NEW YORK (AP) - Former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh sent
the NFL eight videotapes that show New England violated league
rules by recording opposing coaches' playcalling signals.
The tapes include signals by coaches of five opponents in six
games from 2000-02, but don't include video from the St. Louis
Rams' walkthrough before the 2002 Super Bowl.
The NFL said it received a letter from Michael Levy, the lawyer
for Walsh, detailing the tapes that were scheduled to arrive
Thursday at the league's New York offices.
The tapes sent to the NFL show the Patriots recorded signals in
regular-season games against Miami, Buffalo, Cleveland and San
Diego, and against Pittsburgh in the 2002 AFC championship game.
"This is consistent with what the Patriots had admitted they
had been doing, consistent with what we already knew," NFL
spokesman Greg Aiello told The Associated Press.
The New York Times first reported the story on its Web site
Wednesday night.
Walsh, who worked for New England from 1997 to 2003, agreed to
turn over the tapes and other evidence by Thursday. He's scheduled
to meet with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell next Tuesday about New
England's taping of opposing teams.
"We're not going to comment," said Stacey James, the Patriots'
vice president for media relations. He added he expected the team
will wait to issue a statement until after Walsh meets with
Goodell.
Walsh's name first surfaced just before this year's Super Bowl,
nearly five months after the Patriots were sanctioned for illegally
taping the New York Jets in the season opener - a $500,000 fine for
coach Bill Belichick, a $250,000 fine for the organization, and the
loss of a first-round draft pick.
At that time, the Boston Herald also reported an unnamed
Patriots employee illegally taped the Rams' final walkthrough
before the 2002 title game, when New England, a two-touchdown
underdog, upset St. Louis 20-17.
Goodell previously has said he was fully prepared to crack down
again on the Patriots if his meeting with Walsh uncovered a tape
made of the Rams' walkthrough practice.
"Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the
walkthrough," Levy told The New York Times. "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."
After more than two months of negotiations, lawyers for the
league and Walsh finally reached an agreement on April 23 on terms
that will allow him to talk with Goodell. They include an agreement
by the Patriots not to sue Walsh and to pay his legal expenses and
his airfare to New York from Hawaii, where he is now a golf pro.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)