Before Spygate, Steve Young Thought Charlie Weis Was a Freaking Genius

Yesterday I mentioned that Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis, formerly of the New England Patriots, isn't interested in discussing Spygate. Even though he benefited from the team's illegal taping practices if you believe Matt Walsh.

Today, on Dan Patrick's radio show, Hall of Fame quarterback and ESPN football analyst Steve Young shared his newly evolving thoughts on Weis:

"I remember thinking to myself during some of the runs, 'Charlie Weis is a genius,'" Young said. "I mean, I remember saying that to people: 'This guy is uncanny, how he's able to make these adjustments and just come out and dominate in the second half.' What it's left me to do is, well, I don't know. Did it matter? I could see how it could matter if you put it all together. So it's a tough one. I think that people earn it on the field, and I think you've got to move on and move forward and just recognize that it's not a good thing at the time."

As Michael David Smith writes on PFT, Young admitted that if an offense knew what play the defense was running, "The game would be over. If I knew what was coming, that's the whole game." He then added, "Of course, [Sean] Salisbury could have the defense scream the play across the line of scrimmage to him and he'd still throw three or four picks a game; for everybody else, though, it's a huge advantage."*

The day before the Super Bowl Young talked about the rumors that other NFL coaches knew the Patriots stole signals before Salisbury interrupted to make the spot-on prediction that New England would "probably hang 50 on [the Giants] on Sunday."

God, I'm going to miss Salisbury.

* Young did not say this, but I imagine he was thinking it.