Boston Herald now regrets using unidentified sources in Patriots article which alleged team practiced gridiron espionage

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Herald apologized Wednesday for falsely reporting that the New England Patriots videotaped a walkthrough by the St. Louis Rams a day before the teams met in the Super Bowl in 2002, saying it should not have run the story without better verification.

The Herald apology come a day after a meeting between NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and former Patriots video assistant Matt Walsh produced no major revelations about the team’s taping procedures.

Walsh told Goodell he did not tape the walkthrough and had no knowledge that any other Patriots employees did so.

The Herald’s story, under Patriots beat writer John Tomase’s byline, was based on unidentified sources and released Feb. 2, one day before New England’s 17-14 Super Bowl loss to the New York Giants.

In the apology, published in the newspaper’s Wednesday edition and posted on its Web site, the Herald said the story was based on sources “it believed to be credible.”

“We now know that this report was false, and that no tape of the walkthrough ever existed,” the paper wrote.

“We should not have published the allegation in the absence of firmer verification,” the apology stated.

“The Boston Herald regrets the damage done to the team by publication of the allegation, and sincerely apologizes to its readers and to the New England Patriots’ owners, players, employees and fans for our error,” the apology said.

The newspaper featured a front-page headline reading, “Sorry, Pats,” and placed the three-paragraph apology on the back inside page of the newspaper.

A Patriots spokesman did not have an immediate comment on the apology.

In a statement released after Walsh’s meeting with Goodell, the Patriots said that since the Herald story “we have been defending ourselves against assumptions made based on an unsubstantiated report rather than on facts or evidence.”

Patriots owner Robert Kraft held up a copy of the paper during an interview with CNBC on Wednesday.

He called the story “very damaging” and said he was glad the paper admitted it’s mistake. But he said the paper’s apology probably couldn’t undo the damage to the team’s reputation nationwide.

“This erroneous story coming out was really harmful and what bothers me more about this story is where it went, throughout the country, where people don’t know us as well,” he said. “And unfortunately, now they won’t see this retraction. But people who know us, know what we’re about.”

Kraft said the team has done an audit of its procedures to make sure everything complies with NFL rules.

“We, our people, broke a rule the first week of the season,” he said. “Since that time, there has been no team in the history of sports who has been under more intense scrutiny. And we were able, over the next 18 weeks of the season to go 18-0.”