“The New England Patriots used to bug the locker rooms”: When Peyton Manning held meetings in the showers every time we played at Gillette Stadium

Peyton Manning had a number of battles with the New England Patriots during his illustrious career. And he had an interesting anecdote about his away games. 

Peyton Manning had one of the most prolific careers in NFL history. His accumulated list of accolades is lengthy, but includes items like 5x MVP, 7x first team All-Pro, and 14x Pro-Bowler.

Of course, in his 18 year NFL career, he won 2 Super Bowls. The first came with the Indianapolis Colts in 2006 and the second came in his final season in the league, with the Denver Broncos.

Peyton Manning and Bill Belichick’s Patriots matched wits during several of the biggest NFL games of the 21st Century.

Belichick went 12-8 against teams that were quarterbacked by Manning. Manning, however, went 3-1 against Belichick’s Patriots in AFC championship games. In 2006, the Colts overcame a 21-3 deficit to defeat the Patriots, 38-34, en route to franchise’s first title since moving to Indianapolis in 1984. With the Broncos in 2013, Manning threw for 400 yards and two touchdowns in Denver’s 26-16 win over the Patriots to clinch the AFC title.

Tom Brady and Bill Belichick are 8-1 against everyone not named Peyton Manning in the AFC championship game (he’s 1-3 against Manning). That’s crazy impressive. Without the Sherriff he could be 12-1 and going to his 12th Superbowl. Dang.

— mattelsberry (@mattelsberry) January 21, 2019

And for every one of those away games, Peyton Manning had to be extra careful.

Peyton Manning believed the Patriots bugged the locker rooms

On Monday night’s broadcast, Peyton made a reference to longstanding concerns that the Patriots used enhanced measures to gather information, specifically by bugging the visiting team’s locker room.

“Every time I played against New England, I used to talk to my receivers in the showers,” Peyton said in the companion broadcast to the primary Monday Night Football feed on ESPN. “Don’t talk about a play next to my locker because I know it’s bugged. I know it’s got a hot mic in there. Very strange to see seven guys hanging out in the shower.”

“Every time I played against New England, I used to talk to my receivers in the showers. Don’t talk about a play next to my locker because I know it’s bugged. I know it’s got a hot mic in there. Very strange to see 7 guys hanging out in the shower.” – Peyton Manning

— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) September 21, 2021

Hall of Fame Colts coach Tony Dungy has also spoken about this before. Pro Football Talk noted in 2015 that former Indianapolis Colts head coach appeared on The Dan Patrick Show and said the Hall of Fame quarterback wouldn’t discuss certain plays inside the locker room.

“I know that that is very true, and, you know, as Peyton talked to guys who played for the Patriots, some of the guys who came over—whether it’s true or not he treated it as true,” Dungy said. “We didn’t have a lot of strategy discussions inside the locker room there.”

 

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