Don Shula Takes Jab at Patriots with Deflategate Reference

With the New England Patriots being an easy punching bag right now, former Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula didn't miss an opportunity to take his shot at the defending Super Bowl champions.    

According to Dave Hyde of the Sun-Sentinel, Shula opened the Dolphins' 50th anniversary celebrations by saying his teams have "always done with a lot of class, a lot of dignity—always the right way. We didn't deflate any balls."     

Also in Hyde's report, Shula said he would "pass on that" when he was asked if the Deflategate scandal and New England's previous Spygate scandal took away from the franchise's success. 

Earlier this week, Ted Wells released (Warning: Content contains NSFW language) his final report regarding footballs used by the Patriots against the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game. He found that it was "more probable than not" that New England manipulated balls and quarterback Tom Brady "was at least generally aware" the balls were being tampered with. 

Charles Krupa/Associated Press

This isn't the first time Shula has criticized the Patriots. The 85-year-old Pro Football Hall of Famer referred to New England's head coach as Bill "Beli-cheat" in a January profile written by Hyde, though he was speaking about the Spygate scandal from 2007 at the time. 

That 2007 season is the closest anyone has come to matching the 1972 Dolphins, who went undefeated and were coached by Shula. The Patriots went 16-0 in the regular season and advanced to the Super Bowl before losing to the New York Giants on a last-minute touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress. 

Now that Shula has had his say on the matter, the Dolphins can focus their attention on trying to beat the Patriots in the regular season when the two teams meet in Week 8 for the first of two divisional matchups.