Last week, former Steelers linebacker Joey Porter accused the New England Patriots of "cheating" by stealing the Steelers' defensive signals in the two AFC championship games between the teams earlier in the decade.
Asked this week if he shared Porter's belief, Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau was slightly more tactful.
"Joey's not the most understated man around," he said. "But there was a lot of smoke there. Usually, that means there's a little bit of fire. But the league looked into it. That's all in the past to me."
LeBeau's defense -- ranked No. 1 in the NFL against the run, pass and in total defense -- takes on the Patriots again today in New England.
After determining that the Patriots videotaped the New York Jets' defensive signals against NFL rules in a game early last season, commissioner Roger Goodell fined the Patriots $250,000 and coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and stripped the team of a first-round pick in the 2008 draft.
Porter, for one, believes the Patriots had been stealing signals for years. They beat the Steelers in the AFC title games after the '01 and '04 seasons.
"They might have known some of our signals," LeBeau said. "It might help you if you know what the defense is doing. But it still comes down to execution."
Porter, now with the Miami Dolphins , isn't buying that.
"Two times we could have blown them people out easily," he told ESPN's Keyshawn Johnson. "They say, oh, [Belichick] is so smart ... yeah, because he's cheating."
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