Super Bowl winning coach and The NFL Today analyst Bill Cowher opened up to Ed Bouchette of The Athletic about his life, career, and new book Heart and Steel. Among the topics discussed was the Spygate scandal centering around Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. The two longtime defensive assistants who each went on to successful head coaching careers in the AFC have a respect for one another, one reason Cowher said he holds no ill will for Belichick.

"We shared a lot of time together and time off the field, teaching each other about linebacker play and defensive backfield play," Cowher told Bouchette. "Like any player, if you're going to hold him, don't get caught. If you get caught you're wrong, if you don't you're right. I always thought we never lost the games to New England because of Spygate."

While the two historic coaches never crossed paths in their coaching careers on the same staffs, both enjoyed meteoric rises through the ranks in the 1980s as defensive gurus. Following the 1990 season, both were up for the Cleveland Browns head job, one that ultimately went to Belichick. He went 36-44 in Cleveland before being fired in 1995, five years before becoming the coach of the Patriots.

Cowher mentioned that the Steelers never lost to the Patriots due to the effects of Spygate, but rather because "they executed better than we did." That still does not mean Cowher has forgotten about some of his postseason losses, including one in the Super Bowl and four in AFC Championship games before winning it all in 2005, his penultimate season as an NFL head coach.

"If you look at the championship losses, I can go down to each and every one of them and there are two or three moments in each one of those games I can always think about."