Bill Belichick is not the only coach in the NFL who practices espionage, he's just one who was caught violating NFL rules by doing it. Cheating, they called it.

Creating extra noise by using speakers during games also violates NFL rules, but teams routinely have done it anyway, most famously at indoor fields in Minnesota and Indianapolis.

There are still other ways to cheat: Sending scouts into the crowd at opposing training camps is one of them. Outside the playing arena, a Jacksonville scout once was fired for sending scouting reports he received to friendly scouts on other teams.

Legal espionage also exists. There are the film studies and scouting tendencies that have become not only the norm for every team in the league over the past 50 years, but an absolute requirement.

On the edge of questionable tactics -- but legal -- is signing an opponent's freshly released player, or trying to sign one off their practice squad weeks before you play that team. Sign the guy, give him a nice paycheck for several weeks, pick his brain and then either release him or keep him around for awhile.

Take, for instance, what Jacksonville did this season with linebacker Marquis Cooper.

Cooper spent part of last season with the Steelers, spent training camp with them and was on their roster until released Sept. 19.

The Jaguars, possibly looking ahead to their game today with the Steelers, signed him Nov. 27 and released him Dec. 6. During that time, Cooper said Jacksonville coaches asked him many questions about the Steelers, with particular interest in some of their players.

Cooper said they did not ask him about blitz calls or how they signal plays or anything like that.

Still, an edge is an edge in this day and age of parity.

There are intelligent people who believe it might not have been a bad thing that the Steelers lost in New England Sunday.

Their theory: It is too difficult to beat a team twice in one season. Forget that it has been done any number of times throughout history -- the Oakland Raiders beat the Steelers at the beginning of the 1976 season and then in the AFC championship game, the team Art Rooney always thought was his best. What would make the losers better the second time around?

Yes, the Patriots did it to the Steelers in 2004, losing in the regular season and then beating them in the playoffs. Maybe the Steelers merely were playing better during the regular season that year behind rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. They actually should have lost in the previous playoff game to the New York Jets, but they continued their poor play as the Patriots blew them out.

To think this Steelers team will go to New England for the AFC championship game and turn the tables this time merely because they lost to them in early December is illogical. There are some who believe the Steelers might even have held stuff back last Sunday, saving it for that unscheduled playoff game at New England.

Following that thinking, the same people should be pulling for the Steelers to lose to Jacksonville today. After all, they might have to play the Jaguars again in the playoffs and, if they win today, how can they ever beat them a second time in the same season? I stole that little gem from radio pal Tim Benz of Fox Sports Radio 970.

And heaven help the Steelers if they have to play the Cleveland Browns in the playoffs. They already have beaten them twice in the regular season. Oh, the hidden vigorish is ready to burst over them.

By the way, the Steelers beat the Browns three times one season, in 1994. The Browns were so demoralized that they moved to Baltimore a year later.

Why did Tom Brady go after Steelers safety Anthony Smith after Brady threw his first touchdown pass Sunday in New England?

It had nothing to do with Smith's "guarantee." Brady said on a Boston radio station this past week that Smith was screaming nonsense at him during pregame warmups at Gillette Stadium.

The Patriots' quarterback said he did not know what Smith was saying and had to ask an assistant coach if he were yelling at him and what he was saying. The coach told him he was screaming a bunch of nonsense.

Willie Reid may not play today, but the second-year wide receiver, drafted in the third round in 2006 mostly because of his return ability, took extra practice this week working on punt returns.

The Steelers traded a seventh-round draft choice to Atlanta for Allen Rossum so he could return kickoffs and punts. But of the 21 players listed among the NFL punt-returners this week, Rossum ranked 20th with a 6.4-yard average. And of the 35 players listed among the NFL kickoff returners this week, Rossum ranked 24th at 23.3.

Both are lower than what Santonio Holmes had last season when he returned kickoffs for an average of 24.2 yards and punts for an average of 10.2 yards.