Reg

By MJD
Yahoo Sports

Quickly, and I'm sure we'll get into some analysis of it later, here are the quick facts you need to know from the Arlen Specter press conference after his chit-chat with Matt Walsh.

• Specter's not yet satisfied with things, and he'd like there to be an independent investigation of the Spygate matter. He still maintains that Commissioner Roger Goodell (though he went out of his way to say that he likes him as a person) has a conflict of interest. In essence, Specter wants a Mitchell Report for the Spygate thing.

• He stopped short of "demanding" an investigation, and he wouldn't say that he was ready to get Congress involved, but when a reporter asked him how long he'd give the NFL to launch an independent report, he replied, "at least a few months, until [his] chemotherapy treatments are done." He said that Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont offered Specter the resources of the Judiciary Committee for hearing, but Specter declined, at least for now.

• The tape of the Rams walkthrough was called a "ticklish issue" by Specter, despite the fact that the Boston Herald said unequivocally this morning that it did not exist. To Specter, that took none of the tickle out of the issue.

• Specter admitted that he was motivated, in part, by the fact that a large part of his constituency was made up of Pittsburgh Steelers fans, and that he was "incensed about what happened to the Steelers."

• When asked if the NFL was guilty of a "cover up" here, Specter said, "Cover up is a very strong term. I'm not doing to adopt it. Yet."

• Specter talked about a meeting that Walsh described between an unnamed offensive player (Specter wouldn't name him, because Walsh hadn't give him permission), then-offensive coordinator Charlie Weis, and head coach Bill Belichick, where they discussed the tapes, how they'd be used, and how things would be signaled into the player.

• Apparently, Mark Schlereth is a factor here. Specter says it's possible that the Patriots used their videotapes to gain an advantage in the same game, even though Matt Walsh himself says that the tapes were never used during the same game. Schlereth said on ESPN that they could be, and Specter referenced that in his press conference.

• Specter was also concerned about the report of Walsh being present at the Rams walkthrough, and the information he provided to the Patriots regarding Marshall Faulk's use on special teams and their tight end placement. Walsh also said that three or four other Patriots were present with Walsh.

• A lot of the complaints voiced by Specter aren't new, and aren't things he learned of in his meeting with Walsh. He doesn't trust Goodell to do a thorough investigation, and he doesn't buy the explanation of why the original tapes and notes were destroyed. He spent a pretty good portion of the 40-minute press conference talking about those things.

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