal for his team's defeat, which came shortly after Pittsburgh posted a 15-1 mark in the regular season that included a victory over the Patriots. 

"I hate losing. I don't like losing. But I'm not going to sit there and blame somebody else and say, 'Oh you cheated, I'm going to take my ball and go home.' No," Cowher said in his 2021 memoir "Heart and Steel." "You beat us. You won. And I'm waiting for the next time we play each other."

The modern iterations of the Patriots and Steelers will do battle on Dec. 7 to kickoff Week 14 action. In the meantime, New England (1-2) faces the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon in Arlington (4:25 p.m. ET, Fox).