Spygate Over...not yet! Not even close!

It is not over till Specter says it is over…

You just had to know that spygate was not going away because Commissioner Goodell wants it to. Senator Arlen Specter now wants an independent investigation into the Patriots' illegal taping practices. The reason stated was what he called an obvious conflict between the interest of the NFL and the public interest. Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, stopped short of saying the government would conduct the investigation itself if the NFL does not have one done. The NFL disagrees with Specter and the comments made by him today. "We respectfully disagree with Senator Specter’s characterization of the investigation conducted by our office. We are following up after yesterday’s meeting with Matt Walsh." Maybe someone needs to ask Specter what federal law has been broken before getting the Judiciary Committee involved.

In listening to the two press conferences, it sounds like Roger Goodell and Arlen Specter each heard what they wanted to hear from Matt Walsh. It sounded like Walsh only gave information based on what was being asked. This is where the inconsistency between the two meetings most likely comes from. Maybe all parties involved should have met together instead of having separate meetings. Goodell and Specter will agree to disagree on the handling of Spygate.

Quick Hits from the Arlen Specter press Conference:

Key issue to address: “The issue I want to get into is what happened [with the taping]? What was done? What happened in all these games? How many were there? There are a lot more games involved in this sequence, from 2000 to 2007, than we know about.”

Walsh’s Credibility: “Yeah. I’ve talked to a lot of witnesses in my day. He told a very coherent story. When it came to the big issue on the walkthrough, where he had already been derided in the press for not having disclosed earlier that he didn’t have [a tape], he was very modest about it. He was very modest in his entire approach. I think he’s a very fine young man, a college graduate, worked with the Patriots, and appeared to be very credible.”

Rams Walkthrough: “It’s a ticklish issue. There is a lot out there. People say that Matt Walsh told them that he videotaped the walkthrough. Now he says he did not. But he does have some important things to say about the walkthrough.”

Implicating other teams: “He said that once when he was filming a game, the Jets game, the guy next to him seemed to be doing the same thing he was doing. But, he didn’t get too high and mighty about it, since he was doing the same thing. He said aside from that he knows of no other, nothing else.”

New information: Walsh told Specter that a former offensive player for the Patriots told him that the offensive player was called into a meeting with head coach Bill Belichick, offensive coordinator Charlie Weis and Belichick confidant Ernie Adams. During the meeting it was explained to the player how the signal tapes would be used against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (game played on September 3, 2000)

Specter Final Thought: "What is necessary is an objective investigation…This has not been objective."