Advertisement

Mike Martz 'shocked' at changes made to his Spygate statement years ago

eric edholm

Deep in Tuesday's ESPN report that tried to connect the dots between 2007's Spygate and the recent deflate-gate scandal was an interesting historical timestamp that dated back to Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002 between the New England Patriots and St. Louis Rams.

[Yahoo Sports Fantasy Football: Sign up and join a league today!]

A Boston Herald report years ago had said — incorrectly — that the Patriots videotaped the Rams' walkthrough, but this ESPN piece outlines just what advantage the Patriots might have had in that game.

When the dust was being kicked up on Spygate five years later, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell reached out to Martz, then a coach with the San Francisco 49ers, to ask him to issue a statement saying that Martz and the Rams thought the league did its due dilligence on the walkthrough spying allegations.

Grandstanding: A Yahoo Sports podcast
Subscribe via iTunes or via RSS feed

Martz said he provided a statement to the NFL, one that ESPN printed in full. In the statement that appeared attributed to Martz, he said it looked far different (edited? rewritten?) than the one he remembered giving the league.

“It shocked me,” Martz said to ESPN. “It appears embellished quite a bit — some lines I know I didn’t write. Who changed it? I don’t know.”

[Yahoo Daily Fantasy Football: Enter our $1 Million Week 1 contest]

Now Martz, who is out of coaching, is wondering who to believe in the aftermath.

"[Goodell] told me to take him at his word," he said. "It was hard to swallow because I always felt something happened but I didn't know what it was and I couldn't prove it anyway. Even to this day, I think something happened."

This report is a bad look for the Patriots and how they have conducted business, no doubt. But is it worse for Goodell and the NFL? Allegations such as these help tilt the discussion.

- - - - - - -

Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!