The New England Patriots have been accused of cheating previously, but this time, the cleat appears to be on the other foot.

New England color analyst Scott Zolak accused the Philadelphia Eagles of pumping in crowd noise during Sunday afternoon’s game. He cited a spike in volume on the first series the Patriots had the ball in their 17-10 win over the Eagles. Zolak is the only person to make the claim, although quarterback Tom Brady did comment on the situation in his weekly interview on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” by saying: “Good job, Zo! I like it.”

Low quality video, but here is the spike in crowd noise that @scottzolak said sounded unnatural as Tom Brady broke the Patriots huddle for the first time in Philadelphia yesterday. pic.twitter.com/wo0mTLNIgz — Michael Hurley (@michaelFhurley) November 18, 2019

The NFL has punished teams for pumping in artificial crowd noise in previous instances, including the Atlanta Falcons getting fined and docked a 2016 fifth-round draft pick.

If the Eagles did attempt to give the team an unfair home-field advantage, it didn’t seem to help. Brady didn’t notice it and the Patriots got their revenge on the Eagles for beating them in Super Bowl LII.

“I didn’t notice, but again, those are not the things I would notice. Loud is loud,” Brady said, via NBC Sports Boston. “At one point when you can’t hear, basically it’s like ‘loud’ and then ‘louder,’ but you’re really not going to notice the difference much.”

During last night's broadcast, @scottzolak stated that he believed the Eagles were pumping in crowd noise. After listening to Brady's first series, there certainly seems to be an abrupt rise in crowd volume level on the radio broadcast. — Toucher and Rich (@Toucherandrich) November 18, 2019

Jay Ajayi Could Stay with Eagles in 2020

When the Eagles signed Jay Ajayi off the street last Friday, it screamed of a desperation move by a team in dire need of an extra running back. Maybe not.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, there is a clause in Ajayi’s contract that gives the Eagles first right of refusal on other teams making offers in 2020.

That would seem to indicate that Philadelphia believes he could potentially be part of their long-term plans. The 26-year-old rusher didn’t play Sunday against the Patriots as the team decided to give extra snaps to utility man Boston Scott with Jordan Howard out.

Interesting tidbit to #Eagles RB Jay Ajayi’s contract with his new team. It includes a right of first refusal for the team during the 2020 offseason, source said. That means Philly can match any offer Ajayi receives. — Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 18, 2019

Ajayi was assumed to be integrated right into the offense, but he’ll get an opportunity to contribute next week versus Seattle. He didn’t see a single snap against the Patriots despite being active and present on the sideline. Ajayi sat out the first 10 weeks of the NFL season as he was recovering from season-ending ACL surgery.

Meanwhile, head coach Doug Pederson didn’t have an update on Howard’s status. The running back is dealing with a “stinger,” a shoulder issue that kept him out of the lineup versus New England.