Goodell

PHOENIX — Spygate sure has touched a nerve.

If Roger Goodell wasn't acutely aware of that before Friday, he certainly has no doubt now. Not after repeatedly having to defend his decision to destroy notes and videotapes linked to the New England Patriots' cheating scandal.

One day after Sen. Arlen Specter asked why the NFL commissioner trashed the evidence, Goodell fielded a half-dozen questions on the subject during his Super Bowl news conference.

"I think there are very good explanations for the reason why I destroyed the tapes or had them destroyed by our staff," Goodell said. "They were totally consistent with what the team told me. There was no purpose for them. I believe it was helpful in making sure our instructions were followed closely, by not only the Patriots, but also by every other team. I think it was the appropriate thing to do. Our discipline sent a loud message ...

"The action that we took was decisive and it was unprecedented."

But not totally embraced. Specter, R-Pa., said Goodell's explanation, "didn't make any sense at all."

"If they are under lock and key at the NFL headquarters, they aren't going to be available at all," he said in Philadelphia.

But Goodell said a copy of one of six tapes made either in 2006 or during the 2007 preseason had, indeed, made its way to the media before all the tapes were destroyed.

"They may have collected it within the rules, but we couldn't determine that. So we felt that it should be destroyed," he said.

NFL security confiscated a video camera and tape from a Patriots employee during New England's 38-14 victory over the New York Jets in the season opener. The employee was accused of aiming his camera at the Jets' defensive coaches as they signaled to players on the field.

Goodell fined coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and docked the team $250,000 and a first-round draft pick. It was the biggest fine ever for a coach and the first time in NFL history a first-round draft pick has figured in a penalty.

"It sent a loud message to not only the Patriots, but every NFL team that you should follow the rules and you better follow the rules," Goodell said.

Specter also wondered just how much information the Patriots were collecting on those tapes.

"They talked about defensive signals and don't say if there was any taping or stealing of offensive signals," he said. "The fine was for the totality of the circumstances, not just the taping. Well, wait a minute, what else is involved here?"

Spygate overshadowed any talk about Sunday's championship game between the undefeated Patriots and the New York Giants. Congress is interested because, according to Specter, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the issue could put the league's antitrust exemption at risk.

"I do believe that it is a matter of importance," Specter said. "It's not going to displace the stimulus package or the Iraq war, but I think the integrity of football is very important, and I think the National Football League has a special duty to the American people — and further the Congress — because they have an antitrust exemption."