Belichick has been taping since 2000, Goodell tells Specter

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer
February 13, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Bill Belichick has been illegally taping opponents' defensive signals since he became the New England Patriots' coach in 2000, according to Sen. Arlen Specter, who said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told him that during a meeting Wednesday.

"There was confirmation that there has been taping since 2000, when Coach Belichick took over," Specter said.

Specter said Goodell gave him that information during the 1-hour, 40-minute meeting, which was requested by Specter so the commissioner could explain his reasons for destroying the Spygate tapes and notes


There were a great many questions answered by Commissioner Goodell," Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters after the meeting. "I found a lot of questions unanswerable because of the tapes and notes had been destroyed."

Goodell said Belichick told him he believed the taping was legal; Goodell said he did not concur.

"He said that's always been his interpretation since he's been the head coach," the commissioner said. "We are going to agree to disagree on the facts."

Specter, from Pennsylvania, wants to talk to other league officials about what exactly was taped and which games may have been compromised.

"We have a right to have honest football games," he said.

Goodell noted that "we were the ones that disclosed" the Patriots' illegal taping of the New York Jets' defensive signals in Week 1 of last season. Further, Goodell said, they had an admission by Belichick.

"I have nothing to hide," Goodell said.

Goodell also told Specter that that he doesn't regret destroying the Spygate tapes or the notes.

"I think it was the right thing to do," Goodell said.

Still, Specter wants to know why penalties were imposed on Belichick before the full extent of the wrongdoing was known and the tapes destroyed in a two-week span. Asked if he thinks there was a coverup, Specter demurred.

"There was an enormous amount of haste," Specter said.

He scoffed at the reasons Goodell gave for destroying the tapes and notes, particularly about trying to keep them out of competitors' hands and because Belichick had admitted to the taping.

"What's that got to do with it? There's an admission of guilt, you preserve the evidence," Specter said. As for keeping the tapes out of the hands of others: "All you have to do is lock up the tapes."

Belichick was fined $500,000 and the team was fined $250,000 because of the Spygate incident. The Patriots also forfeited a first-round draft pick.

Specter has questioned the quality of the NFL's investigation into the matter and raised the possibility of congressional hearings if he wasn't satisfied with Goodell's answers. Specter also raised the threat of Congress canceling the league's antitrust exemption and reiterated that in the meeting with Goodell.

Goodell also said he has not heard from Matt Walsh, the former Patriots employee who performed some videotaping duties for the team.

Walsh told The Associated Press last week during the Pro Bowl in Hawaii that he couldn't talk about allegations that he taped a walkthrough practice by the St. Louis Rams before the 2002 Super Bowl. New England, a two-touchdown underdog, won that game 20-17.

Goodell said he has offered Walsh a deal whereby "he has to tell the truth and he has to return anything he took improperly" in return for indemnity. Specter said he, too, wanted to talk to Walsh and perhaps offer a different deal.

Goodell also said he reserves the right to reopen the investigation if more information is uncovered.



Updated on Wednesday, Feb 13, 2008 8:39 pm, EST

POSTED 10:19 p.m. EST, February 13, 2008
SPECTER SAYS PATS CHEATED STEELERS IN 2004


In a press conference conducted after his Wednesday meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said that notes surrendered by the Patriots to the league showed that the Patriots engaged in videotaping of defensive signals against the Steelers in 2004.


The significance? When the Pats and Steelers played during the regular season that year, the Steelers ended New England's NFL-record 21-game winning streak. When they got together again in Pittsburgh in January 2005 (I was there, and I still have a couple of frozen body parts from it), the Pats could have used the information gathered during the regular-season game to topple the Steelers.


POSTED 10:04 p.m. EST, February 13, 2008
SPECTER WANTS NFL TO INDEMNIFY WALSH


Chris Mortensen of ESPN reports that Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) wants the NFL to provide indemnity to Matt Walsh for any legal entanglements that might arise from any decision by him to speak about what he knows (or what he thinks he knows) about the past practices of his former employer, the New England Patriots.


Last week, Mortensen reported that the NFL would indeed provide such protection.


It would create an awkward situation for the Patriots, who would essentially be suing the league if they were to elect to take action against Walsh.


Viewing the matter more broadly, why wouldn't the Pats simply release Walsh from his confidentiality agreement, insofar as it relates to any practices that he reasonably believes to be cheating? That's the real question that should be asked, in our view. If the Pats have nothing to hide, why not give Walsh a blank check to talk?


Though Specter doesn't have the ability to convene a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee because he's not the chairman, a refusal by the league or the Pats to permit Walsh to talk could be used by Specter to cajole his colleagues into issuing a subpoena to Walsh.

Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 19,175

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Senator Specter Says the Patriots Taped the Steelers Twice During 2004 Season
Posted Feb 13th 2008 7:39PM by Ryan Wilson

Well, it looks like Senator Arlen Specter didn't get around to talking about the NFL's antitrust exemption during today's meet-and-greet with commissioner Roger Goodell. As Michael David Smith wrote earlier, Specter learned that the Patriots have been videotaping opponents since 2000, something that wasn't clear when the league concluded its investigation in September.

In a post-meeting press conference, Specter elaborated. The senator said that "there were notes showing that the Steelers games had been taped." Specifically, two contests during the 2004 season: one on Oct. 31, and the other, the AFC Championship, on Jan. 27.

A couple of things worth pointing out: Pittsburgh smoked the Patriots in the first meeting, 34-20, sacking Tom Brady four times and picking him off twice. Three months later, the two teams met in the conference finals. Unsurprisingly (in hindsight), the Patriots won 41-27, and Brady, sacked just twice in the rematch, finished 14 of 21 for 207 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

Did New England gain an advantage from having videotaped Pittsburgh during the teams' first meeting? There isn't enough evidence to say that, yes, unequivocally the Patriots won because they had the Steelers' defensive signals. But it would also be naïve to suggest that having access to that information had no bearing on the outcome. If that were true, Matthew Estrella (and Matt Walsh before him) wouldn't have had a job.

Either way, this doesn't do much for the Patriots' legacy as one of the best teams in NFL history, and it doesn't do much for Roger Goodell's credibility.

I also wonder if Bill Cowher might want to reconsider his earlier thoughts on the Steelers' other AFC Championship game against the Patriots.

Are people this slow that they don't realize that Belichick admitted that he had been doing this since at least 2002. Believe it or not, he believed it was legal in the manner in which he was using these tapes.

I understand why people don't understand this guy, but he is as classic of an old-school football coach as you could imagine. Hates putting on a happy face for the media, but in the locker room he is a different guy.

Old news.
It wasn't cheating when he did it.

I love all these sports who didn't have comprehensive rules or enforcement of those rules for years... now they look back 5 years later and make judgments on something they allowed to happen all these years.

It's not like the Patriots ever hid the fact they were doing this.

And if you ask Marshall Faulk about the 2001 walk-through tape, he says it is absolutely nothing.

football is over, let it go

he did "cheat" but he wasnt the only one, the first one, nor will he be the last one.

football is over, let it go

he did "cheat" but he wasnt the only one, the first one, nor will he be the last one.

THANK YOU, even though I hate the Patriots.....let it go. everyone does some kind of cheating in all sports.

THANK YOU, even though I hate the Patriots.....let it go. everyone does some kind of cheating in all sports.

maybe so but these fuckers got caught. there for i'm gonna shit on them and there tainted trophies as more and more evidence pops up.


http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/7963/n379027883048203599271pc9.jpg

maybe so but these fuckers got caught. there for i'm gonna shit on them and there tainted trophies as more and more evidence pops up.


http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/7963/n379027883048203599271pc9.jpg

yeah, I don't recall any other team getting caught, besides all this steriod talk in MLB.

yeah, I don't recall any other team getting caught, besides all this steriod talk in MLB.

Probably because Pats got caught on the first day, first minute it was ever enforced. It would of been retarded for anyone else to get caught.

The Patriots paid the price for years and years of league-wide spying and stealing of signals. Coaching is so intricate these days, I would even speculate to say nobody is above these TYPES of practices.

WAR BELICHICK

Probably because Pats got caught on the first day, first minute it was ever enforced. It would of been retarded for anyone else to get caught.

The Patriots paid the price for years and years of league-wide spying and stealing of signals. Coaching is so intricate these days, I would even speculate to say nobody is above these TYPES of practices.

WAR BELICHICK

I wasn't just talking this year bro, I was talking for years and years past.

POSTED 10:19 p.m. EST, February 13, 2008
SPECTER SAYS PATS CHEATED STEELERS IN 2004


In a press conference conducted after his Wednesday meeting with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said that notes surrendered by the Patriots to the league showed that the Patriots engaged in videotaping of defensive signals against the Steelers in 2004.


The significance? When the Pats and Steelers played during the regular season that year, the Steelers ended New England's NFL-record 21-game winning streak. When they got together again in Pittsburgh in January 2005 (I was there, and I still have a couple of frozen body parts from it), the Pats could have used the information gathered during the regular-season game to topple the Steelers.


POSTED 10:04 p.m. EST, February 13, 2008
SPECTER WANTS NFL TO INDEMNIFY WALSH


Chris Mortensen of ESPN reports that Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) wants the NFL to provide indemnity to Matt Walsh for any legal entanglements that might arise from any decision by him to speak about what he knows (or what he thinks he knows) about the past practices of his former employer, the New England Patriots.


Last week, Mortensen reported that the NFL would indeed provide such protection.


It would create an awkward situation for the Patriots, who would essentially be suing the league if they were to elect to take action against Walsh.


Viewing the matter more broadly, why wouldn't the Pats simply release Walsh from his confidentiality agreement, insofar as it relates to any practices that he reasonably believes to be cheating? That's the real question that should be asked, in our view. If the Pats have nothing to hide, why not give Walsh a blank check to talk?


Though Specter doesn't have the ability to convene a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee because he's not the chairman, a refusal by the league or the Pats to permit Walsh to talk could be used by Specter to cajole his colleagues into issuing a subpoena to Walsh.




those mother fuckers.

^^^^ lmao

I wasn't just talking this year bro, I was talking for years and years past.

My point stands. They never cared about this type of thing until all of a sudden, starting this year. Once they came out like it was a sin, other teams quickly fell in line.

LMAO

Funny how things change when they affect your precious Steelers, huh Axe?

LMAO

Funny how things change when they affect your precious Steelers, huh Axe?

cmon bro, you seen my LMAO. I was kidding, It happened in 04 it's now 08.

get em axe! lol

im jp 2, axe.

relax

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/3429/n287059323107894866241km8.jpg

My point stands. They never cared about this type of thing until all of a sudden, starting this year. Once they came out like it was a sin, other teams quickly fell in line.

yeah I know bro, I just wish people would get over it and move on. My point was all teams in all sports cheat one way or another, NOT just the Pats, but the Pats got caught.

I almost posted the "Cheaties" one for you, BBR, the other day. Glad to see you found it. LOL

But I was wondering, does harping on this situation make you feel better as to why your team is not as good as the Patriots or do you sincerely lose all rationale in an attempt to irritate?

EDIT: and yes, axe, I agree.

im jp 2, axe.

relax

I'm relaxed Brudda, I just don't know why people bring up the past, It's past for a reason.

I almost posted the "Cheaties" one for you, BBR, the other day. Glad to see you found it. LOL

But I was wondering, does harping on this situation make you feel better as to why your team is not as good as the Patriots or do you sincerely lose all rationale in an attempt to irritate?

EDIT: and yes, axe, I agree.

i harp on the situation cause i hope something is done about it. you got steroids in baseball and corrupt refs in b-ball and now cheating in nfl. football is my favorite sport and i want it to be fair as possible. peopler like you and axe are part of the problem just trying to dismiss it. plus now you know the pats of this decade are behind the steelers of the 70s, the 49ers of the 80s and the cowboys of the 90s

i harp on the situation cause i hope something is done about it. you got steroids in baseball and corrupt refs in b-ball and now cheating in nfl. football is my favorite sport and i want it to be fair as possible. peopler like you and axe are part of the problem just trying to dismiss it. plus now you know the pats of this decade are behind the steelers of the 70s, the 49ers of the 80s and the cowboys of the 90s

I have a problem when people are singled out. If it was legal for all other teams the past five years, and just because the Pats were caught this year there is a federal investigation, that is a joke. We lost a 1st round pick and got the heftiest fine in NFL history.

I don't think you'd be happy until Belichick was publicly lynched and the Patriots were just completely disbanded. Enough sour grapes, the significance of these tapes is barely anything. As far as I am concerned, losing a first rounder is an injustice in itself.
Patriots did nothing out of the regular culture in the NFL.

I believe this should be used as a precedent where now we know what the fuck you can and can't do, something which I blame the NFL for not clarifying for years. It is the NFL's fault if all this "spying" is considered cheating. There are a million stories of teams from the 1970's and 80's paying off assistants to get opponent's play books. Everything with the Patriots is largely over exaggerated by the media; which matriculates to the fans, in my opinion. THE ACTIONS OF THE PATRIOTS WERE LITERALLY BARELY ANYTHING, yet you'd think Belichick just raped people and Kraft was paying Brady to burn down houses.

These are good guys who didn't nothing out of the ordinary, just like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. The difference is, when the Patriots were confronted about it, they were ABSOLUTELY TRUTHFUL from day one, and admitted wrongdoing, just that they didn't understand it was considered wrong.

Unless there is actually anything NEW over the next period of time, I will not comment on this bogus garbage anymore. Media will continue to reach, but please think about the situation critically, for yourself, and don't be fooled into thinking that these useless tapes were responsible for any success, or unfairly affected the outcomes of any games.

I have a problem when people are singled out. If it was legal for all other teams the past five years, and just because the Pats were caught this year there is a federal investigation, that is a joke. We lost a 1st round pick and got the heftiest fine in NFL history.

I don't think you'd be happy until Belichick was publicly lynched and the Patriots were just completely disbanded. Enough sour grapes, the significance of these tapes is barely anything. As far as I am concerned, losing a first rounder is an injustice in itself.
Patriots did nothing out of the regular culture in the NFL.

I believe this should be used as a precedent where now we know what the fuck you can and can't do, something which I blame the NFL for not clarifying for years. It is the NFL's fault if all this "spying" is considered cheating. There are a million stories of teams from the 1970's and 80's paying off assistants to get opponent's play books. Everything with the Patriots is largely over exaggerated by the media; which matriculates to the fans, in my opinion. THE ACTIONS OF THE PATRIOTS WERE LITERALLY BARELY ANYTHING, yet you'd think Belichick just raped people and Kraft was paying Brady to burn down houses.

These are good guys who didn't nothing out of the ordinary, just like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. The difference is, when the Patriots were confronted about it, they were ABSOLUTELY TRUTHFUL from day one, and admitted wrongdoing, just that they didn't understand it was considered wrong.

Unless there is actually anything NEW over the next period of time, I will not comment on this bogus garbage anymore. Media will continue to reach, but please think about the situation critically, for yourself, and don't be fooled into thinking that these useless tapes were responsible for any success, or unfairly affected the outcomes of any games.

belicheat should be suspended for a year atleast. oh and is brady that good or does his coach knowing what the defense is doing help tommy boy out? and if it had barely any significance than how come he's been doing it for the past 7 years in which he won 3* superbowls?

i harp on the situation cause i hope something is done about it. you got steroids in baseball and corrupt refs in b-ball and now cheating in nfl. football is my favorite sport and i want it to be fair as possible. peopler like you and axe are part of the problem just trying to dismiss it. plus now you know the pats of this decade are behind the steelers of the 70s, the 49ers of the 80s and the cowboys of the 90s

yes Brudda I am trying to dismiss it Just like I'm trying to dismiss all the Roid use in Baseball and Track and all the other shit like pot smoking in the UFC and other Orgs. lets just move on and start fresh with new rules and start getting tuff with all these so-called good/great Athletes, IMO all this shit that is going on is Tarnishing our great sport/s, the past is the past, leave it there, get these owners and everyone else to concentrate on the future and get all this fucked up shit with Roids and cheating behind us. do I think it is right......Hell no, do I believe if you can't play the game without performance enhancing drugs then you shouldn't be playing........ HELL YES, Do I believe that if you got to take illegal video of your opposing teams to fuckin win then maybe a rule like suspending the TEAM for a certain amount of time for your cheating ways........HELL YES. SO with that said I hope it sheds some light on my opinion and lets go on to next year.

NEW ORLEANS -- A class action lawsuit filed in federal court here Friday claims that the New England Patriots "fraudulent videotaping" of the St. Louis Rams' walk-through prior to Super Bowl XXXVI 2002 Super Bowl should cost the team damages in excess of $100 million.


The suit targets the Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick. The suit says: "The basis of this action is that the Defendants illegally videotaped the St. Louis Rams ("Rams") "walk through" prior to the 2002 Super Bowl for the purpose of gaining an unfair advantage in the game." It claims the Patriots were engaged in fraud, racketeering, breach of contract, and were in violation of Louisiana's unfair trade practices and consumer protection act.

A report in the Boston Herald on Feb. 2 cited an unnamed source close to the Patriots during the 2001 season as saying a member of the team's video staff stayed behind and taped the Rams' walk-through the day before the Super Bowl in New Orleans.

The Patriots beat the heavily favored Rams 20-17 for their first Super Bowl title. Patriots media relations official Stacey James said of the videotaping charge: "The coaches have no knowledge of it," according to the Herald.

No evidence of a videotape of the walk-through has been found.

The suit is filed on behalf of Willie Gary, identified as a Rams employee and football player (he played seven games for the team in the 2001 season), an owner of a St. Louis seat license and two ticket purchasers and attendees of the Super Bowl. It seeks restitution for three classes: Rams players, coaches, staff and employees of the team that met New England in the Super Bowl in 2002, all 72,922 fans who attended the game, and owners of St. Louis Rams seat licenses for the 2001 and 2002 seasons.

It asks for $35 million in damages, which would be tripled under a federal racketeering act dating back to the 1970s, plus punitive damages and attorney fees.

wow......you really like to press those buttons don't you. keep it up.

wow......you really like to press those buttons don't you. keep it up.

lol a little. it's just whatever news i see on my cowboy site that i think people might have interest over here i'll post.

lol a little. it's just whatever news i see on my cowboy site that i think people might have interest over here i'll post.

like I said, "keep it up" it is entertaining as hell.

Merged...

All these threads on the same topic were getting ridiculous.

Merged...

All these threads on the same topic were getting ridiculous.

well that's the patriot* for ya:owned:

well that's the patriot* for ya:owned:

I'm proud to be a Pats fan, whether you like it or not. You are classless as a 'Boys fan.

Pittsburgh owner Rooney proclaimed today that the tapes were absolutely unimportant.

I will no longer comment on this shit, like I said.

I'm proud to be a Pats fan, whether you like it or not. You are classless as a 'Boys fan.

Pittsburgh owner Rooney proclaimed today that the tapes were absolutely unimportant.

I will no longer comment on this shit, like I said.

he shore did, here's a link.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08046/857786-66.stm

I'm proud to be a Pats fan, whether you like it or not. You are classless as a 'Boys fan.

Pittsburgh owner Rooney proclaimed today that the tapes were absolutely unimportant.

I will no longer comment on this shit, like I said.

well he won a superbowl a year later. but other teams and players sure find it important. hey i feel cheated(no pun intended:sifone:) cause i actually thought the pats were the real deal. i hate cheaters

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20080215/i/r1359877843.jpg?x=400&y=298&sig=5SnPVEocVyrJhlPCmoCa2Q--

"This bitch with the uni-brow is like .....mayne FUCK those BITCHES hahahahahaha"



MANAGUA (Reuters) - Shirts and caps proclaiming the victory of the New England Patriots -- when the American football team actually lost the latest Super Bowl -- have ended up in the hands of poor Nicaraguan children.

Hundreds of shirts and caps, which had been manufactured in advance to celebrate the Patriots' expected victory over the New York Giants, were handed over to children in the southern city of Diriamba.

"The children are the winners," said Miriam Diaz, of World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization.

World Vision has links with the National Football League, or NFL, and every year helps out poor children in Latin America and Africa with the unwanted "winners" shirts of the team that actually loses the Super Bowl.

Winners' shirts and other garments are produced in advance so players and fans can put them on to celebrate immediately after the final whistle of the game. Garments of the losing team are obviously unwanted.

The Giants stunned the previously undefeated Patriots 17-14 in this year's Super Bowl.


http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20080215/i/r336731712.jpg?x=400&y=263&sig=q2t8WH0avLJRMafl99Ld_w--

:damn:

This same shit has already been posted. I think you fans like to hate the Pats more than you actually like your home team.

^ :wah:

football is over, let it go

he did "cheat" but he wasnt the only one, the first one, nor will he be the last one.


lol Roy is relentless... but i have to say :Ditto:

Llo voy para Disneylandia... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

football is over, let it go

he did "cheat" but he wasnt the only one, the first one, nor will he be the last one.
Truth, when spygate started last September most former and present pro coaches brushed it off. The Patriots aren't alone in this. I would guess that no-one will do it from this point forward.

New Claim of Cheating Emerges Against Patriots
By JOHN BRANCH and GREG BISHOP
Published: February 22, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS — The Patriots’ pattern of illicitly videotaping the signals of opposing N.F.L. coaches began in Coach Bill Belichick’s first preseason with the team in 2000, a former Patriots player said. The information was then put to use in that year’s regular-season opener against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Belichick’s debut as New England’s head coach.

The habit of secretly taping signals, which is against league rules, continued at least through three championship seasons to the 2007 season opener against the Jets, when the Patriots were caught and subsequently sanctioned by the league.

But it was not the first time the Patriots had been spotted taping another team’s defensive coaches at the Meadowlands. In the final preseason game of 2006, the Patriots were caught taping a Giants defensive assistant coach giving signals, several executives within the league said.

The incident prompted a letter addressed to all teams seven days later from the N.F.L. vice president Ray Anderson that detailed the league’s interpretation of the rules.

That letter was cited by Commissioner Roger Goodell when he punished the Patriots. Belichick has said that he misinterpreted the league’s bylaws, telling Goodell that he thought it was permissible to use electronic equipment as long as the information was not used in the same game. That explanation has been greeted cynically by some peers and league officials, hundreds of whom gathered here for the annual scouting combine to evaluate college players for the draft in April.

In a news conference last week, Goodell said Belichick’s explanation led to the assumption that he had been videotaping opponents’ signals “as long as he has been head coach.”

The league’s nine-member competition committee spent three days this week discussing various rules changes that it might recommend for next season. After a 90-minute briefing on the Patriots’ videotaping scandal Thursday by Goodell and three league vice presidents, the committee said taping rules would not be changed in the aftermath of the controversy.

“The rules are very, very clear,” said Tennessee Titans Coach Jeff Fisher, a committee member. “There is no need to be more specific or clarify any rules whatsoever as far as the bylaws are concerned.”

Questions still linger about how much of an advantage the Patriots may have had if they intercepted defensive signals. Under Belichick, the Patriots have often run a no-huddle offense, which forces opponents to quickly call a defensive play. N.F.L. rules allow quarterbacks to hear instructions from coaches — through a headset and into a speaker in the quarterback’s helmet — until there are 15 seconds left on a play clock.

When the defensive play call is deciphered, the Patriots could call a play to counteract. This would lead to a sizable advantage.
The Patriots lost the 2000 opener against the Buccaneers, the first time taped signals were used under Belichick, according the former Patriots player, who said he was among several former players interviewed by the N.F.L but did not want to speak publicly because it is an ongoing investigation.

In September, Goodell fined Belichick $500,000, fined the Patriots $250,000, and took away a first-round draft choice in 2008. After the sanctions were announced, the Patriots submitted six tapes, from games in 2006 and 2007, and some notes that dated to 2002, Goodell said. The tapes and notes were destroyed days after being handed to the league, because Goodell considered the matter closed.

But questions remain about how wide and deep the Patriots’ taping habits extended. Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican who met with Goodell last week, is among those still questioning why the league was so quick to sanction the Patriots and destroy the evidence.

Goodell met with the competition committee Thursday to discuss his handling of it of the spying case. Committee members seemed satisfied and eager to turn the page.

“We were all satisfied, every one of us,” said John Mara, the Giants’ president. “All of us have our different opinions about the Patriots, but we were all satisfied that this thing was investigated properly and that they came to the proper conclusion.”
Bill Polian, the Colts’ president, said: “It’s behind us. It’s time to move forward.”

Yet emerging details continue to pull the league back in time. On Feb. 2, The Boston Herald reported that the Patriots may have also taped a Rams walkthrough practice the day before the teams played in the 2002 Super Bowl. The Patriots won, 20-17, on a last-second field goal. Belichick, speaking to The Boston Globe, recently denied that the practice was taped.

In the hallway at the convention center here, Mike Martz wanted to talk about his new job as offensive coordinator with the 49ers. Instead, reporters peppered him with questions about the Patriots. Martz was head coach of the Rams when the teams met in the Super Bowl six years ago.

He took exception to the theory that the Patriots could not have gleaned much information from taping the walk-through. He said indeed they could, but added that was not the point.

“For somebody to say that, it’s kind of disgusting,” Martz said. “The whole point is if they really cheated. To say he took some steroids and it did help or it didn’t help, that’s never the point. The point is, to all these high school coaches and high school kids and college kids, that if they did cheat, that’s the point.”

Martz said he assumed the walkthrough report is false. Martz was asked if he wanted the N.F.L. to continue investigating the walkthrough. “Of course,” he said. “I was involved in that, I was responsible for a lot of people in that game.”

He declined to comment about a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of a former Rams player, a seat-license holder and Super Bowl ticket holders.

Executives dismissed any lingering notions that the Patriots’ taping opponents was a common practice around the league. While teams have long tried to steal signals, the Patriots, it is believed, are the only ones who actively taped them.

“I don’t want the outside perception to be, ‘Boy, there are all these teams and they’re all doing all these things,’ ” said Rich McKay, the Falcons’ president and a member of the competition committee. “Because it’s not true.”

Belichick was not seen in the hallways of the convention center Thursday. Representatives of 21 teams are scheduled to meet with reporters for news conferences from Thursday to Sunday. Belichick and the Patriots are not among them.
__________________
Irony: "It is important that the NFL be represented consistently by outstanding people as well as great football players, coaches and staff," Goodell said as he introduced his new conduct policy. "We hold ourselves to higher standards of responsible conduct because of what it means to be part of the NFL."

looks like the players even knew he was cheating.