Belichick: 'There was no deception' in videotaping opponents

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick lashed out at the team's former video assistant Friday, saying in a televised interview that Matt Walsh was a low-level staffer who was fired for ``poor job performance''

``There's not a lot of credibility,'' Belichick said in an interview broadcast on ``CBS Evening News.''

``You know, he's tried to make it seem like we're buddies, and belong to the same book club and all. That's really a long, long stretch.''

Belichick acknowledged that he violated NFL rules prohibiting filming opponents signals but insisted there was no intent to hide what he was doing.

``I made a mistake,'' he said in the interview. ``I was wrong. I was wrong.''

That rationale has already been rejected by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who fined the coach $500,000 and docked the Patriots $250,000 and its first-round draft pick.

``I didn't accept Bill Belichick's explanation for what happened,'' Goodell said Tuesday, ``and I still don't to this day.''

In an interview with HBO for ``Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel,'' Walsh dismissed Belichick's attempts to minimize the impact of the taping. Walsh told HBO he was coached on how to evade NFL rules, and that team officials instructed him on ways to avoid detection.

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