http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=an97nLIjPRzc&refer=home By Erik Matuszewski December 15, 2006 Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Guss Scott had a brief stay with the New York Jets, who hired the third-year safety four days before facing his former team, the Houston Texans. He was cut two days after the game. Scott, 23, this week signed with the New England Patriots, who play the Texans at home on Dec. 17. In the past five weeks, at least seven other National Football League players won a job with a new team before a game against their previous employer. The league's version of industrial espionage, while not widely practiced or discussed in football circles, isn't new, former NFL executives said. Teams have been signing players to gain inside information about an opponent's play-calling and strategy for decades. ``Everything is fair in love and war,'' Gil Brandt, a former director of player personnel for the Dallas Cowboys and now an analyst at NFL.com, said in a telephone interview. ``We're in a competitive business and everybody is trying to get an honest edge.'' New England's signing of Scott comes after Miami players said this week that they learned how Patriots quarterback Tom Brady audibly changed plays at the line of scrimmage from television game tapes. The Dolphins (6-7) beat the Patriots (9-4) last week 21-0 in Miami. ``It's just a part of the league,'' Dolphins Pro Bowl linebacker Zach Thomas said at a news conference. ``Everybody's going to try to get an advantage somehow. The thing is, I don't know if it helped us at all. It was so loud at the home game, you could barely hear the audibles anyway.'' Familiarity The Jets' Eric Mangini, in his first season as an NFL head coach, said Scott's knowledge of the Texans' defensive strategies was a consideration when the team signed him last month. It also helped that Mangini worked with Scott in New England when Mangini was the Patriots' defensive coordinator. ``It doesn't hurt that he has some familiarity (with the Texans), but it is also the familiarity I have with him,'' Mangini said at a news conference. Scott played five games for Houston this season before his release on Nov. 21. He couldn't be reached for comment through the Patriots' offices. A Week's Pay Scott's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said he doesn't see the benefit. ``The way you win in this league is execution,'' Rosenhaus said in a telephone interview from Miami. ``I don't think it's really a competitive advantage for a team to pay a week's salary just to pick his brains.'' At the average NFL salary of $1.63 million a season, a week's paycheck would be about $96,000. The New Orleans Saints, whose 9-4 record is the second-best in the National Football Conference, last month signed former Cleveland tight end John Owens four days before playing the Browns. The Atlanta Falcons grabbed ex-Saints fullback Corey McIntyre off waivers days before hosting New Orleans. ``Anytime you get a player from a team, he can help them with audibles, both offensively and defensively, and he can help them with personnel,'' former Washington and Houston General Manager Charlie Casserly said in a telephone interview. Getting an Edge Brandt, who won two Super Bowl titles with Dallas, recalls a time in the 1980s when Washington snatched a player off the waiver wire who was drafted by the Cowboys. Brandt said the Redskins' coaches asked the player what plays the Cowboys would run in goal-line situations and how they called audibles. ``The kid was smart enough to say, `Did you bring me here to grill me about Dallas, or am I here for a tryout?''' Brandt said. ``The answer was that they wanted to see if he was smart enough.'' With the NFL's parity -- 25 of the league's 32 teams are still in contention for a playoff berth with three weeks left in the season -- experts say teams are looking for an edge anywhere they can get it. ``I don't know how much good it does,'' Brandt said. ``But if you talk to a guy and you find out just one thing, that's one thing more than you knew before.'' _____________________________ Subscribe to InfoSec News http://www.infosecnews.org/mailman/listinfo/isn
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