Steelers Coaches Irked by Patriots Radio Broadcast in Headsets

After months of controversy involving the New England Patriots, of course something had to go wrong during the home opener.

During Thursday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Gillette Stadium, visiting coach Mike Tomlin had the voices of Bob Socci and Scott Zolak in his headset, rather than his coaching staff. For most of the first half, the coaches for the Steelers found themselves unable to communicate via headsets, getting the 98.5 Sports Hub radio broadcast of the game instead.

Tomlin confirmed the audio issue during his post-game press conference, adding it wasn’t the first time such a problem has arisen at the home of the Patriots.

“That’s always the case,” Tomlin said. When asked to clarify if he meant that there are audio problems every time he coaches at Gillette Stadium, Tomlin replied “ I said what I said.”

The Patriots were not required to shut down their headsets since the issue was not a complete system failure, but that didn’t mean things were perfect on their sideline.

“We had a lot of problems. We had to switch headphones a couple times. The communication system wasn’t very good,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said. “They told us they were on the verge of shutting it off, but then they I guess they got it working. I don’t know, but it was a problem the whole game. We almost had to switch helmets with Brady there at the end – couldn’t get the plays into him. It was a problem all night.”

According to a statement from NFL spokesman Michael Signora, a stadium power infrastructure issue exacerbated by the inclement weather was the source of the problem. The issue was addressed and the equipment functioned properly with no additional issues.