While the NFL said that videotapes turned over to it in the New England Patriots' spying scandal would reveal nothing new, Sen. Arlen Specter told the Post-Gazette last night that he's not ready to end his inquiry into the matter and that he remains skeptical.

The tapes might actually support the Patriots' contention that they turned all of their evidence of illegal taping over to the NFL.

Although an NFL spokesman said yesterday that league personnel have not yet reviewed the eight tapes, the New York Times reported they show questionable footage of five opponents in six games between the 2000 and 2002 seasons. The most extensive footage involved New England's victory in the AFC championship game against the Steelers in '02 at Heinz Field, the newspaper reported.

Because the Patriots previously acknowledged to the commissioner that they had illegally taped coaching signals in those games, they likely would face no further sanctions from the league.

"What we received [Wednesday] night is a list of the eight tapes that were delivered today," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told the Post-Gazette. "The list indicates that all eight tapes are of opposing coaches' signals, which is consistent with what we already know.

"There is no Rams walk-through tape on the list."

That latter bit of information might be the key to ending the drawn-out matter, which resulted in NFL commissioner Roger Goodell fining the Patriots $250,000 and coach Bill Belichick $500,000 last fall, when the illegal taping was first exposed. He also made New England forfeit a first-round pick in the 2008 draft.

Matt Walsh, a former Patriots video employee who turned over the eight tapes still in his possession, will meet Tuesday morning with Goodell to discuss the issue. Aiello said the commissioner will have a news conference after that meeting, but he did no know if the tapes would be made public.

Walsh then will meet with Specter, R-Pa., in Washington. Specter has been a vocal critic of the way the NFL has handled the case and remained so yesterday.

Specter hopes to find out the details of the taping and how far up in the Patriots organization they had knowledge of it.

"I want to get the specifics of what they did," he said. "From all indications they had the ground camera watching hand signals, and then compared that to the play that went right off. Later, they used that to watch the hand signals. I want to get details on how they gave that to the backup quarterback, who relayed it to the coach and then the quarterback on the field.

"I want to know who authorized it, who knew about it and how far up it went in the chain of command."

Specter said that "they keep changing the goal posts," that the scope of the illegal taping keeps widening in years and in the coverage. He said there's evidence on the new tapes that not only did the Patriots record opponent coach's defensive signals, but their offensive signals as well.

"Who would have gone to that much trouble if it didn't amount to much?" Specter said. "If a guy wasn't skeptical I don't think he'd be awake."

Specter said he's not sure whether he will call for a senate hearing or not, that he wants to hear Walsh first.

"I'm not going to make any judgment on that until I see how it goes. I think we have to take it a step at a time."

In an earlier statement, Specter said: "I think it is very unfortunate that the NFL has already started its 'nothing new' spin before watching the tapes or finding out what Mr. Matt Walsh has to say. Let's see where the evidence leads."

Walsh, now a club golf pro in Hawaii, stated in January that he had further evidence of wrongdoing by the Patriots. Shortly thereafter, the Boston Herald reported that the Patriots illegally taped the St. Louis Rams' walk-through practice the day before New England beat them in the Super Bowl in 2002.

Many assumed that report came from Walsh, but his lawyer, Michael Levy, told the New York Times that "Mr. Walsh has never claimed to have a tape of the walkthrough."

Walsh's January statements led to a nearly four-month negotiation between his lawyers and the NFL that resulted in the tapes being turned over this week. The league has indemnified Walsh against any lawsuits that might arise from member clubs because of his activity.

What is now widely known as Spygate came to the forefront when a Patriots video cameraman was caught in the act on the field in Giants Stadium of taping New York Jets coaches physically signalling plays on the sideline last fall, against NFL rules.

Goodell met with Belichick and other Patriots officials and they turned over tapes and notes that showed they had followed such procedures since 2000, claiming they did not know it violated any rules.

Goodell then meted his punishment and said if more violations turn up that were not revealed to him at that time by Belichick and the Patriots, he reserved the right to further discipline. The commissioner stated he also destroyed all the evidence.

Specter has criticized the NFL for destroying the evidence and has repeatedly called for Goodell to further explain why he did it. Goodell has said on several occasions there was no more use for the data and he did not want it to leak publicly. Specter has threatened to hold Senate hearings into the matter.

Steelers executives, along with former coach Bill Cowher, have said they do not believe any illegal taping had anything to do with any of their losses to the Patriots, who have admitted to illegally taping during four games against them, including both of their AFC championships at Heinz Field.

Yesterday, Steelers spokesman Dave Lockett said: "We're going to wait until the commissioner's investigation is complete. At that point we'll decide if we have any further comment."

Patriots spokesman Stacey James said, "We're withholding comment at this time."