Look, I'm as sick of Spygate as anyone, but HBO has some very interesting stuff from Matt Walsh in an interview with Andrea Kremer that will run on "Real Sports" Friday night.
I wish I could post the entire transcript, but HBO says that is not allowed. (I'm sure someone will do it Thursday somewhere on the Internet, but not me. I am well behaved.)
Anyway, Matt makes it bluntly clear the Patriots were well aware what they were doing was naughty, that they took elaborate steps to mask what they were doing and that it helped them on the field almost immediately.
Also, he is not amused with how he has been portrayed and treated.
Click below for as many highlights as I feel comfortable sharing at this time.
]]>
Walsh on early hints the taping was paying off: “After the first game when we played the Buccaneers in the first season, after the tapes would have already been utilized, and I went up to one of our quarterbacks, because, you know, running the offense, I figured the quarterback might know something about this. I said, you know, was this, was the footage that I shot of the opposing coaches’ signals, you know, any use for you guys? Did it help at all? And one of the quarterbacks told me, he said, probably about seventy-five percent of the time Tampa Bay ran the defense that we thought they were going to run.”
Walsh on the Patriots altering their strategy to exploit the knowledge they had gained: “We started using Drew Bledsoe and no huddle situations in the middle of the game, situations that weren't necessarily hurry up or a two minute offense. Um, the idea, you know, was presented to me that the benefit to that, you know the other team's signals, you got all your players on your field, the defense is on the field, they really can't change personnel if, you know, the ball can be hiked at any time. Um, it forces the defensive coach to send in the signals early on, when you still have quite a bit of time left on the play clock. It then gives the offense, again, because coach to quarterback communication system isn't shut off until about fifteen seconds, more time to decide what play to call that fits best against that defense, and then still to be able to radio that in to our quarterback on the field, and then have him, you know, transmit that to our offensive players.”
Walsh on Belichick downplaying the impact of the taping: "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. If it was of little or no importance, I imagine they wouldn’t have continued to do it, and probably not taken the chances of going down onto the field in Pittsburgh or shooting from other teams’ stadiums the way we did.”
Walsh on Belichick suggesting he could not pick him out of a lineup: "Um, it’s funny, the first time I heard that was when somebody in Hawaii brought the quote to me too. And my first hand answer to them was, well, I wonder if he can pick me out on one of the three team pictures we’re in together.”
Walsh on knowingly violating 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 a, an apology or a reasoning for what was done. I mean, we live, you know, in a very forgiving nation, you know. People, if you come out and you admit a mistake you made or something you did that you shouldn't have done, people are usually very forgiving of that, accepting. When people try to get around answering it, or giving an explanation, or you know, admitting culpability, that’s usually when people start to question your motives.”
]]>
Here is a story based on my afternoon in the upper deck at Shea with Gary Cohen and his SNY pals.
At first I thought it was a very bad sign for tennis that it wasn't until 44 minutes into SportsCenter this Thursday morning that Justine Henin's retirement was reported in detail.
I keep forgetting to mention that SNY's Gary Cohen and his analyst friends from the 1986 Mets will call Thursday's Mets game from the upper deck at Shea.
I don't totally understand all the business concepts here and I don't even know if you can call up the entire story if you're not a subscriber.
Everyone has been wondering how Newsday will handle covering the Knicks and Rangers and thus risk being critical of our new bosses.
Charley Steiner just interviewed me on XM Satellite Radio. He fairly but aggressively engaged me in an interesting (I hope) debate about the existence of sports media columns in general and the approach some people in the job take to it in particular.
I guess it's official now: