Goodell Says He's Prepared to Act if Further Violations By Patriots Are Substantiated
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke to a gathering of sports editors today in New York.
There was no major news, but there were a few tidbits.
According to Post football editor Cindy Boren, who was on hand, Goodell said he's prepared to punish the New England Patriots severely if the league finds that the Patriots videotaped the St. Louis Rams' walk-through before the teams played in the Super Bowl in 2002.
"If they did that, we would take that very seriously," Goodell said. "But there's no evidence of that."
Goodell is scheduled to meet with former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh on May 13 in New York. Walsh has hinted to media outlets that he might have information pertinent to the league's investigation of the "SpyGate" scandal.
The Patriots have denied videotaping the Rams' walk-through.
The Boston Herald reported just before last season's Super Bowl that the Patriots had taped the walk-through.
Goodell fined the Patriots $500,000 and their coach, Bill Belichick, $250,000 in September after the Patriots were caught videotaping the play signals of New York Jets coaches in the opening game of last season at Giants Stadium. It later was disclosed that the Patriots' videotaping program had been in place throughout Belichick's coaching tenure with the franchise.
Also, Goodell said today he probably will meet with suspended cornerback Adam (Pacman) Jones in June. Goodell previously has said that he would consider Jones's possible reinstatement before training camp. Jones has been suspended for more than a year for violations of the league's personal conduct policy but nevertheless was traded this week from the Tennessee Titans to the Dallas Cowboys.
Goodell met Tuesday in D.C. with a group of NFL players and discussed the Kansas City Chiefs' proposal to restrict players' hair length during games. Goodell said one of the issues about which the league is concerned is whether stuffing more hair beneath the helmet would threaten the integrity of the helmet as a protective device. The Chiefs have proposed a rule prohibiting a player's hair from covering the name or number on his jersey. The proposal was shelved at the recent league meeting but is to be reconsidered by the franchise owners during a meeting in May in Atlanta. It would have to be approved by at least 24 of the 32 teams to be enacted.
Goodell said the league will consider moving the draft to cities other than New York in the future. The league's contract with the current venue, Radio City Music Hall, expires after this weekend's draft.
By Mark Maske |
April 24, 2008; 6:43 PM ET
| Category:
League
,
Patriots
Previous: Jets Trade D. Robertson to Broncos |
Next: DraftCast -- Live on washingtonpost.com Saturday
Posted by: devans | April 25, 2008 5:20 PM
I think the hair proposal is a good one. That is a serious safety issue.
Posted by: billy bob | April 26, 2008 10:51 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
so act. why wait til the 13th? take care of this now, before they use that 7 pick( which should have been stripped anyway). Did anyone ask what info Jerry Jones got about p-man and isn't there some ethics or collusion involved? Is there a direct line from Cboy hdq to the commish office? Hair????????????????cracks me up, Herm and KC wish they had Palomalo