| Matt Walsh speaks, dishes sordid details of Spygate
11:53 PM CDT, May 15, 2008
Former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh opens up to Andrea Kramer in an interview scheduled to air Friday night on "Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel" at 7 p.m. on HBO. Here are some of the highlights:
DID BILL BELICHICK MISINTERPRET THE RULES?
"When I was doing it, I understood what we were doing to be wrong. We went to great lengths to keep from being caught. Just saying that the rules were misinterpreted isn't enough of an apology or a reasoning for what was done."
ON USING THE TAPES
"I had spoken with one of our quarterbacks, uh, that said, he was called into Coach [Bill] Belichick's office shortly before the Tampa Bay game. In the office was Ernie Adams, Charlie Weis and Coach Belichick. They closed the door, [a coach] said to him, 'You know, we've got tape of the Buccaneers coaches defensive signals. What we're going to do is have you learn this, then we're going to have you next to Charlie on the sideline, when he's calling in the play to Drew [Bledsoe, the starting quarterback], over the coach to quarterback communication system. Drew's got the, the earpiece in the helmet, and you're going to tell Charlie the defense that's being called.' "
DID IT WORK?
"All that I know, is, the success rate that it has for the first game against Tampa Bay, and all I know is that it was something that they continued to have me do throughout the two years I worked in video under Coach Belichick."
GETTING AROUND THE CAMERA RULE
"The line of reasoning that we would give to other teams for why we need a third camera setup was, 'Well, our coaches want to have a tight shot of the kicker and the holder ... exchange just to go over with the guys in meetings. You know, they want a tight shot, you know, of the quarterback, you know, just to go over the quarterback's footwork and mechanics in meetings.' "
WAS IT WORTH IT FOR PATRIOTS?
"Yeah, I mean you know, they got caught doing this in 2007, they obviously started doing it when I was there in 2000, I guess that's eight seasons, three Super Bowls…$750,000 [in fines]. ..." |