No tape of the Rams Walk through?

[stlramman]

The New York Times > Log In

Walsh turned over the tapes to the NFL and apparantly there was no tape of the Rams walk-through in his possesion. Interesting..think maybe part of the deal was to destroy it & say it never existed? I dont know it just seems strange, regardless Mr Comish better come down hard & heavy on Belicheat & the Cheatriots, sounds like some of them were sophisticated in the breaking down of coaches signals,down & distance & then the plays ran immediatly afterword, and one tape is of the AFC Championship.

[stlramman]

Heres the article, you have to register with the NY Times to read it on the site. I havent seen this on NFL.Com or any other web sites yet.

Ex-Patriots Assistant Sends the N.F.L. Eight Tapes
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DiggFacebookMixxYahoo! BuzzPermalinkBy GREG BISHOP
Published: May 8, 2008
A former New England Patriots employee has sent the N.F.L. eight videotapes showing the team recorded play-calling signals by coaches of five opponents in six games between the 2000 and 2002 seasons, in violation of league rules.

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But the group of tapes does not include video of the St. Louis Rams’ walk-through practice the day before the 2002 Super Bowl. The employee, Matt Walsh, had been linked to such a tape by news media speculation.

Walsh emerged as a pivotal figure in the spying controversy that enveloped the Patriots last season after they were caught taping Jets defensive signals in the season opener.

Walsh, who worked for the Patriots from 1997 to 2003, agreed to turn over the tapes and other evidence by Thursday under an agreement reached last month between lawyers for the N.F.L. and Walsh. The agreement indemnifies Walsh from all future legal fees.

Walsh’s tapes show that the Patriots recorded the signals of offensive and defensive coaches in regular-season games against the Miami Dolphins, the Buffalo Bills, the Cleveland Browns and the San Diego Chargers and against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2002 American Football Conference championship game. In that game, the tape has been edited to show Steelers coaches signaling plays, followed by two different camera angles of the actual plays that were called.

The New York Times obtained a list of the Walsh videotapes. The information was later confirmed by Walsh’s lawyer, Michael Levy, from the Washington offices of McKee Nelson.

The N.F.L. declined to comment Wednesday night because it did not have the tapes in its possession.

The Boston Herald reported the day before this year’s Super Bowl that a tape of the Rams existed, citing an anonymous source.

Walsh does not possess such a tape, Levy said.

“Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walk-through,” 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.”

On Tuesday, Walsh is scheduled to speak with Commissioner Roger Goodell and Senator Arlen Specter in separate meetings. Walsh could provide additional information at that time, including how the taping worked, how extensive it was, which Patriots employees were involved and the significance of the evidence he handed over.

The first tape is dated Sept. 25, 2000, from a game the previous day. The last is from Sept. 29 two years later.

All the tapes are scheduled to arrive at N.F.L. offices Thursday morning.

Levy would not say whether Walsh was behind the camera on each tape, but confirmed that Walsh obtained the first seven tapes during his time in the Patriots’ video department, which ended after the 2002 Super Bowl.

The last tape, in September 2002 against the Chargers, was shot by someone else after Walsh left the video department for a job in the scouting department that ended in early 2003.

The Chargers tape shows raw footage, Levy said, of the San Diego coaches from the Patriots’ sideline, followed by a shot of the scoreboard showing time, down and distance. The tape contains no footage of actual plays during the game, only the sequence, which the Patriots could match to play tape.

The other seven tapes are more sophisticated. They show shots of the opposing coaches’ signals, followed immediately by a shot of the play, usually from the end zone camera, Levy said.

The tape from the A.F.C. championship game is the most extensive, showing two angles of each play.

Goodell has left open the possibility that additional evidence will lead to additional penalties against Coach Bill Belichick and the Patriots.

After the Jets game, Goodell levied a total of $750,000 in fines and docked the Patriots a first-round draft pick.

After this year’s Super Bowl, Goodell met with Specter and revealed for the first time that Belichick’s illegal signal filming dated to the beginning of his tenure with the Patriots, in 2000. Some accounts said Belichick admitted to taping defensive signals, others just signals in general.

At the Super Bowl, Goodell said of the Patriots’ practice of taping, “I don’t think it taints their accomplishments.”

Under Belichick, the Patriots rose from one of the league’s middling teams to its best, winning three Super Bowls in four seasons. Last season, they went undefeated until losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl.

Based on a win-loss tally from games after the ones on tapes provided by Walsh, the Patriots went 9-6 against the Dolphins after the first taping. They also went 12-1 against the Bills, 3-0 against the Browns, 4-1 against the Steelers and 3-1 against the Chargers. This included three victories and no defeats in the playoffs.

“We consider the tapes of our coaching staff during our games against the New England Patriots to be a nonissue,” the Steelers chairman, Dan Rooney, said in a statement released in February.

Telephone messages to the five teams left Wednesday night were not answered.

Since Belichick’s first season in New England, when the Patriots finished 5-11, they have gone 86-26 in the regular season, a .768 winning percentage. It remains unclear whether the league will make the tapes public. During the initial investigation into the Patriots, the league accepted seven tapes gathered by the team, dating to 2006, while collecting a written promise that it possessed no more. The N.F.L. destroyed the tapes that the Patriots turned over.

Under the indemnity agreement, Walsh’s lawyer can keep one copy of each tape, but he cannot release it without the league’s consent.

[Keenum]

So there was somebody else that video tapped as well? What if they had the walkthough and not Walsh?

"The last tape, in September 2002 against the Chargers, was shot by someone else "

So who is to say they did not get in some practice, perhaps by taping their biggest game?

Still, they cheated to get to that Superbowl, doesn't that already mean that if they had lost, it was still tainted?

I'm afraid we will not see justiced served here.

[Mooselini]

Figured it'd turn out that way. I'm more than sure they taped the Philly/Carolina signals and walkthroughs as well. But whatever, the NFL has to save America's team.

[RedArcher7]

The part about him taping the walkthrough was all fabricated by the media. Walsh nor anyone connected to Walsh has ever said: "We taped the Rams walkthrough". This isn't the NFL protecting anyone. What would you like them to do? Set up a full investigation on a dead end, which is what this is. Let's track down everyone who ever worked for the Pats and see what they know, I sure hope they aren't going to lie about it.

Time to let it go don't ya think?

[Rambos]

Why would he make statments and not have a tape, what a Joke.

[Ramer]

Originally Posted by Rambos

Why would he make statments and not have a tape, what a Joke.

I agree. I believe there was a tape and it accidentally disappeared. A big joke! Who didn't see this coming.

[txramsfan]

They didn't need a walkthrough tape, they had game film of Lovie's "prevent" defense. The only thing that defense prevented was another Super Bowl win.

[LA Rammer]

Funny I thought there were 10 tapes?

[Keenum]

I'm pretty sure that even if there was a walkthrough tape, the NFL would never let us know. It would be too big of a scar on the business.
As said, it may have just "vanished" before anything else was said about it.

All I know now is that I do not trust Roger Goodell or the integrity of the National Football League anymore, and probably never will fully trust it again.

[stlramman]

Originally Posted by LA Rammer

Funny I thought there were 10 tapes?

ha there probably was, the two that are mising are probably the Rams Super Bowl walk through & the Rams defensive signals from the 2001 regular season meeting in New England.

Heres the story from the St.Louis PD Web site

STLtoday - Rams are not part of tapes sent to the NFL

[YodaRam]

The fact is; no physical evidense, no case. At least where the Rams are concerned.

RAM ON!

[r8rh8rmike]

Maybe I'm just a bitter Rams fan, but something does not seem right here. Why in the world would Matt Walsh put himself on the hot seat with nothing new? Why would he go through all the scorn and scrutiny the last several months if all he had was more of the same tapes that have already been presented and admitted to by New England? It doesn't add up. I'm wondering if there was more than an immunity deal.

[ramsanddodgers]

Why did Walsh need indemnity if there was nothing on the tapes?

It may not be a conspiracy but do I smell collusion?

[txramsfan]

Originally Posted by YodaRam

The fact is; no physical evidense, no case. At least where the Rams are concerned. RAM ON!

Well, I guess you could also say that there was no "physical evidence" in Lovie's Prevent defense at the end of that game either.