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

[hagan714]

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.

[papz]

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.

[hagan714]

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.

[hagan714]

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.