Former Buccaneers quarterback Brad Johnson has admitted to paying a bribe to have the footballs tampered with before the 2003 Super Bowl.

 

Johnson, whose Buccaneers beat the Raiders at Super Bowl XXXVII, said he paid $7,500 to some people he did not identify so that they would scuff the balls set to be used in the Super Bowl, making them easier to grip. According to Johnson, there were 100 footballs set aside for the game, and the people he bribed tampered with all 100, to Johnson’s specifications.

 

“I paid some guys off to get the balls right,” Johnson told the Tampa Bay Times. “I went and got all 100 footballs, and they took care of all of them.”

 

That’s a shocking admission — Johnson is confessing that he cheated to help his team win the Super Bowl, and that people who work for the NFL accepted a bribe to help one team cheat in the Super Bowl.

 

Brad Johnson paid a bribe to tamper with footballs at the Super Bowl | ProFootballTalk

There should be some lifetime bans coming. I wonder how deep the NFL wants to dig on this one? Does the NFL want to run the risk of having Jon Gruden banned from the NFL forever?

 

I am shocked Johnson admitted this.

I am sure the NFL wants this one to go away.

There should be some lifetime bans coming. I wonder how deep the NFL wants to dig on this one? Does the NFL want to run the risk of having Jon Gruden banned from the NFL forever?

 

I am shocked Johnson admitted this.

 

The NFL doesn't and won't dig deep into this at all. They may get their feelings hurt. If Brad Johnson is brazen enough to admit what he had done to the balls then it's seems to me that manipulating footballs is a pretty common practice amongst NFL QBs.

I wonder where the officials were on this. Wouldn't they notice a bunch of scuffed footballs?

The NFL might at well ban itself. If they aren't cheating, they aren't trying.