NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell addressed during his annual “state of the league” press conference the question posed recently by Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).

Why did the NFL destroy the materials surrendered by the Patriots in the wake of the Spygate scandal?  Because the original tape that gave rise to the brouhaha had landed in the hands of Jay Glazer of FOX.

“We thought we had locked it up.  And it got out, five days later,” Goodell said.

It’s not a surprise, because it’s really the only semi-plausible explanation that could be offered for intentionally destroying evidence.  If/when Goodell is getting grilled by U.S. Senators on the issue, however, he can expect a few of them to be perplexed by the notion that the league office is so unable to secure sensitive information that the better approach is to shred it.

A summary of the rest of the remarks is right here.