Saints are in deep

Yeah, he's Fisher's boy. Apparently Fisher's teams have always done this.

This is going to spread like a wildfire. What's Goodell going to do when he realizes half the league is doing this shit?

 

maybe not half but a lot more than just the saints and any other team williams is/was with. But yeah, it will be tricky for Goodell to handle this "fairly". Not that I would lose sleep but it would be wrong if he just made an example of the saints. If i were a saints fan and that happened i would be beyond livid if he just decided to cripple my team for it.

 

I say at least half the league has been doing this in some form. It will be interesting to see if there's a statute of limitations of sorts. If the 1997 Oilers were doing this, does the Titans organization get punished at all? Do they get a lesser penalty?

I'm thinking Goodell will just joe pesci the Saints, and then "close the case". You don't want want open up Pandora's Box and leave the entire NFL with a black eye.

 

There's no doubt that other teams have done this. But never to this level of sophistication. From all indications, other 'bounty' incentives were player run and no one else from the organization was involved. In this case:

1. The defensive coordinator was running the program to a level of detail apparently never seen in the NFL.

2. The head coach was aware of the program and did NOTHING. In fact, there are emails from Payton to a two time convicted felon who also once defrauded the NFL of $350,000. These emails covered the details of the system.

3. The GM was aware of the system and did NOTHING. The reports are that the owner instructed him to put a stop to it and he ignored the directive.

These are the reasons (among others) that Goodell will set an example of the Saints organization, Gregg Williams, and the players involved. We have actually seen a couple of very questionable plays (Fujita and Harper) against Steve Smith. There's also the $10k bounty on Brett Favre, half of which looks to have been funded by the two time convicted felon.

 

What nobody has mentioned is that the Fujita hit was pre-Gregg Williams. So it's very possible that this is just common in the NFL.

 

You sure? I thought that was the 2009 season.

edit: nevermind...I looked it up. It was the 2006 season. But I don't know that the hit proves that something is common in the nfl. the common denominator is still the New Orleans Saints. it's been pretty obvious that they have become one of the dirtiest teams in the NFL. Perhaps it's becacuse of the bounty system. Perhaps they are just a group of punks being coached by a punk.

 

I think many players may reward big hits, but to specifically say beforehand "let's injure this guy so he's out of the game" hopefully isn't quite so widespread or pretty damned organized from the looks of things with the Saints. I would think a player/team would want to beat an opponent when all their starters are playing. I mean if the Panthers beat Atlanta with Vick out, people were always saying the win was BECAUSE Vick was out, not because the Panthers played better or were the better team. If the team/players believe in their own abilities, then they shouldn't need to take someone out in order to win, nor should they WANT the best guys out.

It's almost sounding like part of game planning an opponent included selecting the players to take out. And yeah, it makes that hit Harper made on Smitty look even dirtier then it was. I mean now that we have a QB who can pass, who wouldn't want the re-energized Smitty off the field?

Assholes.

 

Posted in visitors locker room at boa:

 

Isnt Drew Brees the head of the players union that helps establish safety, he had to have known what was going on with his own team

 

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