NFL body slams Saints for bounty program

[Chewie]

This strikes me as way too harsh. I couldn't help but wince when reading the penalty for the Saints participating in their bounty program...

The NFL is suspending former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams indefinitely and Saints head coach Sean Payton for one year because of the team's bounty program, the league said Wednesday.

The league also is suspending Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis for the 2012 season's first eight regular-season games, and Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt for the first six regular-season games, the NFL said in a news release.

In addition, the Saints will be fined $500,000 and forfeit their second-round selections in the 2012 and 2013 NFL drafts, the league said.

Daaayy-uuummmm !!!!

[BIGGIEsmalls 23]

This is unreal. Roger Goodell is not playing around.

I will add to Chewie's info:

Saints punishment

• The Saints are fined $500,000. In addition, because the violation involves a competitive rule, the Saints forfeit their second-round picks in the 2012 and 2013 NFL drafts.

• Saints coach Sean Payton is suspended without pay for the 2012 season, effective April 1.

• Saints general manager Mickey Loomis is suspended without pay for the first eight regular-season games of the 2012 season.

• Former Saints (and current St. Louis Rams) defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is suspended indefinitely from the NFL, effective immediately. Commissioner Roger Goodell will review Williams' status at the conclusion of the 2012 season and consider whether to reinstate him, and, if so, on what terms.

• Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt is suspended without pay for the first six regular-season games of the 2012 season.

• The Saints and individuals disciplined are expected to participate in efforts to develop programs that will instruct on the need for respect for the game and those who participate in it, on principles of fair play, safety and sportsmanship, and to ensure that bounties will not be part of football at any level.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/77181 ... r-bounties

[fleet]

Shows you how serious the NFL is about avoiding injury liability. Its harsh, but the Saints cant say they didn't have a chance to comply. They were warned to clean things up. They ignored the warning. Hence Goodell's angry foot up they ass.

[Cliff Levingston]

It's really overboard. The reason they came down so hard is because it doesn't look good for the NFL, not that the bounty program was all the egregious. Hard hitting is part of the game. Unless they can prove that guys were looking to break legs rather than tackle players, there's not much wrong with it.

[alucryts]

I applaud this boot of justice up the Saint's ass. I found the whole program disgusting to be honest. It is very hard to define why it is so, but the idea that players were out there with even the slightest possible incentive to hit too hard to me was horrible. I get that big hits are always going to be a big part of football, but if there is something that even brings up the possibility of going further than is needed on a hit that is outside of the rules, I am not a fan at all. I don't care if the players say that even with the bounty they didn't go head hunting; the fact that it was there to possibly make someone go too far for money or not is something the league should punish severely. Nothing in sports is worse than losing a season because of a stupid unpredictable injury (Cutler). To have players out there with incentives for doing so is absolutely horrible. I think that the league is making a shift from focusing on big hits and physical plays to something more of a skill sport. I kind of compare this to the shift from hand checking and playing defense with your hands to no hand checking and having to play defense with your feet in basketball. I think at some point we are going to see some advantages given to the defense that make skilled defense more effective than brute defense.

I wonder if players are going to be suspended/fined as well.

[fleet]

It's really overboard. The reason they came down so hard is because it doesn't look good for the NFL, not that the bounty program was all the egregious. Hard hitting is part of the game. Unless they can prove that guys were looking to break legs rather than tackle players, there's not much wrong with it.

I think it was so harsh because they 1st gave the Saints a chance with a warning letter to clean it up and the Saints ignored the letter. In that context, it was actually fair.

[Chewie]

I guess the bottom line is it hurts an NFC rival so I shouldn't be shedding too many tears here.

[heir_jordan22]

I didn't expect it to be this rough but I definitely understand. This will keep anyone else from thinking about doing this anymore.

I just think it's strange that Payton got a year and Loomis got 8 games. Neither of them were directly involved, Payton was basically Williams' supervisor, but Loomis is the boss. He should get the same punishment as Payton IMO.

[BIGGIEsmalls 23]

My conspiracy mind is at work with the following sentence.

Maybe Payton did more than Goodell wants to expose publicly .

[Magilla_Gorilla]

My conspiracy mind is at work with the following sentence.

Maybe Payton did more than Goodell wants to expose publicly .

ESPN was reporting that not only did Payton ignore the NFL's first warning - he actively tried to cover up the bounty program, lied to the NFL about it, and then ordered assistant coaches to cover it up.

[Midway Bully]

It's harsh because the NFL is sending a message to the rest of the teams. There is no absolutely no doubt in my mind that there are/were other teams doing the same thing. This should neuter those other programs. All Goodell did was cut the head off the snake.

[Midway Bully]

I didn't expect it to be this rough but I definitely understand. This will keep anyone else from thinking about doing this anymore.

I just think it's strange that Payton got a year and Loomis got 8 games. Neither of them were directly involved, Payton was basically Williams' supervisor, but Loomis is the boss. He should get the same punishment as Payton IMO.

Payton knew about the program, yet did nothing about it. He even ignored the NFL's weak ass finger wagging, and tried to cover up the whole damn thing.

It amazes me how casual the Saints went about the whole thing. They got it up the ass, and deservedly so.

Which brings up another point. If the Saints were so casual and arrogant about the whole situation, that tells the average fan that this has been going on for a while, and the NFL knew about it. Once the news broke about it, the NFL sent out warnings to the Saints; the Saints obviously knew that this might not be more than posturing by the NFL for media purposes. Once sh*t hit the proverbial fan, Goodell came down hard on their asses, once he realized how big this thing could turn out to be, especially if other teams were found doing the same thing. Hence, the utter shock and collective coma the Saints organization seems to have gone through.

[JDRochholz]

[DJhitek]

I'm sorta with Cliff, I'm a little impartial. I think punishing these types of actions in such a machosimo sport is a bit contradicting but I completely understand the stand and punishment because it's the precedence at work here.

That said, almost all those hits on Favre were borderline criminal and Roman Harper is the biggest cheap shot artist in the game.

[BullHeaded]

1. Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTLlaMY_9PM
2. Ponder for a minute how many Super Bowls the Bears would have won if Goodell was the commish instead of Rozell for the few years leading up to that point.

Honestly, I'm all for what Goodell did to the Saints. I also look at Duerson's suicide. The man shot himself in the chest so his brain would be in tact for scientific study. His brain damage came from LEGITIMATE football. The game can do enough damage when done the right way, why should it be fueled by bounties where players goals become to injure others and ruin careers and livelihoods instead of merely stopping the opponent on third down and getting the ball back.

[BIGGIEsmalls 23]

I copied the following from the NFL GB:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhnn9kbqQUA[/youtube]

Here is a recent yahoo article that says audio as leaked.

Gregg Williams instructed Saints during speech to injure Niners offensive players

The night before Gregg Williams’ final game as the New Orleans Saints’ defensive coordinator, the since-suspended coach gave a fiery speech to the team’s defensive players during which he made specific references to inflicting physical punishment upon several San Francisco 49ers in a postseason game the next day.

In the speech at the team’s hotel near the San Francisco Airport, Williams – according to documentary filmmaker Sean Pamphilon – at one point made a hand signal suggesting he would personally pay for a ferocious shot on 49ers quarterback Alex Smith.

Williams also referenced the prospect of his players inflicting a severe knee injury upon San Francisco wideout Michael Crabtree and exhorted them to “put a lick on” backup receiver Kyle Williams in an effort to “find out” if he was still suffering from the effects of a late-December concussion.

Williams’ speech, delivered less than two months before the Saints’ bounty scandal became public, was revealed to Yahoo! Sports by Pamphilon, who had access to various team functions for much of the 2011 season.

Pamphilon, who directed the critically acclaimed “Run Ricky Run” documentary for ESPN, is working on a project featuring former Saints special teams ace Steve Gleason, who is suffering from ALS. Pamphilon has released an audio recording of the profanity-laced speech (also obtained and listened to by Yahoo! Sports) on his website and said he believes “there’s no doubt at all” that Williams put a bounty on Smith in the meeting.

Said Pamphilon: “At one point Williams says, ‘We hit [expletive] Smith right there’ – then he points under his chin [and continues] – ‘remember me.’ Then he rubs his thumb against his index and middle fingers – the cash sign – and says, ‘I got the first one. I got the first one. Go get it. Go lay that [expletive] out.’ http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=m ... nty_040412

[heir_jordan22]

I think this audio is just a confirmation that he was putting up money to take guys out. I think Goodell did a good job of laying the wood on the Saints to stop this kind of stuff from happening around the league.