Wed May 14 12:49:55 2008

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Specter calls for Mitchell-like investigation of NFL

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Washington, DC (Sports Network) - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell may consider "Spygate" over but Senator Arlen Specter continues to push for further investigation.

Specter (R-PA), the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called for an independent investigation of the New England Patriots' videotaping practices, similar to the Mitchell Report on performance enhancing drugs, sanctioned by Major League Baseball.

Specter, who has been steadfast in his public criticism of Goodell and the NFL for destroying previous evidence handed over to the league by the Patriots, again lambasted the league's handling of the investigation during a news conference Wednesday after meeting with former Pats video assistant Matt Walsh a day earlier.

Walsh also met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell for over three hours on Tuesday to discuss what he knew about the team's videotaping practices.

Walsh sent the NFL eight tapes showing that the team recorded play-calling signals by coaches of five opponents over six games between 2000 and 2002.

However, the tapes did not include video of the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough practice prior to Super Bowl XXXVI, which Walsh had been rumored to possess.

The taping of such signals is in violation of league rules.

After the meeting, the NFL played the tapes Walsh provided. The clips cut from shots of opposing coaches giving signals to the ensuing play and didn't show any new rules violations.

"(Walsh) was responsive and well prepared," Goodell said at a press conference after the meeting. "The fundamental information that Matt provided was consistent with what we disciplined the Patriots for last fall."

Last year, a New England employee was caught videotaping New York Jets coaches during the 2007 season opener.

Pats head coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000, and the team was fined $250,000 and forfeited its first-round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft for that indiscretion.

Goodell had suggested that further evidence could lead to additional penalties to both Belichick and the franchise.

Walsh confirmed that saying he had no knowledge of anybody with the Patriots taping the Rams' final walkthrough before the Super Bowl.

"It was clear there was not an overt attack or access to the Rams walkthrough," Goodell said. "No one asked him to tape the walkthrough and he's not aware of anyone else who taped the walkthrough. I don't anticipate any further sanctions. "What we heard and saw was fundamentally consistent with what we already knew."

Meanwhile, the Boston Herald, the original source of the Rams walkthrough story apologized to its readers and the Patriots for shoddy reporting.

The Herald admitted that it neither possessed nor viewed a tape of the Rams' walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI and never spoke to anyone who had.

"We should not have published the allegation in the absence of firmer verification," the newspaper said in a statement on its Web site.

"The Boston Herald regrets the damage done to the team by publication of the allegation, and sincerely apologizes to its readers and to the New England Patriots owners, players, employees and fans for our error." Specter previously met with Goodell in February after raising the possibility of congressional hearings if he wasn't satisfied with the commissioner's handling of the investigation.

Walsh, who is now a golf pro in Hawaii, was fired by the Patriots in January 2003 for allegedly tape-recording a conversation with vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli.