Report: Walsh turns over tapes, but not of Super Bowl walkthrough
Former New England Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh sent the NFL eight videotapes showing the team illegally recording opponents' signals, according to a New York Times report. However, the report said the list of tapes did not include footage of the St. Louis Rams' Super Bowl walkthrough, as had been speculated.
What Walsh knows has hung over the NFL and the Patriots since media reports began to surface earlier this year that he had additional information about the team's taping practices. Walsh's intimations extended the "Spygate" saga, which began Sept. 9, when the Patriots were caught illegally videotaping the defensive signals of the New York Jets at Giants Stadium in the season opener.
The NFL responded swiftly, punishing the Patriots in a Sept. 13 ruling by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell that fined the team $250,000, head coach Bill Belichick $500,000 -- the maximum allowed under the league's constitution and bylaws -- and docking the team a first-round draft pick (No. 31 overall) in the draft. The league also demanded the Patriots turn over all tapes and notes related to their practice of filming other teams' signals, which was revealed to date to Belichick's arrival as coach in 2000.
According to the Times, the tapes turned over by Walsh contain illegal recordings of offensive and defensive coaches' signals of five opponents in six games between the 2000 and 2002 seasons. They include tapes from regular-season games against the Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, San Diego Chargers, and from the 2002 AFC championship game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
At the time of the initial punishment, the NFL said the penalty was for the totality of the team's actions, but that Goodell reserved the right to revisit the penalty if additional information came to light.
The Times obtained a list of the tapes turned over, and the information was confirmed by Walsh's lawyer, Michael Levy, from the Washington offices of McKee Nelson. The NFL declined to comment to the Times because it had not yet received the tapes. Walsh, who now works as an assistant golf pro in Hawaii, will meet with Roger Goodell in the commissioner's New York office May 13. According to terms of an indemnification agreement, Walsh had to turn over any materials that related to allegations of the Patriots videotaping opponents on or before May 8.
On Feb. 2, the day before the Patriots' 17-14 upset loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII, the Boston Herald, citing an unnamed source, reported the Patriots had taped the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough prior to New England's 20-17 upset in Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002.
“Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walk-through,” Levy told the New York Times in a telephone 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 Feb. 2 Boston Herald article.”
Background information from the Globe's Christopher L. Gasper was used in this report.
