NFL bans Saints' Payton a year for 'bounties'; Williams out, too

Good on the league for hammering the coaches and the team. I am interested to hear what the Rams do, because Williams has moved on from the Saints, it's got to suck for them. The one unintended casualty I guess. I hope the hand down severe suspensions to players such as Vilma too.
 
Gonna be an emotional homer response but here goes. 100% of players around the league if asked will flat out state when they hit a player their intentions are not pleasant and they hit to hurt. Same goes for hockey. Both the NFL and NHL are fining and suspending very harsh amounts for illegal hits. The word is these "bounties" were in the $1G range which is about 4% of what the fine would have been for hitting in an illegal manner. No Saint player was ever fined for an illegal hit during this time period and no opposing player ever missed a game due to a hit by a Saints player also during this period. As a result, absolutely no competitive advantage was gained with this activity. It was more of an immoral activity not in the respectable interest of the sport. And then we have issues like Dallas and Washington cheating the salary cap in the same season, an action that does in fact provide a competitive advantage and as you can see their front offices received no disciplinary action other than the current season cap being penalized. And to make matters even more ridiculous you have the Bill Belicheck Patriots who were actually caught cheating to gain competitive advantage yet he received zero disciplinary action. No other coach has ever been suspended despite some much more obvious and gross misconduct.

Is this the right response? Maybe. But it is consistent with the precedent set or a gross inflation of reaction to set an example going forward? I find this a gigantic leap in reaction. Goodell has been nothing but a complete joke in the front office with his complete lack of proactive management in the league. He has a bigger dart board than Colin Campbell ever dreamed of and he has no clue what he is doing at the wheel of the most successful sports institution Paul Tagliabue handed to him. He's driving out of control and hopefully he can be stopped before he drives it into the proverbial telephone pole.
 
canucksfreak19 said:
Good on the league for hammering the coaches and the team. I am interested to hear what the Rams do, because Williams has moved on from the Saints, it's got to suck for them. The one unintended casualty I guess. I hope the hand down severe suspensions to players such as Vilma too.
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How does this hurt for the Rams? Williams was Jeff Fisher's D-coordinator before and admitted to doing it then too which I am sure Fisher was and still is fully aware of. Complete and utter hypocritical situation. Williams and his current and former players admitted this has been in place for over 12 years. Many former players and coaches have come out and stated these activities have been in place everywhere they have ever been. It's not a one off. It is and has been prevalent in the sport for half a century. This is a situation of one crime paying the penalty for them all and no team has the right to stand on the high horse and pretend they haven't done it. Williams has personally admitted to doing it in 4 organizations in the NFL and flat out laughed at the accusation he was the only one doing so.
 
lumm0x said:
Gonna be an emotional homer response but here goes. 100% of players around the league if asked will flat out state when they hit a player their intentions are not pleasant and they hit to hurt. Same goes for hockey. Both the NFL and NHL are fining and suspending very harsh amounts for illegal hits. The word is these "bounties" were in the $1G range which is about 4% of what the fine would have been for hitting in an illegal manner. No Saint player was ever fined for an illegal hit during this time period and no opposing player ever missed a game due to a hit by a Saints player also during this period. As a result, absolutely no competitive advantage was gained with this activity. It was more of an immoral activity not in the respectable interest of the sport. And then we have issues like Dallas and Washington cheating the salary cap in the same season, an action that does in fact provide a competitive advantage and as you can see their front offices received no disciplinary action other than the current season cap being penalized. And to make matters even more ridiculous you have the Bill Belicheck Patriots who were actually caught cheating to gain competitive advantage yet he received zero disciplinary action. No other coach has ever been suspended despite some much more obvious and gross misconduct.

Is this the right response? Maybe. But it is consistent with the precedent set or a gross inflation of reaction to set an example going forward? I find this a gigantic leap in reaction. Goodell has been nothing but a complete joke in the front office with his complete lack of proactive management in the league. He has a bigger dart board than Colin Campbell ever dreamed of and he has no clue what he is doing at the wheel of the most successful sports institution Paul Tagliabue handed to him. He's driving out of control and hopefully he can be stopped before he drives it into the proverbial telephone pole.
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The bigger issue here is the fact that a league wide memo was sent out in 2009 ordering this practice to be stopped immediately. This was sent in response to the escalating traumatic head injuries and the dire consequences that are a direct result of them.

Now in 2010, the Saints either began or continued a bounty system, essentially telling the league to stick it. This is not about players trying to injure other players. I agree that you are not hitting to make them feel good, but to place a cash incentive on injuring a player, very specific players, is wrong. For the franchise and the coaching staff to allow it to occur after being ordered to stop is not the same as other forms of cheating. This is blatant disregard for any authority in the league and a blatant disregard for the safety of other players in the league. This is more then appropriate.
 
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GrimUSMC said:
The bigger issue here is the fact that a league wide memo was sent out in 2009 ordering this practice to be stopped immediately. This was sent in response to the escalating traumatic head injuries and the dire consequences that are a direct result of them.

Now in 2010, the Saints either began or continued a bounty system, essentially telling the league to stick it. This is not about players trying to injure other players. I agree that you are not hitting to make them feel good, but to place a cash incentive on injuring a player, very specific players, is wrong. For the franchise and the coaching staff to allow it to occur after being ordered to stop is not the same as other forms of cheating. This is blatant disregard for any authority in the league and a blatant disregard for the safety of other players in the league. This is more then appropriate.
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This part of the argument I can actually agree with. They were told to stop it and did not. No question. But can you argue the hypocrisy of the situation? The sports networks including the NFL Network showcase a "best hits of the week" concept. Players high five and dance around a guy laid out on the turf. The organizations pay and the league sanctions financially compensating players to physically tackle your opponents and doing so in any legally deemed manner is perfectly fine regardless of injury to others.

These are players who make a grand a minute every year. Can you honestly believe that some coach offering them a thousand to lay out an opponent changes the way they play the game in any manner? Many current players flat out admit they hit with the intention of hurting and putting the opponent out on every single play. No Saints player caused a missed game or was fined for an illegal hit the entire duration. What at all did this change in the game? Immoral and opposite of league directive most definitely. Have one speck of impact on any single game or outcome.....none whatsoever. Gross overreaction and an example of one situation having to pay the price for every offense ever committed by every team in the league. A hypocritical response by the league and no surprise whatsoever.
 
lumm0x said:
This part of the argument I can actually agree with. They were told to stop it and did not. No question. But can you argue the hypocrisy of the situation? The sports networks including the NFL Network showcase a "best hits of the week" concept. Players high five and dance around a guy laid out on the turf. The organizations pay and the league sanctions financially compensating players to physically tackle your opponents and doing so in any legally deemed manner is perfectly fine regardless of injury to others.

These are players who make a grand a minute every year. Can you honestly believe that some coach offering them a thousand to lay out an opponent changes the way they play the game in any manner? Many current players flat out admit they hit with the intention of hurting and putting the opponent out on every single play. No Saints player caused a missed game or was fined for an illegal hit the entire duration. What at all did this change in the game? Immoral and opposite of league directive most definitely. Have one speck of impact on any single game or outcome.....none whatsoever. Gross overreaction and an example of one situation having to pay the price for every offense ever committed by every team in the league. A hypocritical response by the league and no surprise whatsoever.
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The cover up is always worse then the crime, right?

I really think this is a direct result of the lies and general disregard for the league office when they tried to eliminate this practice.

Plus, I cant see it the same as you. Placing an increased financial incentive for injuring a very specific player is above and beyond the game. If they said "we give bonuses for every guy you hurt with a legal hit" that would not be nearly the same. They said "Hurt player X, I pay you X dollars."

Could you imagine if Ed Snider or Laviolette offered $10,000 to the anyone who injured Crosby? Its clearly different then just playing every shift through the whistle.
 

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