Category: NFL (Page 1037 of 1282)

Here’s what ESPN’s Chris Mortensen had to say about the tapes former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh turned into the NFL offices early this week.

In other words, there’s nothing new here. Neither Bill Belichick nor the Patriots are going to face anymore punishment, so stop waiting for it.

Turns out former Patriots videotape assistant Matt Walsh doesn’t have tape of the Rams’ walkthrough practice allegedly filmed before Super Bowl XXXVI.

Walsh gave the NFL eight videos of opponents’ coaches from 2000-2002. The tapes show the Patriots videotaping opposing signals in five regular season games and the the 2002 AFC Championship. Walsh’s attorney says his client never claimed to have a tape of the Rams’ walkthrough and was not the “unnamed source” in the Herald’s story. The NFL knew about all this, and says this is consistent with what the Patriots told them. Any further punishment isn’t happening.

This is just another example of how rumors catch fire in the media. The Boston Herald reported in early February that Walsh had tape of the Rams’ walkthrough and now it’s interesting to hear that the NFL knew all along that Walsh had no such tape.

This incident shows just how much the media and fans really know about the inner-workings of sports.

According to ESPN.com’s John Clayton, Giants’ defensive end Michael Strahan is “60-40” on retiring before the season starts.

Officially, Michael Strahan is undecided about his future. But he looks and sounds like a player who is going to retire before training camp.

Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce went on the radio and said he thought Strahan was gong to retire. Last summer, he almost did retire. Clearly he doesn’t want to come to training camp, and Tom Coughlin isn’t going to give him a pass that will allow him to take the summer off.

Put the odds at 60-40 for a retirement announcement before training camp.

The key here is that Strahan doesn’t want to go to training camp. He never wants to go to training camp, so take all the retirement talk with a grain of salt. He pulls this crap every year around the same time.

A woman who was a passenger the night Bears’ running back Cedric Benson was charged with boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest is claiming that Benson was mistreated by police.

“I called my dad and told him, ‘Call 911, my black friend is getting beaten up by police on Lake Travis,’ ” Elizabeth Cartwright told the Chicago Tribune.

“It’s more what I heard than what I saw,” said Cartwright, 22, who said she’s a friend of Benson’s from the University of Texas.”

Cartwright said she and her fiance had been boating with Benson about six times this spring, and each time a Lower Colorado River Authority boat pulled them over for a safety check. Saturday, she said, after Benson’s boat passed examination he was taken to a LCRA boat for a sobriety test.

“We were all like, ‘Why?’ ” said Cartwright, adding that Benson had had two drinks. “I know Cedric and I don’t think he was drunk.”

A few minutes later, Cartwright said, she heard Benson scream after an officer pepper-sprayed him in the eye.

An affidavit the LCRA filed described Benson as cocky, smelling strongly of alcohol and needing to be removed forcibly from the boat and eventually falling to the ground. Benson claimed police kicked his feet out from under him, causing him to fall awkwardly.

Something doesn’t smell right here – for either Benson’s party and the police. It’s hard to believe that the police go around pepper spraying people for the hell of it, but there doesn’t seem to be a clear cut reason why they pulled Benson over in the first place. Then again, I don’t know the boating laws in Texas, either.

The Atlanta Falcons are turning into the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFC. Linebacker Michael Boley was arrested and charged with battery on Saturday after his wife told police he “became physical” with her.

The 25-year-old linebacker, a rising star with the franchise, was released on $1,200 bond. The family violence battery charge leveled against Boley is a misdemeanor.

Boley’s wife, Chantelle, told police officers who were called to their home in Dacula that she and Boley argued and that Boley became physical with her, said Cpl. Illana Spellman, spokeswoman for the Gwinnett County Police Department. The officers determined that Boley was the primary aggressor in the fight, Spellman said.

Boley was set for a long-term contract extension before the season (he signed a one-year tender right before the draft), but now the Falcons may hold off. Looks like Atlanta is off to another great start this season.