Goodell Says Meeting With Walsh Yields No New Spygate Info

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday afternoon there were no new allegations from former New England Patriots video employee Matt Walsh that would result in further sanctions against the team or head coach Bill Belichick.

Goodell and Walsh met for more than three hours at the league’s offices in Manhattan. Barring any unforeseen circumstances the commissioner doesn’t presently know about, this will likely provide some closure to the ‘Spygate’ saga that has consumed the NFL since the Patriots were caught illegally videotaping the Jets’ defensive signals during a Week 1 game last season at Giants Stadium.

"The fundamental information [from this morning's meeting] is consistent with what we knew last September," Goodell said at a news conference after his meeting with Walsh. "The discipline that I took was unprecedented, and I felt it was appropriate."

Goodell said Walsh told him he knew of no tape of the Rams’ walkthrough practice the day before the Patriots’ first Super Bowl win after the 2001 season. The Boston Herald reported the day before last February’s Super Bowl between the Giants and Patriots that there was a tape of the Rams’ walkthrough practice. Belichick consistently denied the existence of such a tape.

Goodell said Walsh told him of two other unrelated situations that the league will investigate. He said the Patriots had a player who was on injured reserve participate in a practice in 2001 (a violation of league policy) and might result in a fine. Goodell also said Walsh told him he helped some unidentified members of the organization scalp as many as 12 Super Bowl tickets while Walsh worked for the team.

After Goodell’s press conference, NFL attorney Gregg Levy, who was in on the meeting, told reporters that Walsh said he had been approached by former Patriots assistant coach Brian Daboll, who is now the Jets’ quarterbacks coach, shortly after a Rams’ walkthrough practice the day before they played the Patriots in the Super Bowl following the 2001 season.

Walsh said Daboll asked if there was anything Walsh could relate about the walkthrough. Walsh said he noticed that running back Marshall Faulk was running back kickoffs. Daboll then asked if there was anything Walsh could divulge about how the Rams deployed their tight ends in practice. Walsh could not offer anything specific, according to Levy. Daboll then drew a play and asked which direction the tight ends went in.

Walsh was in the Superdome during the Rams’ practice setting up video equipment for the actual game. He was there legally and had Patriots clothing on. In fact, the Rams knew Walsh was there.

Goodell apparently will not further sanction the Patriots as a result of Daboll’s conversation. Daboll, who has met previously with NFL investigators, did not corroborate Walsh’s claims, but the NFL said it would re-examine Daboll’s involvement in light of Walsh’s statements.

Walsh, who had reached an agreement on April 23 that stipulated there would be no lawsuits filed against him for anything he agreed to turn over or told Goodell during Tuesday’s meeting, immediately left for Washington, D.C. after the meeting. He was to meet later Tuesday with Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, who had been pushing the NFL to meet with Walsh.

"Mr. Walsh is pleased to have been able to assist the National Football League in its investigation of the New England Patriots’ videotaping practices," Walsh’s attorney, Michael Levy, said after leaving the league’s headquarters. "Sen. Arlen Specter has waited quite a while to meet with Mr. Walsh, and we are heading immediately to Washington, D.C. for an appointment this afternoon with Sen. Specter. Out of respect for Sen. Specter, neither Mr. Walsh nor I will speak with the media prior to meeting with the Senator."

Walsh handed over eight tapes of Patriots games from the 2000-02 seasons. The tapes were shown to reporters at a hotel across the street from the league’s headquarters. They showed defensive signals being flashed in from the sidelines, and there was one tape of Dolphins’ offensive signals during a game in 2001.

There was also a tape of a Chargers-Patriots game in 2002 that briefly showed Chargers cheerleaders performing for the crowd. A spokeswoman from Levy’s office said Walsh had not shot video of the cheerleaders.

Belichick contends he misinterpreted the league’s rules against videotaping opponents’ signals. He said he felt as long as he didn’t use the tapes during the game in which they were shot that it was legal to film the signals. He told the commissioner at the time that his taping went back to when he joined the Patriots in 2000. Goodell fined Belichick $500,000 and the team an additional $250,000. Goodell also made the Patriots forfeit their own 2008 first-round draft pick. The Patriots had an additional first-round pick acquired in a 2007 trade with the 49ers.