By Matt Sohn
May 13, 2008

Updated at 5:10 p.m. EDT Tuesday, May 13

“The fundamental information we learned today was consistent with what we already knew.”

That was the overriding sentiment that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell issued at a press conference Tuesday morning in New York after his much-anticipated meeting with former Patriots cameraman Matt Walsh.

Walsh, who was employed by the Patriots in various capacities from 1997 through 2003, has firsthand knowledge of much of the extent of the Patriots’ illicit videotaping procedures during his time as a team cameraman.

Roger Goodell

The Patriots were found guilty of videotaping defensive coaching signals of the Jets in Week One of last season, and Goodell responded by stripping the Patriots of a first-round draft choice in the ’08 draft and fining coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and the organization $250,000. In response to demands from Goodell, Belichick said he turned over all evidence of their practices that dated back to 2000, evidence that was promptly destroyed by the league.

However, in reports that surfaced later, Walsh was targeted as a person who possibly knew more than the Patriots had let on, and after a lengthy negotiation with Walsh’s representatives over assurance of indemnity for any possible legal recourse against Walsh, Goodell was granted the meeting.

In anticipation of Tuesday’s meeting, Walsh last week turned over tapes from six games between 2001-2002 in which he taped opponents’ coaching signals — all the tapes he claimed to possess. Included were five from the regular season and the 2002 AFC championship game, in which the Patriots defeated the Steelers.

Notably absent from the tapes Walsh turned over was a tape of the Rams’ walk-through practice prior to New England’s Super Bowl XXXVI victory over St. Louis. Goodell said Walsh confirmed he did not tape the walk-through, nor did he know of anybody who did so. However, Walsh said he was present at the walk-through, setting up equipment on the sideline in his team-issued gear. The day before this past season’s Super Bowl matchup between the Patriots and Giants, the Boston Herald quoted an anonymous source as saying the Patriots had filmed the Rams’ walk-through prior to the 2002 game.

After the press conference, however, NFL attorney Gregg Levy told reporters that Walsh had mentioned one additional detail — when asked by former Patriots assistant Brian Daboll if he had noticed anything at the walk-through, Walsh said he had seen Marshall Faulk lined up to field a kickoff or punt, and that he had also been asked about how the Rams were lining up their tight ends in particular formations. Levy said the NFL is looking into that allegation.

Because Walsh’s comments to Goodell largely verified what the NFL already knew, Goodell said that he did not anticipate penalizing the Patriots much further, based on Walsh's information. He did say that he would consider taking further action if there are new developments but that he doubted there would be any. However, there were two new revelations that did come to light during the meeting that could carry minor repercussions.

The first was that Walsh said he taped a player on injured reserve practicing during the 2001 season. NFL bylaws prohibit any player on I.R. from doing so. Goodell wouldn’t reveal who it was because it is simply an allegation at this point, but he said he would reveal more pending the results of an investigation. If corroborated, Goodell affirmed that a fine is a possible recourse. Secondly, Walsh told the commissioner that he aided a few Patriots employees in scalping approximately 8-12 Super Bowl tickets during his time with the team. If confirmed, Goodell said he would consider taking action against the guilty parties but not the organization as a whole.

Much of the speculation in the ongoing “Spygate” investigation has centered around just what the Patriots have done with the information, and how much it helped them. According to Goodell, Walsh asserted that he received the bulk of his assignments from video department supervisor Jimmy Dee and then turned the tapes over to football research director Ernie Adams after each game. Although he turned over all the tapes he had possession of, Walsh said he illegally filmed other games as well, mostly games against divisional opponents, or opponents whom the Pats would likely see again. Even though Adams occasionally gave Walsh directions, Walsh had practically no direct contact with Belichick. Goodell said Walsh described Belichick as “the man behind the curtain.”

Other than the illegal videotaping practices, Walsh said that, to the best of his knowledge, the Patriots did not engage in any other outlawed practice during his time with the team, including bugging of opponents’ locker rooms, manipulation of opposing coaches’ communication devices or pumping in artificial noise to disrupt on-field communication.

Walsh told the commissioner that he once suspected one other organization of also engaging in illegal videotaping but that it was not as widespread as some have suggested, a belief that Goodell concurred with.

“I think it’s limited in its practice and its effect,” Goodell said.

At least partially in response to “Spygate,” the NFL passed a new rule this offseason that will allow a defensive player to receive auditory coaching signals from a helmet radio device. Previously, such communication was only allowed for quarterbacks.

Walsh and his attorney, Michael Levy, promptly left the meeting to go meet with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) in Washington, D.C., to further discuss the matter. Levy said that neither he nor Walsh would not comment until after they met with Specter, an outspoken critic of both the Patriots’ practices and the NFL’s response to it.

Related Articles:

Belichick, Patriots fined for videotaping Jets; must forfeit draft pick
By PFW staff, Sept. 13, 2007