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May 13, 2008

More from Goodell

Here are more points from this morning's press conference/circus with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell:

** Before the commissioner arrived at the Intercontinental Hotel, excerpts from seven of the eight tapes Matt Walsh submitted to the league were shown. On the tapes were the following games: Sept. 24, 2000 in Miami; Oct. 7, 2001 in Miami; Nov. 11, 2001 vs. Buffalo; Dec. 9, 2001 vs. Cleveland; Jan. 27, 2002 in Pittsburgh (AFC championship); and Sept. 29, 2002 in San Diego.

At one point during the tape from the Chargers' game, there was about 45 seconds showing the cheerleaders dancing in an end zone, with the camera trained on one particular cheerleader (and her derriere). A representative from lawyer Michael Levy's firm quickly came around the room and said that Walsh was not the cameraman for that game, he was just in possession of the tape.

** Walsh acknowledged to Goodell that he was at the Rams' walkthrough on the eve of Super Bowl XXXVI with other members of the Patriots' video staff. He was in Pats' gear and was working to set up tables, printers and other equipment on the New England sidelines for the game.

"No one asked him to tape the walkthrough, he's not aware of anybody else who may have taped the walkthrough, he has not seen such a tape, he does not know of anybody who says there is a tape," Goodell said.

After Goodell's press conference, a group of media members were brought before NFL outside counsel Gregg Levy, who was also at the Goodell-Walsh sitdown.

According to Levy, Walsh was asked by former New England assistant coach Brian Daboll what he saw at the Rams' walkthrough, and Walsh offered that Marshall Faulk was in punt or kickoff receiving formation. Daboll apparently also asked Walsh about offensive formations, particularly about the use of tight ends.

Levy said the story was uncorroborated, but will be looked into. Daboll is now an assistant with the Jets.

** Once the Spygate scandal began, all sorts of other charges were made by other teams and outsiders about additional wrongdoing by the Pats. Walsh told Goodell that he had no knowledge of the team bugging opponents' locker rooms, scrambling the coach-to-quarterback radio signal, placing microphones on defensive players to pick up a quarterback's calls or any other claims.

** When asked why Walsh had kept the tapes, Goodell said the former New England employee had said he was thinking about becoming a coach one day (he apparently also kept tapes of Pats' practices), and for resume purposes: if a potential future employee asked what he did with the Pats, Walsh could break out the tapes and show them.

** Goodell had not yet spoken with the Patriots to let them know of his findings, nor did he say he planned on speaking with Robert Kraft, Scott Pioli and/or Bill Belichick. New England did have an attorney, Dan Goldberg, at the meeting today.

** There were two new bits of information Walsh offered to Goodell that were not previously known: in 2001, a player New England had on injured reserve practiced with the team, a no-no, and Walsh helped a couple of players scalp Super Bowl tickets, saying it was between 8 and 12 tickets total over a two-year period.

Walsh identified the player on IR and Goodell said the league is trying to verify that, though, he added, there would be no further fine imposed on the team if it is found to be true; Goodell said it would be included in the $750,000 in fines already assessed to the franchise and Belichick.

As for the tickets, which he said is a non-competitive issue, Walsh named names for that as well and Goodell said that will be looked into as well.

** Walsh said after making recordings during games, he handed the raw footage over to Ernie Adams, New England's football research director. According to Goodell, Walsh had little to no interaction with Belichick, whom he referred to as "the man behind the curtain" at one point during his meeting with Goodell.

Posted by Shalise Manza Young  at 2:29 PM | Permalink