Ex-Patriots employee sends league eight tapes

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Videotapes to be sent to the NFL by a former New England Patriots employee will show the team violated league rules by recording coaches' signals from opposing teams between 2000 and 2002, the NFL said Thursday.

But the tapes will not show that the Patriots recorded the St Louis Rams during their pre-Super Bowl walk-through in 2002 as had been reported, spokesman Greg Aiello said.

Aiello said the league received a list of the tapes that were to be delivered to the league Thursday by Matt Walsh, who worked for the Patriots from 1997 to 2003.

"The list indicates that all eight tapes are of opposing coaches' signals, consistent with what we already know," Aiello told Reuters.

The tapes show New England recorded signals in regular-season games against Miami, Buffalo, Cleveland and San Diego and against Pittsburgh in the 2002 AFC championship game, the New York Times reported.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 last year for the illegal taping and the club lost a first-round draft pick. The organization was also fined $250,000.

But the episode took a new twist the day before this year's Super Bowl when the Boston Herald reported an unnamed Patriots employee taped the Rams' final walkthrough before the 2002 championship game.

New England, a two-touchdown underdog, stunned St Louis 20-17 on a 48-yard field goal by Adam Vinatieri as time expired.

Walsh agreed to surrender the tapes and other evidence to the NFL by Thursday with the promise that neither the Patriots nor the NFL would sue the former video assistant.

(Editing by Clare Lovell)