Banner, the Eagles' president, and Reid, the team's head coach, would love to believe that Bill Belichick cheated his way to victory 3 years ago in Jacksonville. They would love to blame their 24-21 loss on a guy on a grassy knoll with a video camera. But they can't.

"Our view is that the league should do a thorough investigation and get all the information they possibly can," Banner said yesterday during a break at the NFL scouting combine.

"But we're comfortable with the outcome of the game and the way it happened. The result is what the result is. Nothing is going to change that. We need to move forward. It's not an issue for us."

Belichick and the Patriots were fined $750,000 and were forced to forfeit one of their two first-round picks in the 2008 draft last September after they got caught using a video camera to try to steal the New York Jets' defensive signals in a Week 1 game.

Belichick admitted to the league that he had been videotaping coaches for the purpose of stealing signals since he became the Patriots' head coach in 2000. But he claimed - wink, wink - that he didn't know the practice was illegal.

The league confiscated tapes and notes from the Patriots and later destroyed them, which is why Specter is suspicious of a possible coverup. Belichick also told the league he never used the tapes for same-day purposes - i.e. videotaping coaches in the first half, deciphering the signals at halftime and then using the information in the second half.

"I believe [the Patriots won fairly]," Reid said.

The Patriots' offensive numbers were significantly better in the second half of Super Bowl XXXIX than they were in the first half. But Reid doesn't think it's because Belichick illegally stole their defensive signals.

"You can't know exactly what a team's doing," Reid said. "You're changing your signals up all the time. If they were sitting up there in those apartments near our practice fields [in South Philadelphia] and taping that, I'd worry about that. That would bother me. I don't care about anything else."

Specter has suggested that the Patriots may have stolen the Eagles' defensive signals when the two teams played each other in the 2004 preseason, and then used that knowledge to their advantage in the Super Bowl rematch. Reid said that's not possible.

"We changed the whole thing," he said. "They weren't the same signals by the time we got to the end [of the season].

"Now, if he was doing what he said he wasn't doing and actually videotaping [coaches in the first half and watching the tape at halftime], it would be a different story."

While NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has said that the league's Spygate investigation is closed, the league still is trying to schedule a meeting with Matt Walsh, a former employee in the Patriots' video department who has hinted that he may have evidence the Patriots secretly taped the St. Louis Rams' walkthrough practice the day before Super Bowl XXXVI. The Patriots beat the Rams in that game, 20-17.

Goodell met yesterday morning with the league's competition committee and detailed the league's investigation of the Patriots last fall, including the decision to destroy the tapes and notes it confiscated. None of the committee members indicated any problem with the way the investigation was handled or the discipline that was handed down.

"In my mind, it's yesterday's news," said Atlanta Falcons president Rich McKay, who is co-chairman of the competition committee. "The team admitted something was going on and they were punished. We feel it was dealt with, and it was dealt with pretty severely."

"I'm just tired of hearing about it," said another committee member, Giants president John Mara. "It was thoroughly reviewed. We are unanimous as a committee that it was thoroughly investigated."

Even Indianapolis Colts president Bill Polian, who has had his share of run-ins with Belichick and the Patriots, had no problems with what the league did.

"The process was fair, detailed and efficient," Polian said. "What was on the tapes was explained to us. What was on the notes was explained to us. The reason that information was done away with was explained to us.

"From my perspective, it was a thorough, fair, efficient process and they arrived at a disciplinary action, which the commissioner felt was appropriate. I was satisfied with the explanation, satisfied with what was done."

Asked why he thought Specter still isn't satisfied with the way the league handled the investigation, Polian said: "Far be it from me to second-guess a U.S. senator. He's a lot smarter than I am. He'll make whatever decision he feels is appropriate. We can only speak for ourselves, and I think we've done that."

Notes

Yesterday was the deadline for putting the franchise and transition tags on players. Twelve players ended up being franchised, including Colts tight end Dallas Clark, who has since signed a long-term contract with the team. One player was transitioned - Steelers offensive tackle Max Starks. Franchise players receive a 1-year deal that is the average of the top five salaries at their position. Transition players are paid the average of the top 10 salaries at their position . . .

The Steelers' top scout, director of football operations Kevin Colbert, said the current crop of draft-eligible offensive tackles is the best he's seen in more than 20 years. "The majority can play on the left side or both," he said. "It's rare to have that many guys that big and that athletic who can play on the left." Colbert said teams should be able to get a starting-caliber tackle in any of the first three rounds . . .

Michigan's Jake Long, regarded as the top offensive tackle in the draft, drew just two penalties in his 4-year career at UM. He got flagged for a false start against Northwestern last season and had a holding penalty as a red-shirt freshman in 2004. He also gave up just two sacks in his career. Long would have been a high first-round pick last year if he had come out early, but decided to stay in Ann Arbor for his senior year. "I didn't think I was ready last year," he said. "I think I'm a smarter, better player now than I was a year ago. I think I definitely made the right choice." Long is expected to be a top-five pick in April. *