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Former Pats video employee Matt Walsh has turned over videotapes to the NFL. As widely believed in NFL circles, and contrary to a February 2 report from the Boston Herald, the tapes do not include images of the Rams’ walk-through practice prior to Super Bowl XXXVI.
The New York Times reports that Walsh possesses no such tape.
“Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walk-through,” Walsh’s lawyer, Michael Levy, said 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.”
Based on everything we’ve heard over the past several months, we believe that Walsh was the source.
The tapes show videotaping of defensive coaching signals, something for which the Patriots already have been punished.
Walsh is scheduled to meet with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on May 13.
May 8th, 2008 at 4:03 am
I still wish everyone who thinks this is cheating to explain to me how Jimmy Johnson was allowed to do it, and how everything in the history of the NFL that is now called “cheating” used to just be good stories of gamesmanship. Like Al Davis and his shenanigans, to name but one.
For the last time, if the NFL cared about cheating, Favre and Strahan would have been punished for rigging the sack record. And they weren’t. This is just jealousy of Belichick’s greatness.
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Rating: 2.35 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 4:29 am
I think it speaks volumes on people who leave 3 sentence comments like 18-doh or I smell a conspiracy in regards to their ignorance level. I am new to this website, but many comments are comparable to MySpace’s sports forums or equally as worse, ESPN’s. I have been a huge fan or the Oakland Raiders since Bo Jackson’s days of running over people in Tecmo Bowl and the media coverage of these ‘tapings’ is just downright silly. Goodell brought this upon himself with his ‘harsh’ punishments of players prior and the fact he had to act just as harsh when it came to coaching. This has dragged on far to long. I don’t really care for the Patriots, especially after the HORRIBLE Tuck Rule garbage in the playoffs, but it really is not cheating when everyone else is doing the same thing. I am glad they were caught and not my team (obviously it doesn’t help when you have allstars like Andrew Walters as your QB). I think extremists are ignorant, one way or the other. Instead of leaving 18-doh type comments, make a coherent statement or argument. It does add to the topic and really shows your age/maturity level. Matt Walsh is an idiot, if he had anything of value he would have come forward during the initial discovery. People that really thought he had something of value are naive. But people will always enjoy reasons to throw rocks at the team on top, regardless if they make any sense.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 4 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 4:56 am
How long till Tomase is gone from the herald? It can not be long.
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Rating: 1 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 6:12 am
To everyone except pats fans (who tend not to be rational), the legacy of Belichick and the pats is tainted.
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Rating: 3.5 / 5 with 6 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 6:33 am
NR4,
The biggest chokers of all-time would be the New York Yankees. I mean you remember 2004, you guys were up 3-0 (I assume you are a Yanks fan too) and then you lost 4 straight. Sure we went 18-1 and lost the SB to a LUCKY Eli Manning. Please give us more fuel for our fire. Who do you think Belichick learned it from? That’s right the other Bill who gave him a job with those same Giants and whom he’d won SB’s with. Did you forget the 17 games we won after the scandal, most in dominant fashion or the fact that we set NFL records post-”Spygate” with a great team. It’s not like Tom Brady needed defensive signals to throw a fade to Randy Moss when he was double-covered. All you have to stand on is that we got caught fine, but to not acknowledge anything other than that is the sign of an ignorance.
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Rating: 2.35 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 6:48 am
“Then why do I still feel dirty and ashamed?” ~Belichick’s wallet
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Rating: 3.4 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 7:10 am
Great. Now can we all move on and watch my Pats dominate the league? Again.
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Rating: 2 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 7:13 am
The anti-Pats sentiment comes from one place: NY Sports fans. Understandably so. The NE teams have taken their place as the best. Red Sox (yanks choke in ‘04 bigger than our SB loss), Pats (need we say more), Celtics and even the Bruins are coming along.
NY fans are just jealous. Grow up NY and watch your Jets, Yanks, Mets, and Giants all tank this year.
Loving it in NE.
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Rating: 2 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 7:23 am
I used to be an ESPN insider. Gregg Easterbrook’s idiot conspiracy articles made me quit and I refuse to ever buy another ESPN product. Dont forget him on your sh*t lists.
This was a non story. The theory that Belichick should be suspended for a year or the Patriots be punished more was crazy. Jimmy Johnson admitted that he taped video signals. How come the Cowboys nor Johnson get any negative ink? Because its always been an accepted practice.
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Rating: 2.35 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 7:49 am
So no surprises here, either in the story or these comments.
One thing I am a little confused about - maybe Florio could you comment? If Walsh were indeed the source for the Herald article, then his lawyer would be out-and-out lying in his statement. I know he’s not on the stand or in court or anything, but isn’t there an ethical responsibility lawyers have as officers of the court in this sort of situation? What standard applies?
Put me down as someone who also believes that until the clarifying memo of 2006 - which I absolutely admit was dead clear, “no videotaping of any kind” - Belichick’s reasoning, while weak, appeared within the letter of the rules if not the spirit. Prior to issuance of that memo it does not seem explicit that you couldn’t tape opponents and use the tape for later study (not in-game). Clearly it is (was) dodgy practice, but equally clearly it was common - as Jimmy Johnson’s statements have already made clear. People need to understand that if the NFL is covering this up, it’s not (just) to protect the Pats, but to protect the HUGE number of clubs that are doing similar shenanigans.
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Rating: 2.35 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 8:01 am
I hope people also realize that this backs up Belichick’s statement that he never used tape in the same game. The fact that the tapes have signals spliced in with multiple angles of the play shows that it wasn’t used in the same day.
Oh, and buh-bye Tomase, you fat prick.
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Rating: 2.35 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 8:01 am
I do believe that Walsh told Tomase he taped the Rams walkthrough. Walsh is a known fabricater. He had some tapes and blew his role out of proportion. Now Tomase and The Boston Herald will pay for this. You can bet that Mike Reiss and Tom Curran and others were fed the same BS by Walsh and only Tomase went for it. As for Walsh, the tapes were stolen property and that’s why he was lawywered up. There are rumors out there that he stole many other things from the Patriots as he was being fired.
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Rating: 2.6 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 8:01 am
Wow, remarkable how many people on both sides jump to extremes. Here are the facts:
(1) NE has admitted that it taped signals from the very beginning of BB’s tenure. Many years of taping many teams and many coaches. This has the benefit both of potential in-game use and of developing a file on opposing coaches for future use.
(2) The taping included offensive and defensive signals (apparently until offensive signals were done through the headset).
(3) The taping included highly critical games, including the AFC Championship game.
(4) No one tapes the other team just as a hobby. It is done precisely to gain a competitive advantage. Watching film is the lifeblood of the NFL and NE did this to get an unfair advantage.
(5) The NFL has concluded that the Patriots violated the rules and gave them the harshest punishment ever handed out if I’m not mistaken.
(6) Not a single one of you has ever talked to Walsh or has any clue what he’s thinking. Stop acting like you know him and what he knows and why he’s doing what he did. It’s all speculation.
(7) It’s extremely common for people to want assurance that they won’t be sued, and it’s extremely common for lawyers to take a long time to iron this stuff out.
(8) The fact that the Boston Herald was the only newspaper that found the Rams walkthrough story to be sufficient to print should call their journalistic integrity into question. Others in the media were aware of the basis for that story and concluded that it was insufficient to run the story.
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Rating: 4 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 8:02 am
I love how people say Patriots fans aren’t rational while they were the only ones who didn’t buy into the media’s shoddy journalism of turning a speculation that Matt Walsh taped the Rams’ walkthrough into a fact. Never once did Walsh say he had a Rams walkthrough tape or even hint that he did, but Patriots haters claimed as almost fact that he would turn over this mythical tape. In fact, some Patriots haters believed that Walsh would open himself up to potential felony prosecution by turning over audio tapes recorded illegally by Walsh.
Now that this is pretty much over and the league has said as much, Patriots haters are talking about cover up and other X-Files type activities. Apparently, Goodell had Walsh send the tape of the walkthrough to Roswell, NM to hide with the aliens.
And you think the Patriots aren’t rational?
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Rating: 2.6 / 5 with 5 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 8:04 am
“and even the Bruins are coming along”
Wow, self-delusion does run high in New England.
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Rating: 3 / 5 with 2 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 8:19 am
wow. Patriots-haters pretending that no other teams tape signals are really showing that they know nothing about this sport.
They are either casual fans who don’t have a clue, or they hate the Pats so much that they will ignore all the other teams who have done the exact same thing.
it’s great to be hated by so many. That’s what it’s like when you are a dynasty.
Maybe some of you brain surgeons should try watching more games and less ESPN.
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Rating: 2.35 / 5 with 3 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 8:20 am
The Bruins have no talent. They wont make the playoffs this year. Jeremy Jacobs - sell the damn team so I can root for the black and gold again. Hockey Talk - yay
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Rating: 5 / 5 with 1 rating(s)
May 8th, 2008 at 10:02 am
I have breaking news.
The source for original story was actually an associate of Tom Coughlin’s. The story was a deliberate attempt to rattle the Patriots just before the Super Bowl, which actually caused Brady’s ankle to swell up as a result of the mental stress.
The Giants organization as a whole is responsible for this act, and I have proof in the form of an audio-taped conversation, which my lawyer will not let me release. But, seriously, the Giants cheated, and I have proof that I won’t show anyone.
See how much fun it can be to just level baseless accusations? Wonder if I can get the Herald to run my story…
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May 8th, 2008 at 10:38 am
“The Bruins have no talent. They wont make the playoffs this year. Jeremy Jacobs - sell the damn team so I can root for the black and gold again. Hockey Talk - yay”
Unless you are reffering to next season before the current one finishes… The Bruins did make the playoffs and they took the #1 seeded Canadians to the 07th game.
It will be interesting to hear what comes out of Walsh’s talk with the Commissioner. It seems to me that if he is known to embelish (the nice word for lie) then whatever he may have to say cannot be trusted. Still, I’m sure we’ll more than likely hear more from people such as Specter who I believe has an axe to grind on behalf of a major donor to his campaigns (Comcast) and as a fan (The Eagles). I am quite certain that Specter will want to champion whatever Walsh has to say regardless of how outlandish it may be. I do not believe he is after the truth so much as job security. As someone who has worked in politics nothing helps re-election chances like getting behind an issue that the electorate is passionate about.
As to those who are screaming cover-up… You have obviously already made up your mind and no matter what is said or done you will not be satisfied. Now if only some of you could be as passionate about an issue that really matters. Sure, as a fan I was disappointed in what occurred but I also have to put it into perspective… it is only a sport and life goes on. Sport will always have scandals of somesort and it will always have people wanting to put qualifiers (*’s) behind accomplishments. Put what you want where you want as for the most part it will eventually be forgotten as new champions are crowned and history marches on towards the next scandal.
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May 8th, 2008 at 11:30 am
“Wow - good comeback guys… I had forgotten the Patriots have the first undefeated season ever in the history of the NFL.”
Check ya’ history, joe.
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May 8th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Is there really… REALLY a surprise that a story written by a local joke of journalist printed in a tabloid newspaper that is the laughing stock of Boston that was never based on a shred of evidence, or was able to cite anything even close to a source turned out to be a load of crap?
Were we REALLY expected to believe that somehow this major story slipped past the eyes of Mike Florio, ESPN, Peter Gammons, The Boston Globe, USA Today, any and every credible sports writing source all the way down to the beat reporter covering the Quincy High Presidents and somehow SOMEHOW this anonymous mystery source went to John Tomase. JOHN TOMASE, a fat slob with no football credentials, who’d obviously rather be writing copy for Entertainment Tonight. Am I really that stupid as to believe that JOHN TOMASE is that much further ahead of the game than the ENTIRE sports writing industry?
The answer, gentlemen, is no.
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May 8th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
LOL at the Cheatriots apologists thinking they’ve somehow gotten the better of “the haters” on this. Classic. Guess what ladies……the entire world still knows the New England Patriots cheated for the entirety of their “dynasty”. There is evidence on multiple tapes dating back to 2000. Thanks to Walsh and Arlen Spector, Goodell wasn’t able to help your cheating scumbag franchise sweep it under the rug. You will never hear the end of it because people like me will never let you. There is AMPLE indisputable hard evidence the New England Cheatriots cheated for 6 years. There is ZERO evidence of any kind that anybody else has cheated. LOL!!!!! All you guys have are a few random comments by Jimmy Johnson (a real character guy huh?) in your corner. Cheatriots fans have absolutely nothing in their corner except a team full of cheaters and a tainted legacy to match. Have fun with that.
2000-2006 New England Cheatriots***
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