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Between 22 and 27 defensive players on the New Orleans Saints, as well as defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, maintained a "bounty" program funded primarily by players in violation of NFL rules during the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons, the NFL announced Friday.

The investigation by the league's security department determined that an improper "pay for performance" program included "bounty" payments to players for inflicting injuries on opposing players that would result in them being removed from a game.

Read more: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/76386 ... m-nfl-says

Adam Schefter ‏ @AdamSchefter
NFL determined that former Saints DC Gregg Williams administered the program with knowledge of other defensive coaches.

Adam Schefter ‏ @AdamSchefter
Discipline for the Saints could include fines, suspensions and forfeiture of draft choices.

Adam Schefter ‏ @AdamSchefter
NFL investigation of Saints began in 2010 when allegations were made that Saints targeted QBs such as Brett Favre and Kurt Warner.

I knew that '09 NFC Championship was dirty. Damn f'n shame.

This goes so far and above beyond Spygate. There is a chance the Rams will be forced to remove Williams. There is also a chance this violates the salary cap and that could bring additional penalties. We're talking loss of major picks, loss of cap room, multi-million dollar fines to the team, etc.

Unreal. And football's enough of a physical game anyway; why would you want to add to it with bounties?

Be interesting to see the difference between the NFL's punishment of the Saints and the NCAA's punishment of the Miami Hurricanes, who also held a bounty pool. I bet the NFL actually does something about it.

Icness wrote:This goes so far and above beyond Spygate. There is a chance the Rams will be forced to remove Williams. There is also a chance this violates the salary cap and that could bring additional penalties. We're talking loss of major picks, loss of cap room, multi-million dollar fines to the team, etc.

bring it.

As a fan that follows the NFL closely, things like this have no place in the game.

I don't watch the game to see guys get hurt because Vilma dumped 10k cash on a table in a meeting telling people that it was theirs if they could knock out Farve.

Additionally, Payton has always reeked of arrogance and I'm not one bit surprised that he let this slide.

The Saints will pay a heavy price, but I hope they do more to Williams than just fine him. He he was a ringleader.

Part of me isn't shocked that something like this happened in the NFL, but I wasn't expecting it from the Saints. It also makes you rethink the hits that basically ended the careers of Warner and Favre a couple years ago.

Personally, I would demand the resignation of Gregg Williams from St. Louis and Sean Payton from his head coaching position and make them forfeit all of their draft picks for this season and possibly next.

This such a deplorable action and it should be punished to the fullest extent. As much as I've hated some the actions Goodell has taken against players and teams, he needs to bring the hammer down on this one.

I fully agree with Da Schwab. This is inexcusable and a shame for this sport. If you think about it there have been some really questionable hits by the saints in the last few years. Roman Harper pulling out the latest hit in football history for example:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54jLO6WlBws[/youtube]

Wow. I did not realize that Saints GM Loomis knew and also Sean Payton and did nothing, even after the Owner ordered it to stop. This went all the way to the top. Good grief, I think the NFL will come down real hard. Would not surprise me at all to see Payton and Williams suspened without pay for at least 8 games, if not ordered to sit out the entire year. And Loomis may get fined out the rear end and then suspended and ordered to stay away from the Saints HQ for a period equal to the time Payton sits out. And they will likely be kissing away their 1st round pick this Draft also.

I remember watching that hit on Smith and wondering what that fool for the Saints was doing. First, it was a blatant penalty and gets his team set back 15 yards. Secondly, Smith doesn't get intimidated by anyone. But more important, Smith is a raging maniac if provoked and would have beat the living crap out of that guy if his teamates did not step in. Talk about messing with fire. Heck, he beats the snot out of teamates during Spring Training. And those are his friends!

Da Schwab wrote:Part of me isn't shocked that something like this happened in the NFL, but I wasn't expecting it from the Saints. It also makes you rethink the hits that basically ended the careers of Warner and Favre a couple years ago.

Personally, I would demand the resignation of Gregg Williams from St. Louis and Sean Payton from his head coaching position and make them forfeit all of their draft picks for this season and possibly next.

This such a deplorable action and it should be punished to the fullest extent. As much as I've hated some the actions Goodell has taken against players and teams, he needs to bring the hammer down on this one.

With their blitzing over the years? Doesn't shock me at all, nor would be shocked if any other team employed this method and just haven't got caught yet. +1 to everything else though.

Apparently it happened while he was DC for the Redskins. Welp. This is something you'd see on that show called Playmakers that was canceled.

I'm sure everyone in the league is doing it. It's just like the Patriots, they got caught.

This is what i do not understand about players...
they complain about their health and they participate in such an attempted act to actually injure players.

I understand players will always get injured it is part of the sport, but to play a game to try and get a player injured is a joke in my eyes.

I personally believe the players should be held as responsible as the coaches.

Bigger question is why the hell were they dumb enough to keep the evidence??

i said it on another board

the hammer really needs to come down on this one....heaviest penalties around

This the Kurt Warner hit? Dirty, but clean no?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CC1mpi7hIM&feature=related[/youtube]

You can see the way he launched himself and went up high on an unaware QB that he was trying to hurt him. Not saying for sure a flag should have been thrown, because you are allowed to hit hard. But Warner had no shot at that tackle, and it would not have taken much to knock him down. He never saw it coming. But watch the way the Saints player launches, and you know his intentions. He was out to collect the bounty. And I expect he got it.

Ong_dynasty wrote:This is what i do not understand about players...
they complain about their health and they participate in such an attempted act to actually injure players.

I understand players will always get injured it is part of the sport, but to play a game to try and get a player injured is a joke in my eyes.

I personally believe the players should be held as responsible as the coaches.

Good point. Hard to believe none of the players stepped up and fought against this. I've lost all respect for Jon Vilma, who apparently was the top lieutenant in Williams' scheme.

They are now saying on twitter on Indy that Dungy believes the hit on Manning against Washington while the Gregg Williams was there started all of his neck issues. I honestly dont recall the hit or have video though. Obviously hard to proves this, but now the 2 biggest stories in the NFL are connected.

Icness wrote:

Ong_dynasty wrote:This is what i do not understand about players...
they complain about their health and they participate in such an attempted act to actually injure players.

I understand players will always get injured it is part of the sport, but to play a game to try and get a player injured is a joke in my eyes.

I personally believe the players should be held as responsible as the coaches.

Good point. Hard to believe none of the players stepped up and fought against this. I've lost all respect for Jon Vilma, who apparently was the top lieutenant in Williams' scheme.

why are some players saying this kinda thing is common in the nfl? is it really?