NFL | Patriots videotapes on their way to league

A former New England Patriots employee has sent the NFL eight videotapes showing that the team recorded play-calling signals by coaches of five opponents in six games between the 2000 and 2002 seasons, in violation of league rules.

But the group of tapes does not include video of the St. Louis Rams' walk-through practice the day before the 2002 Super Bowl. The employee, Matt Walsh, had been linked to such a tape by media speculation. His lawyer denies Walsh has such a tape.

Walsh emerged as a pivotal figure in the spying controversy that enveloped the Patriots last season after they were caught taping Jets defensive signals in the season opener.

Walsh, who worked for the Patriots from 1997 to 2003, agreed to turn over the tapes and other evidence by today under an agreement reached last month between lawyers for the NFL and Walsh. The deal indemnifies Walsh from future legal fees.

Walsh's tapes show that the Patriots recorded the signals of offensive and defensive coaches in regular-season games against the Miami Dolphins, the Buffalo Bills, the Cleveland Browns and the San Diego Chargers and against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 2002 AFC Championship Game. In that game, the tape has been edited to show Steelers coaches signaling plays, followed by two camera angles of the plays that were called.

Notes

• A woman who was a passenger in Cedric Benson's boat when he was pepper-sprayed and arrested Saturday said the Bears running back did not seem intoxicated and did not resist arrest, the Chicago Tribune reported.

• Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid's son was sent to state prison after admitting he smuggled 89 prescription pills into a county jail. Garrett Reid, 25, faces a minimum of two years in state prison.

• Offensive tackle David Diehl signed a two-year extension with the New York Giants that will keep him under contract with the Super Bowl champions through the 2013 season. Diehl will earn $31 million under terms of the new deal.

• The Tennessee Titans will be holding a minicamp without defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth. The Titans tagged Haynesworth as their franchise player to keep him from leaving as an unrestricted free agent.

• The Oakland Raiders signed free-agent linebacker Edgerton Hartwell.