More than a few observers wonder if the influence Patriots owner Robert Kraft has in the NFL stretched into the Spygate probe. Harry How/Getty Images

MAILBAG Dr. Z will answer select user questions each week in his NFL mailbag. Your name: Your e-mail address: Your home town: Enter your question:

What would Andy Sipowitz have said if they'd have told him, "Andy, the perps are going to provide their own evidence against themselves?" Or Vic Mackey? We've got cops and ex-cops in the family ... OK, in Linda's family ... and they just shake their heads over this nonsense masquerading as investigative fact finding.

Why are these high level people doing this tap dance with Roger Clemens instead of pushing for charges, if they feel they're merited? Because he's a superstar and they're fans. Why has Goodell perpetrated this huge fraud, allowing the club to be its own investigator, and then destroying the results of the investigation? Because, and this is strictly my own viewpoint and in no way reflects the opinion of my sponsors, Bob Kraft is a fair-haired boy in league affairs, the member of six committees, including the prestigious Broadcast and Finance committees.

Enough rabble rousing. Lee of Elma, N.Y., asks, and here we go again, "If Bill Belichick is found to have taped the Rams before the Super Bowl, will he go down as the Richard Nixon of NFL coaches?"

Did you know that Nixon was a wine buff? The story they tell about him is that, when he'd entertain guests on his yacht, Sequoia, he'd have a bottle of 1966 Chateau Margaux wrapped in a towel and served only to himself, while his guests were served an inexpensive Zinfandel. I once did a column about that and interviewed members of the Wine & Food Society for their opinions. My favorite response was from Harriet Lembeck, who taught a wine class.

"Why, the '66 isn't ready yet," she said.

All this is my way of trying to move us to a lighter topic. OK, one more ... on second thought, I'm going to ditch that heavyweight query from Tom of Orchard Park, N.Y., and move us on to one more apropos, footballically speaking (I once heard Joe Cronin, in a baseball press conference, say, "baseballically speaking"). Here's Tom's back-up question: "Why was Art Monk selected to the Hall of Fame ahead of Andre Reed?" Because this was the ninth time Monk was in the room and people were tired of launching the same arguments.

"Is Andre Reed still waiting because other wideouts played on great teams and the Bills fell short?" asks Marc of Peterborough, N.H. Hey, did you guys get together? Team success should not influence personal acclaim, I believe, but unfortunately it does. Personally, I've always been a Reed man. But too many wideouts came up this year.

Michael of Durham, N.C., feels Troy Smith deserves a shot at the Ravens' QB spot, based on his good outing against Pittsburgh. The Steelers had clinched and were resting people. I don't know how good the guy is. If they fall in love with someone in the draft, well, Ozzie Newsome's track record is pretty darn good.

Attention Martin D. of Bristol, Tenn. Which question do you want answered, the one about your great-uncle or still another Patriots thing? Hint. I'm sick of Patriots questions. The great-uncle. Good. I'm particularly sharp on anything that happened more than 60 years ago. And thanks for the nice things you said.

"My great-uncle, Mac Peebles, played line for the Redskins in the mid-'40s. Do you know anything about him as a player?"

I am now looking at the program of a game I attended when I was younger than I am now. The date is Dec. 8, 1946, and the cover says Merry Christmas, and it has the signatures of lots of Giants players. New York won, 31-0 over the 'Skins. Peebles, No. 19, and, incidentally, his formal first name was Jim, is listed as a third string left end behind Ralph Schilling and Doug Turner. I believe that depth chart is bogus, though, because I have a check mark next to his name, and in those primitive years of my charting, that's the way I designated a good performance.

He's listed in the Total Football encyclopedia as 6-4, 231, but in his rookie year of '46 his program weight was 218. There were no tight end-split end designations in those days but the other end, Ed Cifers, was a big guy, too, 6-2, 227. Sammy Baugh liked big receivers. Mac Peebles was known as a good defensive player, especially after his rookie year, when his weight actually did go up to 231. He started seven games at end as a rookie and caught nine passes for 164 yards, a fancy 18.2 average, and one TD.

The next year his pass catching dropped to four, but he was seeing most of his duty at right tackle, and he started 11-of-12 games. In '48 he was second string behind John "Tree" Adams, a tall, rawboned (cooked boned?) 6-7, 242-pounder, and in his last three years, '48 through '50, he had six starts. He didn't catch any more passes. He was 30 in his last season, the war, I would assume, delaying the start of his five-year career, which he started at age 26.

Since I dwell in the past, as everyone knows, it was a pleasure to research all of this, partly from memory, partly from my library. If anyone else has anything of this nature, for instance the Oorang Indians of the 1920s, I'm your man. I'm not kidding, Jimmy, stop laughing, I've got stuff on those guys.

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