Although Goodell told the world yesterday that he didn’t know where else to turn at this point, the Star-Ledger reports that there’s at least one more interview on the horizon for him, and it’s with Jets’ Quarterbacks Coach Brian Daboll, who released a statement via the Jets yesterday that he was summoned to speak with Goodell again.

Walsh told Goodell that Daboll approached him later, said NFL attorney Gregg Levy, who attended yesterday’s meeting. Walsh said he told the coach that running back Marshall Faulk was returning kicks and described the Rams’ use of tight ends in their formations. Daboll did not mention the conversation when he was interviewed by NFL officials about the walk-through, Levy said.

Listening to the radio up here in Boston yesterday, one of WEEI’s mid-day hosts Dale Arnold was sneering at the thought that Brian Daboll would be interested in whatever Walsh would have learned from a walkthrough. He asked on air why Daboll a Patriots coach would care what Walsh thought? Let’s remember some pertinent details about Daboll, shall we Dale?

• Daboll joined the team in 2000, Walsh 2001.
• Daboll came on high recommendations from Belichick’s buddy Nick Saban.
• Daboll’s job in 2000 & 2001 was to break down defensive tape and do charting for Belichick and other coaches.
• Read more about Daboll’s role with the Pats here or on the Patriots own website.
• It not a large logical leap to assume that Walsh and Daboll, who both spent time dealing with tape, would have known each other.
• It’s also not a large leap to assume that information from Walsh that he might have obtained from watching the Rams walkthrough could have filtered it’s way up via Daboll to other coaches.

It was the Rams job to kick Walsh out of the practice, they didn’t, so that’s on them. The problem that Daboll seems to be facing is that he didn’t tell Goodell about his interaction with Walsh when they first spoke a few months back. It’s unclear what could come of this, but with the lack of a smoking gun, I can’t imagine that this will lead anywhere.

Filed under: Main Page