Baltimore, MD

Baltimore linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo has sparked a "word war" ahead of their AFC championship rematch with New England, particularly criticizing the Patriots' no-huddle offense.

"New England does some suspect stuff on offense. Can't really respect it. Comparable to a cheap shot b4 a fight," Ayanbadejo posted on his Twitter account.

In his succeeding tweets, Ayanbadejo called the Patriots' hurry-up offense "a gimmick" and made references to New England's Spygate scandal in 2007.

The NFL fined the Patriots $250,000 and docked the team's original first-round selection in the 2008 Draft after it was revealed that the team videotaped the New York Jets' defensive coaches' signals during a September 9, 2007 game from a sideline location.

The league also fined Patriots head coach Bill Belichick $500,000, the largest fine ever imposed on a coach in the league's 87-year history for his role in the incident.

However, Ayanbadejo apologized for comments with another tweet. "I made selfish comments on twitter last night that reflected poorly upon myself, my teammates, and the organization. For that I apologize," he said.

New England will have a chance to face Ayanbadejo up close when the Ravens visit the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game for the second consecutive season.

New England won last year's meeting 23-20 thanks to a missed field goal by Baltimore's Billy Cundiff as time expired.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, in his weekly radio interview with WEEI Monday, declined to comment about Ayanbadejo's tweets.

"I think we've had a lot of people comment about our team and our players this year, and I think the best thing that we do is ignore the noise and we go out and try to prepare, and nothing really that anybody says or does is going to affect what happens next Sunday," Brady said.

 

 

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