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Marshall Faulk still believes the Patriots filmed a Rams practice at Super Bowl XXXVI

Ben Rohrbach
·Senior NBA writer

Marshall Faulk is right at home in this new era of alternative facts.

In a Super Bowl tradition unlike any other, the former St. Louis Rams running back stood by his belief that the New England Patriots videotaped the Rams’ walk-through practice on the Friday before Super Bowl XXXVI in February 2002. Despite several reports to the contrary and no evidence supporting this theory, Faulk sextupled down on his long-held conviction: “They taped the practice. That’s a fact.”

[Ditch the paper and pen – play Squares Pick’em for the Big Game!]

In a contentious interview with several New England-based reporters, Faulk theorized that the alleged videotape was among those turned over to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell during the 2007 Spygate saga and the ensuing May 2008 controversy involving former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh.

Marshall Faulk is still salty. (AP)
Marshall Faulk, who was denied a second Super Bowl ring, is still salty. (AP)

Via WEEI.com’s Christopher Price:

“[The practice] before the Super Bowl,” Faulk told reporters on Thursday afternoon. “The guy who worked for the Patriots. If you remember, that was someone mysteriously living in Hawaii, who made his way back to the states and delivered the tapes. Goodell then watched those tapes and said there wasn’t enough there to deem anything being done.

“Now, I didn’t see what was on the tapes, because we didn’t get to see that. The only thing I could say is that they taped our practice. That was wrong.”

It’s the same story Faulk told the media in 2013 and the same story he’s told them every year since.

Only he seems to have his facts mixed up. The Spygate scandal was born from a September 2007 game between the Patriots and New York Jets. On a tip from then-Jets coach Eric Mangini, NFL security confiscated video footage taken by former Patriots video assistant Matt Estrella of New York coaches’ signals on the sideline — a violation of league rules. At the NFL’s request, the Patriots turned over six similar tapes kept at the team’s facilities, Goodell reviewed the footage and then destroyed the tapes.

Six months later, the Boston Herald cited an unnamed source implying Walsh possessed a tape of the Rams’ walk-through from Super Bowl XXXVI. Walsh then turned over eight more tapes and underwent hours of interviews with the NFL, former U.S. Senator Arlen Specter and The New York Times, claiming he was present in Patriots garb at the St. Louis walk-through and relayed what he witnessed to then-Patriots assistant coach Brian Daboll. However, no video footage of the walk-through practice was ever taken or submitted to the NFL, per the league office and the Herald retracted its original report.

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The NFL released the following statement in May 2008:

“Our security department re-interviewed Brian Daboll on Wednesday and he has no recollection of a conversation with Matt Walsh about the Rams’ walk-through practice.

“Even if such a conversation occurred, it would not be a violation of NFL rules. Matt Walsh was authorized to be in the stadium to perform his job duties along with other members of the Patriots’ video department, members of the Rams’ video department, and other people preparing for the Super Bowl.

“Mr. Walsh told the commissioner that he was wearing Patriots’ attire at the time and did not conduct himself in a clandestine manner. He said that he saw Rams employees while he was there and also was on the sidelines. He stated clearly to the commissioner that nobody from the Patriots requested or directed him to observe or report on the Rams’ walk-through.”

And yet:

No doubt there is some shadiness surrounding the situation 15 years ago, but there does not seem to be any facts supporting Faulk’s claim the Patriots filmed the Rams’ walk-through. His evidence is no more substantial than a February 2002 New York Times report from the week of Super Bowl XXXVI that suggested St. Louis could have been spying on New England’s Friday practice before the game:

Halfway through practice, Patriots’ linebackers coach Pepper Johnson noticed something in a third-floor window of a house next to the field.

Club and league officials said a telescope was clearly visible in the window, according to a pool report, and that 15 minutes later, a person appeared at the window, and then vanished.

Officials scanned the window with binoculars, but the person never returned.

At any rate, Faulk’s annual Spygate reminder comes across as saltiness left over from being on the losing end of one of the biggest Super Bowl upsets in history. Further evidence to support that theory:

That’s another alternative fact for a different day.

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Ben Rohrbach is a contributor for Ball Don’t Lie and Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!