Walsh meets with Goodell, set to talk with Specter

| The Associated Press

5/13/2008 - 5/13/08

NEW YORK — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said he learned nothing new about the Spygate scandal after meeting with former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh for nearly 3 1/2 hours Tuesday.

The NFL released the tapes Walsh provided, and they didn't show any previously undisclosed rules violations. The clips cut between shots of opposing coaches sending in signals and the play that followed.

"The fundamental information that Matt provided was consistent with what we disciplined the Patriots for last fall," Goodell said at a news conference.

The most scandalous part of the tapes shown had nothing to do with stealing signals — it was several minutes of close-ups of San Diego Chargers cheerleaders performing during a 2002 game.

Walsh did not comment after leaving the NFL offices to travel to Washington to meet with Sen. Arlen Specter. Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has been critical of the NFL's handling of the investigation.

Walsh had no knowledge of anybody with the Patriots taping the Rams' final walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl, Goodell said. The Boston Herald reported in February that an unidentified Patriots employee illegally taped the walkthrough before New England, a two-touchdown underdog, upset St. Louis 20-17.

Patriots spokesman Stacey James said the team was preparing a statement.

The investigation began after the NFL confiscated tapes from a Patriots employee who recorded the New York Jets' defensive signals from the sideline during the 2007 opener. New England coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000, while the team was fined $250,000 and forced to forfeit its 2008 first-round draft choice.