Walsh: The Aftermath

New York (INEPT) - A great article from the N.Y. Times recapping Walsh's comments on spygate. Some choice quotes:

In an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, Walsh disputed several statements given by Coach Bill Belichick, who has insisted that he misinterpreted the league’s rules and described the impact of the tapes as minimal, telling The Boston Globe in February that the value of the tactics rated as a 1 on a scale of 1 to 100.

“We live in a country that’s very forgiving, if you come out and admit the mistake that you’ve made,” Walsh said. “In saying that, ‘I misinterpreted the rules,’ he didn’t come across to me as being culpable for the actions he had taken. It seemed a little arrogant.”

Arrogant? Yes. But we have another word for it: Lying. And what about the fact that old Bill claims he wouldn't even recognize Walsh?

He said he was surprised when Belichick told The Globe that he could not pick Walsh out of a lineup. Walsh remembers specific conversations the two had, including a running joke about the book “Friday Night Lights.” Belichick has long been noted for his memory, and upon seeing Walsh reading the book a second time, he joked about Walsh’s not having finished it.

Walsh still has a sweater — charcoal, V-neck, sleeves intact despite Belichick’s propensity for cutting them off his own sweatshirts — given to him at Christmas in 2001 from Belichick and his wife, Debby. When people have asked Walsh about Belichick saying he did not know him, Walsh says, “Well, could he pick me out of one of the three team pictures we were in together?”

Hmmm... our analysis reveals: Bill is lying again! As for how important it was:

“The information we were gathering was meant to help us the next time we played a team,” Walsh said. “If it was 1 out of 100, we probably wouldn’t have felt the need to do it as often as we did. Or go to the lengths we did to ensure getting the film.”

And we also get to learn why Charlie Weis is such a big failure at Notre Dame:

After filming opponents’ signals, Walsh would edit the tape or deliver the original to Adams. Walsh said a quarterback — he declined to say whom — would learn the signals, and the next time the Patriots played that team, the quarterback would relay that information to Weis, who would use the coach-to-quarterback communication system to send the information to the field.

No more tapes, Charlie! Which gives us the thought: Notre Dame should sue the Patriots. Their actions led them to believe that Weis could actually coach. Now, look at how much money they are hemorraghing. Thanks, Patriots.


Charlie: Tapes Make Playcalling Fun

We also get a sense of how the Patriots worked the system:

The Patriots then opened the regular season against the Buccaneers. Walsh said this was the first time he had seen quarterback Drew Bledsoe operate a no-huddle offense when not in a two-minute or hurry-up situation.

In the week after the game, Walsh said he asked a quarterback — again, he declined to name whom — how helpful the signals were. Walsh said the quarterback told him “probably about 75 percent of the time, Tampa Bay ran the defense we thought they were going to run — if not more.” (Bledsoe was the Patriots’ starting quarterback in 2000. The other quarterbacks on the roster were Tom Brady, Michael Bishop and John Friesz.)

Which leads us to our last (and perhaps only) point: Walsh basically says that Brady, Bishop, or Friesz knows more about what was going on. On the other side, we have the NFL (through their head apologizer, Roger Goodell), saying "I don't know where else I would turn." Now, somebody help me out here: has the NFL gotten Brady, Bishop, and Friesz to testify about what they did? Seems odd, doesn't it?


Brady, Bishop, Friesz: What do you have to say?

What is pretty clear from all of this: the NFL wants Spygate to go away. If it does, they can just say: it happened, but we penalized it, and now it isn't a problem anymore. Let's move on.


Spector: Our last hope for the Truth (note American Flag in background)

But if it doesn't, and if our hero Arlen Spector gets a hold of some of these other (in some case, former) players, or former coaches, and puts them under oath, something else might happen. What is now an asterisk may become a call to take down those banners, to reclaim those rings.