Be it a product of paranoia or reputation, the New England Patriots just can't seem to escape controversy. Thursday night, after the Pittsburgh Steelers' headsets went out during their game against the Patriots in Gillette Stadium, the NFL looked into the possibility of foul play after the Steelers complained about the headsets not working.
The league has since cleared the Patriots of any wrongdoing.

"Based on out review to date, we believe that the audio interference on Steelers' headsets last night was entirely attributable to an electrical issue made worse by the inclement weather; that it involved no manipulation by any individual; and that the Patriots had nothing to do with it," the NFL's statement read.

Friday morning, Patriots coach Bill Belichick expressed his feelings on the recent rumors, presumably that fueled by an ESPN story on spy-gate.

"I just think overall, it's kinda sad, really, to see some stories written that obviously have an agenda to them with misinformation and anonymous type comments," Belichick said. "First of all, I would say that our program here is built on competition and trying to improve every day and trying to work hard. And it's not built on excuses. And we try to go to work and improve and find a way to get better."

"I'm not going to get into a back and forth on it, but that's the way I feel."

The coach also said that they also had to deal with the headset malfunction Thursday, noting that they had issues with it late in Thursday's game. He even said that they almost changed out Tom Brady's helmet because of the issues, but that they were prepared because headset malfunctions are common.

"It's not an uncommon problem," Belichick said. "We ended up having to signal some of our plays offensively and we couldn't get them in. We look at it as something you have to be ready for every week. And we practice it. So"¦home, away, I don't really think there is any common denominator on that."