Tue Feb 12 21:00:36 2008

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Specter to meet with Goodell Wednesday

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New York, NY (Sports Network) - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell will head to Washington on Wednesday to meet with Senator Arlen Specter to discuss the Spygate videotaping incident regarding the New England Patriots.

The meeting is expected to take place at 3 p.m. (et), according to the New York Times in the office of Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Specter first requested the meeting through a letter in November and asked Goodell to explain why the tapes of the Patriots videotaping the defensive signals of the New York Jets during the season-opener earlier this year were destroyed by the league.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000, and the team was fined $250,000 and will forfeit its first-round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.

Later, a Boston newspaper claimed that the Patriots videotaped the St. Louis Rams' walk-through a day before Super Bowl XXXVI in New Orleans. The Boston Herald reported a member of the Patriots' video department remained behind after the team worked out at the Louisiana Superdome the day before the contest, and filmed the Rams in the walk-through.

The Patriots and NFL both denied the report, and the Patriots won that game versus the Rams. New England was upset by the New York Giants at this year's Super Bowl.

Specter also indicated that he wanted to know if the Patriots cheated when they beat the Eagles in the Super Bowl following the 2004 season.

In all, Goodell acknowledged during a meeting with the media at the Pro Bowl that six tapes handed over by the Patriots were destroyed.

"That's what they had," Goodell said. "My guess is that they probably taped over some of those from time to time. That's what video departments usually do. It's possible that they did it more than that because there were notes that reflected that.

"We asked them for all the tapes. We asked them for anything that could have been done inconsistent with our policy with respect to taping. We asked them for all of information pertinent to that and they actually certified that they had given us that information."

Specter wants to know if the NFL has spoken with Matt Walsh, a former Patriots assistant coach who did some of the videotaping. Walsh is currently a golf pro in Hawaii.