Wook
02-05-2008, 02:12 PM
The NFL is going to meet with this former scout... (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3231375&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines)
NFL wants to talk to Walsh about '02 Super Bowl report
ESPN.com news services
Updated: February 5, 2008, 11:03 AM ET
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Last week, former New England Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh told ESPN.com that he wondered why the National Football League apparently didn't want talk to him about what he might know about Spygate.
The NFL does now.
League spokesman Greg Aiello said Monday that the league's security arm wants to talk to Walsh about a report that a member of the team's video staff taped the St. Louis Rams' pregame walk-through before Super Bowl XXXVI, according to USA Today.
Saturday, the Boston Herald reported that according to an unnamed source who was close to the Patriots at the time, a member of the team's video department had lingered at the Superdome after the Patriots' walk-through and taped the Rams as they went through their walk-through -- a non-contact, reduced speed review of plays they planned to use in the game.
The Patriots said that report was "absolutely false."
Walsh, now an assistant golf pro in Hawaii, hinted to ESPN.com that he might have information about the Patriots related to Spygate and wondered why the NFL had not contacted him during its probe into the team's videotaping practices. But he declined to make such information available to ESPN.com.
Now, the NFL wants to know what Walsh might know.
"We will seek to speak with him, so our security people are in the process of trying to make that happen," Aiello said, according to USA Today. He said the NFL wants to see if Walsh has new information.
Earlier, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that if Walsh "has information inconsistent with what we have, we want to talk to him."
Saturday, Aiello said the league had been aware of the "rumor" about the walk-through taping for months and found no evidence in tapes or notes produced by the team. Goodell used much of his state of the game address on Friday before the Super Bowl to say he didn't think the Patriots used such tapes to win previous titles.
"There was no indication that it benefited them in any of the Super Bowl victories," Goodell said.
Goodell fined New England coach Bill Belichick $500,000 earlier this season and docked the team $250,000 and a first-round draft pick after league security officials confiscated a video camera and tape from a Patriots employee during New England's 38-14 victory over the New York Jets in the 2007 season opener.
The employee was accused of aiming his camera at the Jets' defensive coaches as they signaled to players on the field.
Goodell has said he will meet with U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who has threatened to haul the NFL in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee over the destruction of evidence the NFL collected in its probe of the Patriots' taping practices. Specter also said he wants to meet with Walsh, whom the team fired after the 2002 season.
ESPN.com investigative reporter Mike Fish and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
NFL wants to talk to Walsh about '02 Super Bowl report
ESPN.com news services
Updated: February 5, 2008, 11:03 AM ET
Comment
Last week, former New England Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh told ESPN.com that he wondered why the National Football League apparently didn't want talk to him about what he might know about Spygate.
The NFL does now.
League spokesman Greg Aiello said Monday that the league's security arm wants to talk to Walsh about a report that a member of the team's video staff taped the St. Louis Rams' pregame walk-through before Super Bowl XXXVI, according to USA Today.
Saturday, the Boston Herald reported that according to an unnamed source who was close to the Patriots at the time, a member of the team's video department had lingered at the Superdome after the Patriots' walk-through and taped the Rams as they went through their walk-through -- a non-contact, reduced speed review of plays they planned to use in the game.
The Patriots said that report was "absolutely false."
Walsh, now an assistant golf pro in Hawaii, hinted to ESPN.com that he might have information about the Patriots related to Spygate and wondered why the NFL had not contacted him during its probe into the team's videotaping practices. But he declined to make such information available to ESPN.com.
Now, the NFL wants to know what Walsh might know.
"We will seek to speak with him, so our security people are in the process of trying to make that happen," Aiello said, according to USA Today. He said the NFL wants to see if Walsh has new information.
Earlier, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that if Walsh "has information inconsistent with what we have, we want to talk to him."
Saturday, Aiello said the league had been aware of the "rumor" about the walk-through taping for months and found no evidence in tapes or notes produced by the team. Goodell used much of his state of the game address on Friday before the Super Bowl to say he didn't think the Patriots used such tapes to win previous titles.
"There was no indication that it benefited them in any of the Super Bowl victories," Goodell said.
Goodell fined New England coach Bill Belichick $500,000 earlier this season and docked the team $250,000 and a first-round draft pick after league security officials confiscated a video camera and tape from a Patriots employee during New England's 38-14 victory over the New York Jets in the 2007 season opener.
The employee was accused of aiming his camera at the Jets' defensive coaches as they signaled to players on the field.
Goodell has said he will meet with U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who has threatened to haul the NFL in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee over the destruction of evidence the NFL collected in its probe of the Patriots' taping practices. Specter also said he wants to meet with Walsh, whom the team fired after the 2002 season.
ESPN.com investigative reporter Mike Fish and The Associated Press contributed to this report.