Nice touch with the Super Bowl attendance line:

"We want to address the allegation that the Patriots taped the Rams’ walkthrough prior to Super Bowl XXXVI. For the past three-and-a-half months, we have been defending ourselves against assumptions made based on an unsubstantiated report rather than on facts or evidence. Despite our adamant denials, the report ran on February 2, 2008, the day before Super Bowl XLII. That game was the second-most watched program in television history and it is unfortunate that today’s news will not also reach an audience of that size. We hope that with Matt Walsh's disclosures, everyone will finally believe what we have been saying all along and emphatically stated on the day of the initial report: 'The suggestion that the New England Patriots recorded the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough on the day before Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002 is absolutely false. Any suggestion to the contrary is untrue.'” 

And with the words "I don't know where else I would turn," commissioner Roger Goodell appeared to put a large punctuation mark on the Spygate case. If it's not over, it's certainly fairly much dead in my mind.

This was expected. After no smoking gun was said to be found in Matty Walsh's VHS collection, it was clear that little if any more would be added to this whole deal. And it makes sense, now that everything has been disclosed it appears, that Goodell would want to shut this thing down.

Not only has it been a black eye for the league, but it has become a major connection to Goodell himself. He's only 19 months into his tenure as commissioner, and he's best known for two things -- player conduct and Spygate -- among the average fan. And though cleaning up the game is a good thing in most people's minds, all these problems that Goodell has faced, including the strange Spygate case, has cast a bit of a pall over his reign.

For now, and perhaps forever, Spygate is dead. And what a strange case it has turned out to be.

One interesting postscript: Our friends over at Cold, Hard Football Facts dug up this interesting nugget ... about the Rams possibly spying on the Patriots before Super Bowl XXXVI. Interesting. 

So Matty Walsh has his big sit-down with the Grand Poobah tomorrow, where the Spygate case will go in one of two directions: it either ends or goes onward, assuming what Roger Goodell thinks about these offensive tapes that were turned in. And though there are reasons to think that more needs to be gleaned from this case, such as how much did Bill Belichick try to hide the fact he was hiding, and what did he tell Walsh (directly or indirectly) what he wanted to get on film, there also is a prevailing thought that not much else will come from this case.

I guess what I wonder is if Goodell knew the taping was happening going back to 2000, when Belichick was first head coach there, would he have upped the penalty? Makes you wonder if the Patriots would have Jerod Mayo, you know?

But right now, it's all speculation. Maybe more answers will come out of tomorrow's sessin. But I suspect after those answers come out, when we refer to Spygate it will be in the past tense from now on. If we can't call the case closed, its final chapter might be very close.

Get your tickets now ... well, OK, soon:

 

The University of Notre Dame and Arizona State University have completed an agreement for a college football game to be played on Oct. 5, 2013, at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium in Arlington, Texas.

The new stadium, currently under construction, is set to open in the summer of 2009. With a capacity of 80,000 fans, expandable to 100,000 for major events, it is set to host Super Bowl XLV following the 2011 NFL season, the annual AT&T Cotton Bowl, the 2009 and 2010 Big 12 Championship Football Games and the annual Texas A&M University vs. University of Arkansas football game.

“Bringing the storied tradition of Notre Dame football to the new stadium in Arlington to take on a national power like Arizona State makes this an exciting day for all of North Texas,” said Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones. “Our region lives and breathes football, and I can’t think of a better place to showcase two of the nation’s top programs than right here at our new home.”

“We’re thrilled to have a chance to return to North Texas where Notre Dame football has had such a rich tradition, particularly through our appearances in the Cotton Bowl over the years,” said Notre Dame Director of Athletics Kevin White. “We’re also excited that both our players and our fans will have a chance to experience a football game in what will be a state-of-the-art facility as designed by the Cowboys.”

"We are excited to participate in this unique college football event in the new, state-of-the-art stadium the Dallas Cowboys are building in Arlington, Texas," said Arizona State Director of Athletics Lisa Love. "We believe this will be a magnificent game for our fans and alumni. Our coaching staff recruits the state of Texas, and this will only serve to assist in that area."

Notre Dame will be the home team for the game and NBC Sports will have the live television rights to the game, as with other Notre Dame home games.

Notre Dame expects to make tickets available to its contributing alumni and fans through the alumni lottery as it does with all other football games. Arizona State will receive an allotment of tickets as the visiting team, and a public sale will be conducted through the Cowboys stadium. The Cowboys stadium and the AT&T Cotton Bowl will combine to manage and market the game.

The Irish and Sun Devils will be meeting for the first time since 1999. Notre Dame defeated Arizona State in Sun Devil Stadium in 1998 (28-9) and again in Notre Dame Stadium in 1999 (a 48-17 Irish victory).

 

Many of our more diehard NFL draft-fan readers certainly will know the name of Tommy Blake, a talented but troubled young man who at one point looked like he might have a first-round grade on him. That was before the start of the college season, when Blake left the TCU team, starting a downward trend that left him undrafted last weekend.

I hadn't noticed that Blake hadn't even received a free-agent contract until an agent made me aware of it yesterday, but Blake is in Buccaneers minicamp trying to earn a trip to training camp and perhaps a shot. Here's hoping the kid gets himself in line.

Here's what Bucs head coach Jon Gruden had to say about Blake earlier today:

"We want to just look at him. He's had some well-documented ups and some well-documented downs. But he's a young guy and we want to look at him for ourselves and try to get all the evaluations done in our minds that we can, and give the kid an opportunity to present himself as a pro football player. We'll judge our conclusions when we get them." 

We said it when the Bengals were giving up a draft pick for Ahmad Brooks in the supplemental draft a few years ago, and we said it again after the draft last weekend when the Bengals were busy filling up their police blotter roster with more shady actors:

This is just beyond ridiculous.

Despite constant legals issues, despite having suffered suspensions of its players from the NFL and stern warnings from Roger Goodell and even having cut players that have run afoul of the law, the Bengals somehow managed to put themselves more at risk with the drafting of Jerome Simpson, Pat Sims, Jason Shirley and Mario Urrutia.

And then Thursday came this: the report that Ahmad Brooks allegedly hit a woman in the eye during an altercation. If he's convicted, he'll be suspended for sure.

The excuse has been that the penny-pinching Bengals, for years without a proper scouting staff to run background checks on players, are wowed by athleticism and don't find as much wrong, character-wise, with these guys. Throw it out. It's old and tired. Too much has happened for Mike Brown to claim ignorance on the issue. He should know better, but he doesn't.

Let's hope the Brooks thing proves to be false. Let's hope that of the four kids we mentioned that were drafted by the Bengals, all go on to be good players and better citizens. But holy mother, this disheartening trend is a joke.

It's time Goodell sat Brown down and explained the severity of the deal. The Bengals are becoming the joke of the NFL, and somehow Chad Johnson has played only a minor part in that theatre of the absurd. It's not Brown's job to police the players, and clearly it's out of Warden Marvin Lewis' hands at this point.

But it's on Brown for the OK'ing of drafting guys like Chris Henry and Brooks and this weekend's class. So shame on him. The league has to know how bad this all looks.

As you might have noticed, the blog suddenly went dormant after a flurry of activity during Round One and Two. Yes, I left you only with a cryptic tale of "not feeling well" or some business. So dispell the rampant rumors out there, no I didn't bore on Day Two. No, I am not so cold-hearted as to overlook some touching moments with everyone's new hero, Caleb Campbell.

The truth, simply, is that my body shut down Saturday night. Seems I picked up a flu -- nay, the mother of all flus -- and it still has its claws and teeth in me, though I am just now starting to figure out which way is up. Anyway, just wanted to get that out there and assure you we'll resume our normal offseason pattern of filing starting tomorrow.

Sure, it'll be a little slow after this weekend's rookie minicamps before the veterans report in June for OTAs. But we'll get you some extra stuff. Including some interesting Jared Allen material we couldn't get up anywhere before and a few things on new Steelers LB Bruce Davis that, again, we fell short on because of this soul-sucking disease that ripped through us. 

OK, folks, coming down with a little bug here, so I need my rest. But before I leave you, let's look at who are the top guys left on Nolan Nawrocki's Top 100-rated list (and in parentheses, teams I could see that would be interested early tomorrow):

33. Penn State LB Dan Connor (Ravens, Panthers)
37. North Carolina State FS DaJuan Morgan (Panthers, Texans)
38. Michigan WR Mario Manningham (Chiefs, 49ers)
44. Purdue DE-OLB Cliff Avril (Patriots, Cardinals)
48. Wake Forest DE Jeremy Thompson (Bengals, Buccaneers)
51. Connecticut CB Tyvon Branch (Patriots, Falcons)
52. Florida WR Andre "Bubba" Caldwell (Ravens)
53. LSU WR Early Doucet (Saints)
54. Oklahoma CB Reggie Smith (Bears)
61. UTEP OT Oneil Cousins (Ravens)

I know some Philly-area people are going to question the team's moves down in this draft, but it certainly didn't hurt them. They got a defensive tackle, which I thought they needed behind Brodrick Bunkley and Mike Patterson. Trevor Laws is going to get 30 snaps a game next year, and he'll be perfect in that role. He's like Patterson in a lot of ways, in fact.

And a reminder in case you forgot: The Eagles also got a first-round pick from the Panthers in 2009 in a deal, andthat's pretty good. Even if Carolina were to win the Super Bowl and give up the 32nd pick -- a long shot, most would say -- the deal looks good on paper for the Eagles. 

With the addition of DeSean Jackson and the trade for Lorenzo Booker, the Eagles added two speed weapons who figure to be involved heavily in both the passing game and on special teams. Both guys are ridiculously fast and agile. That's what they needed. The Eagles now can turn their attention to the offensive line, the secondary an perhaps one more defensive player in the front seven.

I think this has been a successful first day for Andy Reid and the Eagles, who always seem to do something positive in every draft. 

Yesterday I said that the Chiefs had to make some big picks in this draft in order to justify the Jared Allen trade. Well, they have knocked it out of the park with their first three ... and lots more to go.

They got maybe the best player in the draft at No. 5 in Glenn Dorsey. They got a player they would have taken -- or at least considered -- at five had Dorsey not been there in Branden Albert. They probably thought they would have to settle for Justin King in Round Two but had to be shocked and thrilled to see Brandon Flower still sitting there at No. 36.

With the Bears passing on Albert, the Chiefs made a subtle but deft move to secure their future left tackle. Even if it was unneeded, they went up two spots at a low cost and made sure they got him. And then in Round Two, sitting back and watched a run of really questionable picks ahead of them, the Chiefs' brass had to be tickled pink. Flowers, I tell you, will be a player. Just don't ask him to play man coverage all the time, and he'll be fine. 

My gosh, what a cleanup.

Three picks, three starters. All of a sudden, you have to like that defense a lot more than you did after the Allen deal. I must admit, I had no idea they could do as well with their first three picks as they did. In fact, I couldn't picture a scenario where they could have done.

My apologies to Carl Peterson, Bill Kuharich, Lynn Stiles and Chuck Cook. I doubted you last week. You flipped the tables on everyone today. Excellent job, men.