Walsh: Patriots knowingly broke rules
Posted: Friday May 16, 2008 05:06AM ET
In an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, Matt Walsh disputed several statements given by Coach Bill Belichick, who has insisted that he misinterpreted the league's rules and described the impact of the tapes as minimal, telling The Boston Globe in February that the value of the tactics rated as a 1 on a scale of 1 to 100. Walsh's view differs from that of the Patriots, the NFL and anyone else who contends that the videotaping of opponents' signals had little effect on the Patriots' performance. His vantage point was from behind the lens, inside the Patriots' organization and further inside the small, secret circle of coaches and staff members who, Walsh said, knowingly broke NFL rules to gain advantages in future games. "The information we were gathering was meant to help us the next time we played a team," Walsh said. "If it was 1 out of 100, we probably wouldn't have felt the need to do it as often as we did. Or go to the lengths we did to ensure getting the film." The taping felt wrong, Walsh said, and that notion was reinforced when his supervisor, Jimmy Dee, told Walsh to keep his videotaping quiet. Walsh said Dee gave him alibis to use if suspicions arose with other teams. If someone questioned why Walsh was filming an opposing sideline, he was told to say he was shooting the chains and the down-and-distance marker. If a team asked why the Patriots needed a third videographer, Walsh was instructed to say the coaches wanted two end-zone shots or tight footage. After filming opponents' signals, Walsh said a quarterback -- he declined to say whom -- would learn the signals, and the next time the Patriots played that team, the quarterback would relay that information to Charlie Weis, who would use the coach-to-quarterback communication system to send the information to the field.
Matt Walsh , AP
Strahan wants $8M to return
Posted: Friday May 16, 2008 05:39AM ET
Michael Strahan doesn't appear to be close to announcing his future plans, but there is something the Giants could do to push things along. They could give him $8 million. That's the amount Strahan hopes to get from the Giants for what would likely be his final season with the team - and possibly in the NFL - if he decides to return to play in 2008, according to two sources familiar with his situation. That would be double the $4 million salary he's due this season in the final year of the seven-year, $46 million deal he signed in 2002. In a meeting with Giants' officials in March, Strahan was told, "We'll take care of you" financially, according to a source, but the Giants weren't specific about those plans. According to one source, Strahan has been told the team is willing to go as high as $6 million for one season.
Michael Strahan , Nick Laham/Getty Images
Parcells likes Ricky's work ethic
Posted: Friday May 16, 2008 06:04AM ET
Throughout the past five months, several Dolphins employees have observed a unique relationship building between Ricky Williams and Bill Parcells, the Dolphins' vice president of football operations. The new boss likes Williams' diligent work ethic, taking note of his desire to build his body back into elite form during the offseason. According to one team employee, Parcells also has reminded Williams, who turns 31 next week, that he isn't too old to make an impact in this league, pointing to former Giants and University of Miami running back Ottis Anderson as motivation. In 1989, under Parcells, Anderson was named the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year and the MVP of Super Bowl XXV. At the time, Anderson was 32.
Bill Parcells, AP
Specter questions Patriots success
Posted: Thursday May 15, 2008 06:25AM ET
After meeting with a former Patriots employee who helped the team spy on opponents, Senator Arlen Specter on Wednesday described the team's illicit videotaping tactics as more systematic and deliberate than what the NFL has acknowledged publicly. said the former employee, Matt Walsh, described elaborate measures by the Patriots to conceal their filming of opponents' signals. Walsh also explained how the Patriots' coaching staff gleaned strategic information from members of the team's video crew who had watched the Rams' walk-through practice before the 2002 Super Bowl. He also identified more games and opponents that were filmed by the Patriots and detailed the advantages the team gained in later games. Specter, a longtime Eagles fan, has battled with the NFL on several issues over the years. This time, with his continued criticism of the league's investigation into the Patriots, he is raising questions about the legitimacy of the Patriots' accomplishments -- which include three Super Bowl titles this decade, one against the Eagles, and an 18-0 record last season before a loss to the Giants in the Super Bowl.
Arlen Specter , AP
Did Romo break up with Jessica?
Posted: Thursday May 15, 2008 06:05AM ET
After taking several oaths not to divulge my sources, two people close to Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson have told me that the glam couple is splitsville, kaput, over, put a fork in it. But on Wednesday, Jessica's rep shot down those reports telling E! Online, "Not true, not true! I spoke to Jess yesterday and the day before. They are still together." E! also sites an anonymous source as saying that Tony will be her date this weekend to her sister, Ashlee's, wedding to Fall Out Boy Pete Wentz.
Jessica Simpson, Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images
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