Bill Belichick holds a 17-year Spygate grudge against Peter King

Eric Mangini learned it the hard way. So, apparently, has Peter King. If you cross Bill Belichick, the Patriots head coach is done with you.

King, now a columnist for NBC Sports, told The Athletic that he hasn’t spoken to Belichick in 17 years. Why? Belichick didn’t like King’s coverage of Spygate. “That’s the cost of doing business sometimes,” King said.

“He’s one of the greatest coaches of all time. I’m not sure I put him above Paul Brown, but he’s right up there with the greatest to ever coach in any sport. But I think what he did in 2007 was wrong.

” Peter King sitting in a chair and laughing. Peter King say he hasn’t talked to Patriots head coach Bill Belichick in 17 years. AP Images for NFL Bill Belichick on the field.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 by the NFL following Spygate. AP King covered the New York sports scene for Newsday from 1985 to 1989, when Belichick was the Giants’ defensive coordinator. So the King-Belichick relationship likely dates back almost 40 years.

King and the rest of the NFL first learned of Spygate in 2007, when Mangini, the Jets head coach at the time, accused New England of illegally videotaping opposing coaches to learn their signals during games. Bill Belichick and Eric Mangini shake hands in 2007. Patriots head coach Bill Belichick (left) wasn’t happy with Eric Mangini (right) for leaving to coach the Jets.

AP Mangini was in his second season as Jets head coach in 2007 after an extended run under Belichick’s watch in New England. Mangini rose to defensive coordinator and won three Super Bowl rings with the Patriots before jumping ship to the AFC East rival Jets without Belichick’s blessing. The NFL investigated the spying allegations and eventually fined Belichick $500,000.

The league also fined the Patriot $250,000 and took away their first-round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. Perhaps fueled by the allegations and Mangini’s betrayal, Belichick and the Patriots used 2007 to beat up on the NFL, unleashing a record-setting offense highlighted by Tom Brady’s 50 touchdown passes and Randy Moss’ 23 touchdown receptions to run the table in the regular season. David Tyree pins the football to his helmet for a game-saving catch in Super Bowl XLII.

David Tyree and the Giants ended the Patriots’ quest for a perfect 19-0 record by winning Super bowl XLII. AP However the Patriots’ path to a perfect 19-0 record ended in Super Bowl XLII, when Eli Manning, David Tyree and the New York Giants stunned New England, 17-14. .