A murmur rippled across the room as the NFL revealed the tapes provided by former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh.

The cause was not some new revelation of wrongdoing by New England, which was caught last September recording opposing coaches' signals in violation of league rules.

No, the most scandalous tidbit that emerged yesterday after Walsh spent more than six hours meeting separately with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and Sen. Arlen Specter in New York? A snippet of tape that showed not football but close-ups of San Diego Chargers cheerleaders performing during a 2002 game.

Otherwise, little fresh information surfaced. Asked if he considered the Spygate investigation closed, Goodell said, "As I stand before you today, and having met with Matt Walsh and more than 50 other people, I don't know where else I would turn."

No new fireworks came from Specter, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has criticized the league's handling of the case. When his afternoon meeting with Walsh in Washington ran long, he postponed his news conference until today.

Walsh did not comment after his morning meeting with Goodell and left through a different exit to avoid the media gathered outside his session with Specter.

Walsh provided some closure — and a new nugget — about one of the most serious allegations made against New England. He had no knowledge of anybody with the Patriots taping the Rams' final walkthrough leading up to the 2002 Super Bowl, Goodell said.

The Boston Herald reported in February that an unidentified employee illegally recorded the walkthrough before New England, a two-touchdown underdog, upset St. Louis, 20-17.

But Walsh did claim a New England assistant asked him what he saw during the walkthrough.

"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," the Patriots said in a statement.

They added: "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.' "

SEAHAWKS

TATUPU ARRESTED FOR PROBE OF DRUNK DRIVING

Seattle Seahawks Pro Bowl linebacker Lofa Tatupu was arrested early Saturday morning for investigation of drunken driving.

Police in Kirkland, the suburban home of the Seahawks' headquarters and practice facility, reported Tatupu registered blood-alcohol levels of .155 and .158 in breath test readings — nearly twice the legal limit in Washington.

Those tests came almost 90 minutes after the 25-year-old son of Punahou alum and former NFL special teams' star Mosi Tatupu, was handcuffed and driven to the police station.

"I want to apologize to my family, teammates, the Seahawks ownership and organization, and the fans for making a poor decision and putting myself in a bad situation," Tatupu said in a statement released by the team yesterday.

"I take seriously my role as a leader on this team, and in the community, and because of that I'm disappointed and embarrassed by the level of poor judgment I used last weekend."

The arrest is particularly embarrassing to the Seahawks, who have held up Tatupu as the example to which they want others players to aspire. In March they gave him a new contract worth $42 million that could keep him in Seattle through 2015.

ELSEWHERE

Bills: Buffalo released Kevin Everett yesterday, clearing the way for the former tight end to receive disability benefits for the spinal cord injury that ended his career. Everett was initially paralyzed from the neck down after a violent collision with then-Denver receiver Domenik Hixon on a kickoff return in last year's season opener.

Raiders: Oakland signed free agent defensive end Greg Spires to a one-year contract to compete for a job as pass rusher on the right side. The Raiders have been looking for someone to complement left end Derrick Burgess since losing Chris Clemons as a free agent to Philadelphia. Spires, who has 39.5 sacks in his 10-year career, was released by Tampa Bay in a salary cap move in February.