Pats filmed Rams walkthough before SB XXXVI

[Coach Sal]

I'm wondering if this tape or these tape were part of the visual evidence Goodell destoyed?!

This story continues to get bigger and bigger.......and the plot continues to thicken.......(cue the daytime network soap opera music)......


PHOENIX - One night before the Patriots face the Giants in Super Bowl XLII, new allegations have emerged about a Patriots employee taping the Rams’ final walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI.

According to a source, a member of the team’s video department filmed the Rams’ final walkthrough before that 2002 game. The next day, the Patriots upset St. Louis, 20-17, on a last-second field goal by Adam Vinatieri for their first championship.

A walkthrough involves practicing plays at reduced speed without contact or pads. It is common for teams to film their own walkthroughs and practices.
When contacted last night, Patriots vice president of media relations Stacey James said: “The coaches have no knowledge of it.”

Yesterday, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) stated that he plans to summon NFL commissioner Roger Goodell before Congress to explain why he destroyed tapes that showed the Patriots stealing defensive signals over the last two years.

After his state of the NFL press conference yesterday, Goodell was asked if the league’s investigation into the Pats included allegations that they recorded the Rams walkthrough in 2002.

“I’m not aware of that,” Goodell said.

“We have no information on that,” seconded NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.
According to a source close to the team during the 2001 season, here’s what happened. On Feb. 2, 2002, one day before the Patriots’ Super Bowl game against heavily favored St. Louis in New Orleans, the Patriots visited the Superdome for their final walkthrough.

After completing the walkthrough, they had their team picture taken and the Rams then took the field. According to the source, a member of the team’s video staff stayed behind after attending the team’s walkthrough and filmed St. Louis’ walkthrough.

At no point was he asked to identify himself or produce a press pass, the source said. The cameraman rode the media shuttle back to the hotel with news photographers when the Rams walkthrough was completed, the source said.

It’s not known what the cameraman did with the tape from there. It’s also not known if he made the recording on his own initiative or if he was instructed to make the recording by someone with the Patriots or anyone else.

The next day, the Patriots opened a 14-3 halftime lead on the Rams, who were 14-point favorites and operators of an offense known as “The Greatest Show on Turf.”

The Rams didn’t begin moving the ball until the fourth quarter, when their 14-point rally pulled the teams into a 17-17 tie with less than two minutes remaining. Tom Brady [stats] then led the most famous drive in Patriots history for the winning field goal.

http://news.bostonherald.com/sports/football/patriots/view.bg?articleid=1070762&srvc=home&position=0

[gr8slayer]

Allegations have surfaced that a member of the Patriots' video department filmed the Rams' final walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI.
It's not known what the cameraman did with the tape nor whether he made the tape on his own initiative or if he was instructed by the Patriots coaching staff. Commissioner Goodell remains adamant that the taping did not benefit the Patriots in any Super Bowl victories.

[DMBcrew36]

Is any of this surprisingly to anyone? More fuel for the hatefest. I love it.

[venis2k1]

Wait, i thought every team does this???? :rolleyes:

[Owen DeBoard]

Matt Walsh says he has video tapes that could be damaging to the Patriots and the NFL. He was with the team from 1996-2003. It keeps getting better and better.

[TigerJ]

Did it affect the outcome of the game? That's iffy. Teams have always had ready access to game film of their opponents. Unless the Rams put in a bunch of new plays just for the Super Bowl, filming a walk through would show nothing really new. It would show the Rams were spending a lot of time on particular plays both offensively or defensively, and give the Patriots time to consider how they might counter those plays and formations.

Of course, it confirms what we know, Bill Belichick has moral development of a flatworm.

[venis2k1]

2 weeks heading into the bowl, I imagine there was a good deal of new plays that Martz put in.

[Mitchy moo]

Bunch of F-in cheaters they are and will always be. Put a big asterisks next to all their accomplishments, A-wipes.

[Billz_fan]

I think this whole story could have great potential to make this off season miserable for them. That would make me so happy :laughter:

[Michael82]

I bet there is even more of this type of stuff during the Super Bowl years. This team is extremely dirty as ever and has no morals, especially the coach. I could definitely see him doing this stuff and cheating to help himself win. This right here is why Roger Goodell destroyed those tapes. There's probably even worse stuff on there and if they got leaked out, the masses would have gone insane and Goodell would have gotten lambasted if he didn't make the punishment harsher.

[Bling]

Easy. Remove all draft picks and suspend Belicheck for a year. That'll teach them.

[DynaPaul]

Looks like Goodell's covering up for these schmucks. How does an organization achieve favored team status? I don't know but I'd like to find out. The NFL could be heading towards WWE status in terms of setting the outcomes of matches.

[YardRat]

Did it affect the outcome of the game? That's iffy. Teams have always had ready access to game film of their opponents. Unless the Rams put in a bunch of new plays just for the Super Bowl, filming a walk through would show nothing really new. It would show the Rams were spending a lot of time on particular plays both offensively or defensively, and give the Patriots time to consider how they might counter those plays and formations.

Of course, it confirms what we know, Bill Belichick has moral development of a flatworm.

A. If the Rams did put in new plays, it gave NE first-hand knowledge of them pre-game when under normal circumstances they wouldn't have seen them until the actual game. Unfair advantage.

B. The walk-through would show which specific plays were being run from which specific formations, which vary from week to week to offset any information the defensive staff might get from watching previous game film. Unfair advantage.

C. It gave NE information about the specific gameplan St Louis was going to use and pared down what NE had to concentrate on. Instead of making final preparations for an entire playbook it allowed them to prepare for the gameplan itself. Unfair advantage.

That kind of knowledge, pre-kick off, can't not affect the outcome of the game.

If more knowledge comes to light and is confirmed, much stricter penalties would need to be assessed. You can't change the actual outcome of any game by taking away their titles (although that is iffy-they do it in college ball if an organization is caught cheating), but you can banish the perpetrators from participating in the sport in the future and prevent them from any other accolades that they may receive as a result of their actions.

There is no transgression that should be more seriously dealt with than the tampering with the integrity of the sport.

[Ingtar33]

I think the league made the decision to cover it up because it called into question half a decade or more of games, including 3 superbowls.

When they made that decision they were protecting the game's integrity in the short term, at the risk that if more news came out, they would damage the league more in the long term.

They gambled and lost.

this has nothing to do with the pats being the favored son of the league and everything with the NFL's image.

[Oaf]

Did it affect the outcome of the game? That's iffy. Teams have always had ready access to game film of their opponents. Unless the Rams put in a bunch of new plays just for the Super Bowl, filming a walk through would show nothing really new. It would show the Rams were spending a lot of time on particular plays both offensively or defensively, and give the Patriots time to consider how they might counter those plays and formations.

Of course, it confirms what we know, Bill Belichick has moral development of a flatworm.
The difference is, the Rams likely were running through their gameplan geared towards stopping the Patriots. When the Pats found out what they were going to try to do, they effectively could counter it. Big difference b/w that and game film.

[mybills]

*

[MTBillsFan]

Strip them of their titles, all wins forfitted, and exponge them from the NFL record books(any team or individual records set during time they were cheating). No draft picks for a LEAST a year.

[Michael82]

Well, the latest info is that the Rams were running their red zone drills in the walkthrough and Mike Martz is pissed. He wants an investigation. I don't blame him.