Former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher
admitted that his Steelers teams stole opponents' defensive signals. In an interview with a local radio station he said: "The only thing they [The Patriots] got caught (was) doing it with a camera. We had people that always tried to steal signals. Stealing someone's signals was a part of the game, and everyone attempted to do that."
Cowher continued:"Part of the things we had (were) wristbands that we were using to do it." Cowher said signal stealing "isn't even an element anymore because of the communications that take place on the field to the quarterback, to the linebacker. So it's an element of the game that doesn't exist."
When asked if the Patriots' alleged signal steeling had any impact on the the Steelers' 41-27 defeat in the 2004 AFC Championship loss, Cowher explained: "what happened when we lost that game is they outplayed us, and it had nothing to do with stealing signals or cheating or anything else. They were a better football team on that day."