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Lawyer: NFL to get Walsh's tapes Thursday; Rams' XXXVI walkthrough not included

 

NEW YORK -- Former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh sent the NFL eight videotapes, which he claims show New England violated league rules by recording opposing coaches' playcalling signals.

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The tapes include signals by coaches of five opponents in six games from 2000-02, but don't include video from the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl.

The NFL said it received a letter from Michael Levy, the lawyer for Walsh, detailing the tapes that were scheduled to arrive Thursday at the league's New York offices.

The tapes sent to the NFL show the Patriots recorded signals in regular-season games against Miami, Buffalo, Cleveland and San Diego, and against Pittsburgh in the 2002 AFC Championship Game.

"This is consistent with what the Patriots had admitted they had been doing, consistent with what we already knew," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told the Associated Press.

The New York Times first reported the story on its website Wednesday night.

Walsh, who worked for New England from 1997 to 2003, agreed to turn over the tapes and other evidence by Thursday. He's scheduled to meet with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell next Tuesday about New England's taping of opposing teams.

"We're not going to comment," said Stacey James, the Patriots' vice president for media relations. He added he expected the team will wait to issue a statement until after Walsh meets with Goodell.

Walsh's name first surfaced just before this year's Super Bowl, nearly five months after the Patriots were sanctioned for illegally taping the New York Jets in the season opener -- a $500,000 fine for coach Bill Belichick, a $250,000 fine for the organization, and the loss of a first-round draft pick.

At that time, the Boston Herald also reported an unnamed Patriots employee illegally taped the Rams' final walkthrough before the 2002 title game, when New England, a two-touchdown underdog, upset St. Louis 20-17.

Goodell previously has said he was fully prepared to crack down again on the Patriots if his meeting with Walsh uncovered a tape made of the Rams' walkthrough practice.

"Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walkthrough," Levy told the New York Times. "Mr. Walsh has never been the source of any of the media speculation about such a tape. Mr. Walsh was not the source for the Feb. 2 Boston Herald article."

After more than two months of negotiations, lawyers for the league and Walsh finally reached an agreement on April 23 on terms that will allow him to talk with Goodell. They include an agreement by the Patriots not to sue Walsh and to pay his legal expenses and his airfare to New York from Hawaii, where he is now a golf pro.

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The Associated Press News Service

Copyright 2007-2008, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
 
Talk Back
Reputation:99
Level:Superstar
Since:Apr 10, 2007

May 8, 2008 8:00 am

OK so if I have this correct. There is no actual game tape of the Rams walk through prior to Superbowl XXXVI. So the players of the Rams 2001 Superbowl team that were upset by this entered a law suit against the New England Patriots "without" any actual evidence that th ...(more)

Reputation:93
Level:All-Star
Since:Aug 19, 2006

May 8, 2008 6:20 pm
That's the Broncos record against the Patriots with Brady and Belichick, handicapped no less with this whole Spygate incident.  Their titles will be tainted forever, there is no doubt about that.

I look forward to playing Spygate next year and getting another
...(more)
Reputation:97
Level:Superstar
Since:Sep 12, 2007

May 8, 2008 2:43 pm

Isn't the real story that Walsh doesn't have any tapes of the walkthrough?  Isn't that what this whole sh*tstorm was supposed to be about in the first place?

Turns out he doesn't have squat, so the mediot snow make the story headline :Mat Walsh's lawyer turns over 8 tapes" to try to make it seem insinuating.

Great job by the media feeding the h ...(more)

Reputation:92
Level:All-Star
Since:Nov 13, 2007

May 8, 2008 8:29 am
Why is the Rams Superbowl walkthrough a big deal, and the 2002 AFC Championship game barely even mentioned?
Wich, by the way was a 24-17 upset over the Pittsburgh Steelers, with the same cheating that they were concerned about against the Rams in the Superbowl.

...(more)
Reputation:93
Level:All-Star
Since:Nov 30, 2007

May 9, 2008 10:05 am
So
Reputation:99
Level:Superstar
Since:Aug 27, 2006

May 8, 2008 5:32 pm
Mr. Goddell -

As Paul Simon once asked - "What are you going to do about it? - that's what I'd like to know;"

Reputation:97
Level:Superstar
Since:Sep 22, 2006

May 8, 2008 5:57 pm
Now that all of the teams in the NFL are on to what the Patriots have been doing for years (and other teams), the real question is what will teams do to change up their defensive signal calling to prevent those teams who cheated from continuing to steal their signals now that they have a full off-season to prepare.  I would hope that t ...(more)
Reputation:93
Level:All-Star
Since:Nov 30, 2007

May 8, 2008 9:43 am
Of c
Reputation:93
Level:All-Star
Since:Feb 20, 2008

May 8, 2008 8:25 am
The pats were cheating....ok we know that...I don't see anything special coming from walsh other than more tapes to destroy for the league....I'm betting there won't be any additional sanctions....so let's move on....I hate the Pats...cause they did cheat and big Bill is a jerk....but as a Jets fan....I still just don't care anymore.. ...(more)
Reputation:97
Level:Superstar
Since:Dec 19, 2006

May 8, 2008 12:12 am
I'm shocked!  I really didn't think by this point I wouldn't see every idiot from anywhere with pitchforks and torches ready to burn the Patriots again.  Looks like haters come out when the blood is fake.  We already knew everything Matt Walsh had to say, he just sat around and played off Arlen Specter's jock strap.  Tha ...(more)
Reputation:73
Level:Pro
Since:Jan 10, 2008

May 8, 2008 9:55 am
I agree that it's odd to not be a big deal that they knowingly broke the rules in all but the superbowl and it's ok. The thing that concerns me the most is that when all this first started and tapes were sent to Goodell - he "destroyed" them a day later. Why??? What was on them that needed "destroyed" and, unless it was something horrible, how did he come to that conclusion so fast? The speed a ...(more)
Reputation:94
Level:All-Star
Since:Nov 7, 2006

May 8, 2008 2:47 pm

Go to the Greatest Sports Rivalries Bracket and vote for four of the top eight rivalries in american sports!

Reputation:94
Level:All-Star
Since:Jun 28, 2007

May 8, 2008 3:28 pm
I'm all for enforcing the rules, so, because this was (and is) against the rules, it's fine with me if N.E. is punished. And, if they held back tapes, that's bad too and probably requires more punishment.

But I have a fundamental problem with rules against sign stealing and taping.  If the other team uses signs out in the open -- i.e., in any place where other peopl
...(more)
Reputation:96
Level:Superstar
Since:Apr 1, 2007