ExPats employee sends tapes to NFL
editor1 |May 07,2008
|
|
|
NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Former New England Patriots video
assistant Matt Walsh has sent eight videotapes to the NFL which
show the team taping signals by opposing coaches during six
games between the 2000 and 2002 seasons, according to a report
in the New York Times on Wednesday.
The tapes, which are a violation of league rules, have come to
light two weeks after Walsh reached an agreement with NFL
commissioner Roger Goodell to turn over any materials in his
possession.
However, the tapes do not include the most-publicized video to
which Walsh reportedly has access - the walkthrough of the St.
Louis Rams the day before Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002.
The Times obtained a list of the tapes, and the information
later was confirmed by Walsh's lawyer, Michael Levy.
The newspaper reported all the tapes are scheduled to arrive at
NFL offices Thursday morning. League officials declined to
comment Wednesday night because the tapes are not yet in their
possession.
Now an assistant golf pro in Hawaii, Walsh worked for the
Patriots from 1996 through the 2002 Super Bowl. In January, he
suggested that he had potentially damaging information about the
team's videotaping practices.
The Patriots last month denied they ever taped the Rams'
walkthrough, and Levy confirmed that to the Times - refuting a
report by the Boston Herald in February that his client had such
a tape.
"Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walkthrough,"
Levy told the Times in a phone interview. "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 February 2 Boston
Herald article."
Walsh's tapes show the Patriots recording coaches' signals in
four regular-season games, as well as the 2002 AFC Championship
game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
According to the Times, the tape of the Steelers' game has been
edited to show Pittsburgh's coaches signaling plays, followed by
two different camera angles of the actual plays that were
called.
The first tape is dated September 25, 2000; the last is from
September 29, 2002.
The NFL fined Patriots coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and the New
England organization $250,000 for the illegal taping of the New
York Jets in the 2007 season opener.
The Patriots also lost a first-round pick as a result of the
"Spygate" incident.
In February, Goodell said six tapes handed over by the Patriots
- which subsequently were destroyed by the league shortly
thereafter - were from the 2006 season and 2007 preseason.
The Patriots released a statement last month saying they
welcomed the agreement by Walsh and the league.
"The New England Patriots are pleased to learn that Matt Walsh
is finally willing to come forward to meet with the NFL," the
statement read. "We are eagerly anticipating his honest
disclosures to commissioner Goodell next month and the return of
all the materials he took during his time of employment. We
fully expect this meeting to conclude the league's investigation
into a damaging and false allegation that was originally levied
against the team on the day before this year's Super Bowl."
Per the original agreement, Walsh is scheduled to meet with
Goodell and Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania in separate
meetings in New York on Tuesday.
Two days before this past season's Super Bowl, Specter - the
Republican leader of the Judiciary Committee - kept alive the
"Spygate" incident by criticizing the league's investigation,
particularly for destroying original tapes.
|
|
Print
E-mail
Del.icio.us
Digg
