It looks like Billy Boy and his Merry Band of Cheaters may have been taping offensive signals as well. It appears they cheated in the 2002 AFC Championship game as well. This has clearly turned into one of the biggest scandals in sports history. Hopefully Commissioner Goddell steps up and takes the necessary measures.
By Larry Weisman, USA TODAY
The NFL received eight videotapes from Matt Walsh on Thursday as the extended investigation of the New England Patriots' Spygate story continues and perhaps moves in a different direction.
Part of the story is what wasn't among the tapes — there was no record of the St. Louis Rams' walk-through on the day before their loss to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002.
But there is a tape that apparently contains offensive signals, though the NFL has said it punished the Patriots for its improper taping of other teams' defensive signals.
The tapes from Walsh, a former Patriots videographer who now works as a golf pro in Hawaii, are of games from the seasons of 2000-02. His attorney, Michael Levy, said Walsh never claimed to have a videotape of the Rams' walk-through at the Louisiana Superdome on the day before their eventual 20-17 loss to the underdog Patriots.
The NFL penalized the Patriots in September with $750,000 fines and the loss of a first-round draft pick for improperly filming opponents' defensive signals.
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The package from Walsh contains one tape marked to indicate it contains the Miami Dolphins' offensive signals from an Oct. 7, 2001 game against the Patriots.
"One of the tapes is labeled that way. Until we review it, we don't know what's there," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said. The rule violated by the Patriots, he said, prohibited taping of any signals, offensive or defensive.
In the NFL's April 23 statement on reaching an agreement with Walsh to come forward with his materials and meet with commissioner Roger Goodell, the league never mentioned any offensive signals. Its statement said: "Commissioner Goodell determined last September that the Patriots had violated league rules by videotaping opposing coaches' defensive signals during Patriots games throughout Bill Belichick's tenure as head coach."
Aiello said Goodell and his staff would look at the tapes and discuss them after Walsh's visit to New York on Tuesday. Walsh is then planning to meet in Washington, D.C., with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who has been critical of the NFL's handling of its inquiry and the destruction of tapes previously received from the Patriots.
Walsh, his attorney said, did not provide information
