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Walsh tapes show no rules violations by Pats

Goodell says he probably won't punish team any more after long meeting

Image: Tapes at news conference Getty Images
Members of the media watch videotapes provided to the NFL by former New England Patriots video operator Matt Walsh on Tuesday.

Daboll, now the Jets quarterbacks coach, said in a statement: “I have cooperated with the league’s investigation and was completely truthful and forthcoming. The league has requested to speak to me again. In light of this request, I will not comment further other than to say that I have been and will continue to be completely truthful, cooperative, and forthcoming with the league.”

Walsh shared two potential violations of league rules unrelated to Spygate, Goodell said: A player on injured reserve practiced when he wasn’t allowed to in 2001, and Walsh scalped eight to 12 Super Bowl tickets for Patriots players over two seasons.

The NFL will investigate both claims.

Last week, Walsh sent the NFL eight videotapes of the Patriots recording playcalling signals. The tapes included signals by coaches of five opponents in six games from 2000-02.

Walsh worked for New England from 1997 to 2003. His name surfaced just before this year’s Super Bowl, nearly five months after the Patriots were sanctioned.

After more than two months of negotiations, lawyers for the league and Walsh agreed April 23 to terms that would allow him to talk with Goodell. They included 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.

Specter, from Pennsylvania, met with Goodell in February after raising the possibility of congressional hearings if he wasn’t satisfied with the commissioner’s answers about the handling of the investigation. Specter has criticized the NFL’s decision to destroy the tapes it initially confiscated.

Why did Goodell show Walsh’s tapes Tuesday but not do the same with the others last fall? He said releasing them during the season could have put some teams at a competitive advantage or disadvantage.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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