Ex-Pats employee Walsh sends NFL video of Pats' taping
 

After brokering a deal to protect himself, former New England Patriots employee Matt Walsh has finally turned over his evidence in the videotaping controversy.

The New York Times reported and the NFL confirmed on Wednesday that Walsh sent eight tapes to the league that show the Patriots recording the play-calling signals of five opponents in six games between 2000 and 2002.

Taping the signals of opposing teams is prohibited by league rules, and the Patriots were already fined $750,000 and docked a first-round draft choice in September for taping the New York Jets. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell left open the possibility that more penalties could be levied.

A Patriots employee from 1997-2003, Walsh reached an agreement to turn over the tapes in exchange for being indemnified from all future legal fees.

The New York Times obtained a list of the Walsh tapes, and the league confirmed that list, which says that the Patriots taped offensive and defensive coaches in regular-season games against the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns and San Diego Chargers. The team also made video of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2002 AFC Championship Game.

Walsh's tapes do not include the video of the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl, as reported by the Boston Herald.

"Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walk-through," said Walsh's lawyer Michael Levy, according to the 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."

Walsh has separate meetings scheduled on Tuesday with the commissioner and Senator Arlen Specter in which he is expected to provide additional details about the taping process.

Under his agreement with the league, Walsh can retain copies of his videotapes, but he cannot use them without the consent of the NFL.

sounds guilty, what do you think?
 

Re: Ex-Pats employee Walsh sends NFL video of Pats' tap
 

The problem is this

“We consider the tapes of our coaching staff during our games against the New England Patriots to be a nonissue,” the Steelers chairman, Dan Rooney, said in a statement released in February.

Rooney is not the only owner to come out and say this is a non issue. Thats the problem. The wagons are circled and the owners are together on this. The Jets love affair has been a bitter one for a long time. Stealing players and coaches for years from one another. But 1 team does not make this a gigantic issue at the round table.

Re: Ex-Pats employee Walsh sends NFL video of Pats' tap
 

League rules are league rules - whether some of the owners don't care much about it is irrelevant.

I ask the NFL this question.... If you can't follow your own rules, then what's the point of having any rules at all?

Re: Ex-Pats employee Walsh sends NFL video of Pats' tap
 

i think that it is more widespread....i think every team has a few tapes of signals...am i alone in this assessment?....i am not sure how to look at this however....is this something we will look back on in the next dozen years as something ground breaking..or will it just fade away...is this a big deal if every team is doing it?....while the calls may be taped its still up to the players to get the job done on the field....r tapes really that vital to the success of the patriots dynasty?....if so...what is to be said of the 3 championships?

Re: Ex-Pats employee Walsh sends NFL video of Pats' tap
 

LEAGUE SAYS WALSH TAPES PROVIDE NO NEW EVIDENCE OF CHEATING
Posted by Mike Florio on May 8, 2008, 8:21 a.m.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello suggested to the Boston Globe on Wednesday night that the Patriots will face no new discipline because of the tapes that former Pats video employee Matt Walsh has surrendered to the league.

“This is consistent with what the Patriots had admitted they had been doing, consistent with what we already knew,” Aiello said.

That said, we’re curious about why Walsh would have deemed it appropriate to keep tapes of defensive coaching signals for years after his departure, if (as coach Bill Belichick explained after the poo hit the propeller) Belihick had merely misinterpreted the rules. In other words, Walsh would have had no reason to retain evidence of wrongdoing, if the official position in the organization was that the practice did not violate the rules. Unless, of course, Belichick knew that they might at some point get in trouble for this, and thus he had his “I didn’t understand the rules” excuse ready in the event that this happened.

Of course, it’s also possible that Walsh simply kept anything and everything on which he could lay his hands, without regard to whether the materials was or wasn’t evidence of cheating.

With Walsh’s meeting with the Commissioner only five days away, the question now becomes whether Walsh will provide a verbal account that sweeps more broadly than the content of the tapes. As Walsh told the New York Times back on February 1, “There would be things I’d be forced to answer that some people haven’t taken responsibility for.”

This would suggest one of two things — either Walsh is full of crap (which is entirely possible) or his comments to Goodell will reach more broadly than the contents of the tapes.

Regardless, it’s impossible to move forward until we know what Walsh tells Goodell on May 13.

Walsh has tapes, but not of walkthrough - The Boston Globe

Re: Ex-Pats employee Walsh sends NFL video of Pats' tap
 

My opinion, which I admit is pure speculation, is that Walsh kept them for two purposes:

1) to cover his butt in case any pointed the finger at him later
2) to use as muscle in case the Pats tried to screw him at any point

But, I do find it quite the coincidence that the unbeatable Patriots suddenly became beatable not long too long after the allegations came up. My personal opinion, which I again admit is pure speculation, is that they lost that extra edge after they were caught.

Re: Ex-Pats employee Walsh sends NFL video of Pats' tap
 

Interesting.... I believe them.

Has Spygate tainted previous Patriots titles? - NFL - Yahoo! Sports


Here's what we do know about the past: After New England was caught in September, stories emerged of at least four previous spying incidents from seasons past being brought to the league's attention. That likely played a part in commissioner Roger Goddell sending out a summer memo specifically reminding teams of the filming rule.

Included was a reported charge that the Patriots filmed the sideline of the Detroit Lions during a regular-season game in 2006. That begs the common sense question: If Belichick would employ such tactics to beat a pathetic Lions team that finished the season 3-13, then why wouldn't he use it in a Super Bowl?

The Patriots beat the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21 in Super Bowl XXXIX and Eagles players have now expressed questions about how that game played out. Cornerback Sheldon Brown specifically wondered if it was just a coincidence that every time the Eagles blitzed Tom Brady on the decisive fourth-quarter drive, New England called the perfect antidote, a screen pass. Or did the Patriots, indeed, know the Eagles' defensive signals?

"I was like, 'Man, I never saw that many screens,' " Brown told the Associated Press. "Something's not right about that."

Said safety Brian Dawkins, "Now there's always going to be questions about the situation; was it great adjustments at halftime or what?"

Pittsburgh's Hines Ward brought up questions about the Patriots' two AFC championship game victories over the Steelers this decade. Others have complained about other games.

ok, hagan, for now, it's been kinda swept under the rug
 

but, make no mistake about it............
the commish has said, and i take my hat off to him, that he did not believe bb when he said he mis-interpreted the rules..........
i still believe more will become of this, but for now, i put it in pause motion, not to sleep......if this is what nfl football is all about, you can have it.............smitty...............

Re: Ex-Pats employee Walsh sends NFL video of Pats' tap
 

Sounds like hypocrisy to me.

Players must be "high character" but cheating by coaches to win is viewed as "savvy"

Re: Ex-Pats employee Walsh sends NFL video of Pats' tap
 

LOL come on guys. You know as well as I do more than a "protection promise" was made here.
How much was in the envelope passed under the table to Walsh so this could disappear?
Missing tapes that never existed?
Select tapes were released and the other were destroyed? Thats next.
Smart money goes to damage control. This was a blackmail thing by Walsh to get some feathers for his nest eggs. Morality has nothing to do with this. Greed and damage control are the words of the day.

Re: Ex-Pats employee Walsh sends NFL video of Pats' tap
 

Retired quarterback Jay Fielder says the Dolphins tried to steal signals from the Patriots when he played.

"There were times in games when we knew certain defensive calls from what we were able to gather during the game or our scouts’ eyesight," Fiedler revealed. He called knowing defensive signals "a huge advantage. If the quarterback knows what’s coming, he can dissect it at the line of scrimmage."

Source: Palm Beach Post

I've always said every team does something... maybe not to the same degree of the Pats, but everyone's trying to get an edge on their opponents. It's just that the Pats are the one's who got caught and being made an example of. I think everything is blown out of proportion with all this stuff making the Senate. Shouldn't they have bigger issues to be dealing with? They've been punished... move on. The point has already been made and nothing is being accomplished by dragging this thing on.

Re: Ex-Pats employee Walsh sends NFL video of Pats' tap
 

Add Fielder to the long list of players and coaches that have admitted this.
Walsh has another toe shoot off:

Former Patriots assistant can't recall Walsh talk
Fri May 16, 1:01 AM ET

NEW YORK - Former New England assistant coach Brian Daboll told the NFL he doesn't remember speaking with Matt Walsh about the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough Walsh attended the day before the 2002 Super Bowl.
Even if Daboll and New England's former video assistant did speak about it, "it would not be a violation of NFL rules," the league said Thursday.

Walsh met with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Tuesday about videotaping procedures used by the Patriots. Walsh said during the meeting that he had no knowledge of that walkthrough being videotaped as had been reported by the Boston Herald the day before this year's Super Bowl, Goodell said.

On Wednesday, the Herald apologized for a story that said the Patriots videotaped the walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl. In the apology, the Herald said, "We now know that this report was false, and that no tape of the walkthrough ever existed."

Walsh told Goodell that Daboll, now the quarterbacks coach with the New York Jets, approached him later, NFL attorney Gregg Levy said Tuesday. Walsh said he told Daboll that running back Marshall Faulk was returning kicks and described the Rams' use of tight ends in their formations. Daboll did not mention such a conversation when he was first interviewed by NFL officials about the walkthrough, Levy said.

Daboll was interviewed again Wednesday by the NFL's security department, the league said in a statement.

"He has no recollection of a conversation with Matt Walsh about the Rams' walk-through practice," the league said. "Even if such a conversation occurred, it would not be a violation of NFL rules."

The statement said that Walsh, other members of the Patriots video department, members of the Rams video department and others preparing for the Super Bowl were authorized to be in the stadium.

"Mr. Walsh told the commissioner that he was wearing Patriots' attire at the time and did not conduct himself in a clandestine manner," the NFL said. "He said that he saw Rams employees while he was there and also was on the sidelines. He stated clearly to the commissioner that nobody from the Patriots requested or directed him to observe or report on the Rams' walk-through."

The Patriots won that Super Bowl, 20-17.

Meanwhile, Mike Martz, head coach of the Rams in that game, issued a statement expressing surprise.

"I was stunned at Matt Walsh's allegation that he was on the sideline in New England Patriots apparel during our walk-thru," Martz, now San Francisco's offensive coordinator, said Thursday. "I find that insulting, disturbing and a slap in the face to both our team security and NFL security, who both do outstanding jobs. I promise you that if he was on the sideline, he was not in New England Patriots apparel because he would have been identified.

"The whole issue is based on statements made by Matt Walsh, and I think we have to understand that."

Martz also said he spoke with Goodell on Wednesday and "was very satisfied" with the league's efforts to investigate the situation as it related to the 2002 Super Bowl.

"I'm very confident that there was no impropriety. I believed (Patriots coach) Bill Belichick when he said there wasn't and I took that at face value."

Daboll issued a statement Tuesday saying, "I have cooperated with the league's investigation and was completely truthful and forthcoming. The league has requested to speak to me again. In light of this request, I will not comment further other than to say that I have been and will continue to be completely truthful, cooperative, and forthcoming with the league."

During his news conference Tuesday after speaking with Walsh, Goodell said when asked if he considered the Spygate investigation closed, "As I stand before you today, and having met with Matt Walsh and more than 50 other people, I don't know where else I would turn."

After the Patriots' season-opener against the Jets last September, the NFL confiscated tapes from a Patriots employee who recorded the Jets' defensive signals. Belichick was fined $500,000 and the team was fined $250,000 and stripped of its 2008 first-round draft choice.
Former Patriots assistant can't recall Walsh talk - Yahoo! News

The maggots are now leaving the corpse. This sucker has been pick almost clean. Time for it to go to the skeleton closet. See what damage control can do for you. That and some dead presidents. Walsh is becoming a joke and a waste of their time. They do not really care about what you think or care about. They know the fans will move on and let this topic slip away and be nothing more than a foot note in NFL history. It takes way to much energy for the average American to get off their collective Butts and change anything. So why would football be any different. Face it we are too fat and complacent in this country.

Re: Ex-Pats employee Walsh sends NFL video of Pats' tap
 

TWO SENATORS SAY NFL CAN POLICE ITSELF
Posted by Mike Florio on May 17, 2008, 12:10 p.m.

We firmly believe that the United States Congress, as the sole source of federal legislation in our country, has the prerogative to hold hearings to assess whether legislation is necessary to ensure the integrity of the NFL or any other sport that conducts business in multiple states and that attracts the interests of millions of American citizens.

But we also believe that it requires more than Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) to prompt action in this regard. To date, Specter has found no one to support his desire to push the question of whether the NFL properly handled the inquiry into whether and to what extent the Patriots (and other teams) have broken the rules in an effort to gain an advantage on the field of play.

And now the voices are lining up against Specter. Several days ago, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-Ma.) predictably rebuffed Specter’s blustering about the Patriots. According to the Washington Post, two Republican senators have said that the NFL is capable of policing itself.

The two senators are Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).

“Number one, I have great respect for Senator Specter,” Graham said. “He is probably one of the most respected members of the body. But I respectfully disagree in terms of Congress getting involved. I don’t see a need. I believe the NFL has the desire and capability to monitor its own business. It is in its best interests to do so, and there are far better matters for our time.”

Kyl echoed Graham’s sentiments. “It doesn’t seem to me that it’s something the Congress should be involved in.”

Though this might mean for Spygate to die, Specter surely will be poised to chime in again, if there are any further cheating scandals that arise in the future.