Bill Belichick won't be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, according to ESPN, who reports one of the coach's long-time rivals worked to dissuade voters from enshrining him.
Per ESPN, Bill Polian lobbied to keep Belichick out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026 as punishment for Spygate. Polian was one of the 50 voters this year as an "at-large" delegate.
"Spygate and Deflategate, the twin cheating scandals during the Patriots ' championship run, came up in deliberations among voters," Don Van Natta and Seth Wickersham wrote. "A voter who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Polian, an ardent (Robert) Kraft supporter and former general manager of the Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts — a chief Patriots rival during their dynasty — told some voters he believed Belichick should 'wait a year' before induction as penance for Spygate, the 2007 cheating scandal that cost the team a first-round draft pick."
Polian adamantly denied the ESPN report an hour after it surfaced in a conversation with SI's Matt Verderame.
"That's totally and categorically untrue. I voted for him," Polian said .
However, in another conversation with ESPN, Polian said he couldn't remember who he voted for with absolute certainty, but was 95% sure he'd voted for Belichick. He said he voted for Patriots owner Robert Kraft and "most likely" Steelers defensive end L.C. Greenwood. Polian told Van Natta he advocated for Kraft during deliberations, pointing out that the owner had no knowledge of Spygate when it was happening.
A six-time NFL Executive of the Year, Polian was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2015. However, Polian only has one Super Bowl on his resume.
Belichick boasts six Lombardi Trophies as New England 's head coach and two more as the Giants' defensive coordinator. Alas, he still wasn't able to get the nod he needed from 40 of the 50 Hall of Fame voters this time around.
A 2003 AFC Championship Game between Belichick's Patriots and Polian's Colts had a dramatic impact on the way NFL games have been officiated since. In the Foxborough snow, New England's defense was physical with Indianapolis receivers and Peyton Manning threw four interceptions in a 24-14 Patriots win.
Polian was influential on the NFL's competition committee, which made defensive holding and illegal contact points of emphasis in the following season. Though the rulebook didn't change, illegal contact fouls skyrocketed from 79 to 191 in 2004, per NBC News. It was dubbed "The Ty Law Rule" in New England.
"Bill Polian clearly was seething after the game," NBC wrote. "He's a member of the competition committee, and committee members said that Polian and St. Louis Rams Coach Mike Martz -- a member of the coaches' subcommittee who still was upset that his receivers allegedly had been held regularly by Patriots defenders in his Super Bowl loss to New England to end the 2001 season -- pushed through the directive."
The Colts returned to Foxborough for the 2004 Divisional Round playoffs and lost 20-3.
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