Banks SI: Belichick remorseful of Spygate

[ZeroClub]

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Belichick remorseful of Spygate

Pats coach joins Kraft in act of contrition at meeting

Posted: Tuesday April 1, 2008 6:34PM; Updated: Tuesday April 1, 2008 6:37PM


PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Just hours after Bill Belichick's most expansive public comments yet on his role in the Patriots' Spygate controversy, both he and Patriots owner Robert Kraft stood before the entire collection of NFL owners and head coaches Tuesday morning to address the nearly seven-month issue and its negative impact on the league.

Kraft spoke first and apologized to his fellow owners and the league's head coaches, who are gathered here at The Breakers hotel for the NFL's annual meeting. In a short but impassioned address that was said to be unscripted, Kraft asked NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for a chance to speak to the room and wound up telling the owners and coaches how sorry he and his family was that his team had caused damage to the NFL and its brand. He expressed remorse that his franchise brought negative attention to the league.


Kraft not only sought to make amends for the Spygate episode and its resulting fallout, said a source with knowledge of the address, but went on to acknowledge the Patriots' season-long drama had negatively impacted the other 31 clubs in the league, who are, in essence, his business partners. Kraft expressed the respect he and his family have for the NFL's shield, which is the league's logo and the most recognizable element of its brand.


Kraft's words were met with resounding applause, and when he finished, Belichick rose and asked Goodell for permission to speak, as well. While falling short of offering an apology per se, Belichick gave a version of the same explanation for his team's actions that he had shared with reporters Tuesday morning at the AFC head coaches' media breakfast.


Most of that centered on what he said was his erroneous interpretation of the league's rules against videotaping an opponent's signals, and how the Patriots have modified and reviewed their procedures organizationally, so as to not run afoul of the league's rules or expectations in any further way. His comments were also well received.


Colts head coach Tony Dungy sought out Kraft sometime after the owner's speech, and in the hotel lobby told him how appreciated, well-received and much-needed his sentiments were. When asked about Kraft's words of contrition, Dungy, without denying them, said he felt it best if they remained private among the owners and coaches who were in the room.
"It was very, very sincere and heartfelt, and I appreciate what he had to say,'' Dungy said. "But I think it's best to leave that in that room.''


Colts general manager Bill Polian, who has had his share of rivalry with the Patriots through the years, wasn't in the special session of owners and coaches, but was familiar with Kraft's comments.


"I think it's a wonderful thing for Mr. Kraft to do,'' Polian said. "Personally, I don't think it was necessary, but that's just typical of (him). I certainly appreciate everything Mr. Kraft and his family have done. They've made this league a much better league since they've been members of it, and they continue to do so.


"From a working stiff's point of view, he certainly doesn't need to apologize for anything. The New England Patriots have been a bellweather for this league as long as the Kraft family has owned them. As far as being good citizens of the NFL, they're at the top.''

 

[Jon88]

Kraft, Belichick address owners, apologize for Spygate
ESPN.com news services

Updated: April 1, 2008, 9:45 PM ET

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and coach Bill Belichick made the rounds on Tuesday, apologizing for and explaining Spygate.

In an emotional speech before NFL owners, Kraft and coach Belichick apologized for the franchise's involvement in the scandal.

With apparent tension in the meeting room, Kraft asked for time to speak and apologized for Spygate in which a videographer was caught taping signals of Jets defensive coaches. After an investigation, the Patriots lost a first-round draft choice and $250,000 and Belichick was fined $500,000.



Sans his typical arrogance (or attire), Bill Belichick spoke openly on Tuesday about Spygate, which he hopes is finally a dead issue, writes Pat Yasinskas.

Kraft spoke of the values of the partnership with the league and how disappointed he was that his team brought negative attention to the league. Colts coach Tony Dungy described the speech as heartfelt and excellent, saying "I appreciated what he had to say."

Others who listened believed Kraft was speaking from the heart. Once Kraft was done talking, the entire room broke into applause.

Belichick also requested time to speak. As he told reporters earlier in the day, he accepted the punishment and thought that action showed no gray area in regard to the rules involving spying. Since the season opener against the Jets, Belichick said he has changed the entire operation and is now moving forward with no misunderstanding.

According to sources, many owners felt Spygate was a pink elephant in the room that needed to be addressed before the owners could continue. Commissioner Roger Goodell took the lead by giving the floor to Kraft and letting him speak.

"I'm happy they did it," Broncos owner Pat Bowlen said. "I don't know they had to do it. But it was good to hear from them. We're all trying to move on from this thing. What was said will stay in the room, but it was good."

Speaking during the AFC coaches breakfast at the NFL meetings earlier in the day, Belichick insisted there are no new revelations to come about Spygate.

"I think they've addressed everything they possibly can address," the coach said Tuesday.

Belichick said he was interviewed again after the Super Bowl about allegations that former team employee Matt Walsh had information about illegal taping. That information presumably included the process of taping a walkthrough by the St. Louis Rams on the day before the 2002 Super Bowl, a game the Patriots won.

In February, Belichick and Patriots vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli issued a broad denial to a report on The Boston Globe's Web site regarding suggestions by a former employee that their team taped the walkthrough.

"I've addressed so many questions so many times from so many people I don't know what else the league could ask," Belichick said.

Goodell confirmed that the NFL spoke again with Belichick and other Patriots employees after last February's Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants. The league has been negotiating an agreement with Walsh that it hopes will get Walsh, a golf pro in Hawaii, to come forward with what he has.


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"We followed up on other things because certain things had been tossed out," Goodell said of the added round of interviews with Belichick and other members of the Patriots front office.

This was the first time anyone disclosed that Belichick and other Patriots staffers were reinterviewed after the Super Bowl, when the Walsh allegations surfaced. The first interviews actually came the day before the Super Bowl with Pioli; Stacey James, the team's vice president for media relations; and video director Jimmy Dee.

League officials subsequently interviewed Kraft and Belichick, as he disclosed on Tuesday. "I talked to four or five people," Belichick said, although he did not say if it was in person or by telephone.

The Walsh allegations came out two days before the Pats lost 17-14 to the Giants in this season's Super Bowl, although Belichick said they weren't a distraction in the game. And he vehemently denied the Patriots taped a Rams walkthrough before that 2002 Super Bowl, which the two-touchdown underdog Patriots won 20-17.

"I've never seen a tape of another team's practice. Ever!" he said Tuesday. "Certainly not that one."

But Spygate hasn't gone away.

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., got himself involved, met with Goodell, and suggested the Patriots might have taped the Philadelphia Eagles before the 2005 Super Bowl. New England won that game 24-21.

Specter also questioned why the tapes confiscated from the Jets game were destroyed after the Patriots were penalized. The league said there was no reason to keep them.

In addition, Walsh, through his lawyer, Michael Levy, has been negotiating with the NFL for legal protection if he comes forward to tell what he knows. Levy and the league reported three weeks ago that they were close to an agreement to do that, but talks have been sporadic since.

Belichick insisted Tuesday that nothing will be disclosed on any new tapes. "I barely knew Matt Walsh," he said. "He was hired before I became the coach."

He conceded he should have contacted Ray Anderson, the NFL's vice president for football operations, after a memo from Anderson in 2006 that laid down the specifications for intelligence gathering.

"What I should have done ... I should have called the league and asked for a clarification," he said. "That was my mistake."

He said that in one respect, Spygate did the Patriots a favor.

"We've taken it as a positive and reorganized our operations to make sure a situation like this never comes up again," he said. "Our operation is more efficient, more streamlined. Look at the results of this season. That would confirm it."

Information from ESPN.com senior NFL writer John Clayton and The Associated Press was used in this report.

 

[Jon88]

If I have to cheat to win, I'd rather not win at all.

I'm glad they got caught. This puts a asterisk next to every Superbowl they won.

Cheaters.

:laugh2:

 

[visionary]

i can hear the sound of the broom
this whole thing is about to be swept under the rug
this is goodel's (the NFLs) way of making sure the other owners/coaches dont play along with arlen specter/matt walsh.
this will will all conveniently go away in the interest of 'moving on'

 

[Signals]

i can hear the sound of the broom
this whole thing is about to be swept under the rug
this is godell's (the NFLs) way of making sure the other owners/coaches dont play along with arlen specter/matt walsh.
this will will all conveniently go away in the interest of 'moving on'

Unfortunately for NE fans I don't hear the whisking of brooms from millions of fans of 31 other teams. As stated above, NE will have asterisks next to three of their Lombardi's, but thats to the benefit of Dallas.