Saints punishment... wow. just wow.

[bozz_2006]

Per PFT HOLY SHIIIIIIIIT
ProFootballTalk: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/21/goodell-lowers-boom-on-the-saints/

Loomis suspended 8 games.
Sean Payton suspended one year.
Gregg Williams suspended indefinitely
Saints docked 2 2nd round draft picks.

wow

 

[FearThePack]

just beat me too it...

Lesson to other teams, DON'T HAVE A BOUNTY PROGRAM

 

[AmishMafia]

Much more than I expected. Great!

Talk about a franchise on the down swing. QB won't resign, turned down huge contract. Head coach gone. Loss of 2 impactful draft picks.

If you are the GM or owner, what do you do?

 

[Southpaw]

Gawd Dayum. That's a LOT more than I expected.

 

[bozz_2006]

Goodell clearly wants to squash this bounty stuff.

It's definitely a big punishment, but you can't say it's unfair or excessive. Those words are always relative. It's only excessive or unfair if the Saints are punished more harshly than others in this situation.

Since this bounty stuff is unprecedented, the punishments can't be characterized as unfair or excessive. The bar has been set.

 

[RB1958]

I don't understand though why they've let Vilma skate. After all he's the one who was offering the $10K bounty.

AmishMafia, owner do as far as what? He can't move the team or anything as he's too closely tied to Louisiana and New Orleans through financial incentives for years to come (sweetheart rental deals for property he owns to state agencies at rentals 2 to 3 times going rate, etc)

 

[Southpaw]

I don't understand though why they've let Vilma skate. After all he's the one who was offering the $10K bounty.

I read on PFT that fines and suspensions for particular players might take a little longer for the league to figure out and come to light. The Vilma accusations haven't really been confirmed either so nothing might happen to him at all.

 

[Texas9erFan]

SLAMARAMA!!!

 

[Southpaw]

also their assistant coach/LB's coach Joe Vitt has also been suspended for 6 games

 

[RB1958]

The Vilma accusations haven't really been confirmed either so nothing might happen to him at all.

Living down here in the Bayou State, there's pretty much no doubt with anyone that Vilma had a definite involvement.

And with the missus being an 'Aints fan this should make for interesting dinner conversation tonoght

 

[AmishMafia]

I don't understand though why they've let Vilma skate. After all he's the one who was offering the $10K bounty.

AmishMafia, owner do as far as what? He can't move the team or anything as he's too closely tied to Louisiana and New Orleans through financial incentives for years to come (sweetheart rental deals for property he owns to state agencies at rentals 2 to 3 times going rate, etc)

Not sure I understand why moving the franchise would even on the table.

If I'm the owner I fire the coach. I keep the Gm and instructhim to not resign brees. And I go into rebuild mode.

How can you deal with losing a HC for a year? Having an interim is awkward.

I trade any player of value for picks. I distance myself and team from anything having to do with this embarrassment.

 

[Darth Garfunkel]

Wow, Roger "Macho Man" Goodell delivering the big elbow from the top rope!

 

[Southpaw]

Losing Payton for a year is really devastating for them. He has very heavy involvement with the offensive gameplanning and play calling. It's a big hit.

 

[RB1958]

Not sure I understand why moving the franchise would even on the table.

For years Benson wanted to move out of this State with the ultimate goal of selling the team.

If I'm the owner I fire the coach. I keep the Gm and instructhim to not resign brees. And I go into rebuild mode.

GM had some involvement too. Might cost a pretty penny to get Payton out of his contract as well.

How can you deal with losing a HC for a year? Having an interim is awkward.

Truthfully doubt it's going to make that much difference to them. Interim coach knows system. Offensive coordinator is still there. Defense needed work so maybe it works out better for them?

 

[Southpaw]

Truthfully doubt it's going to make that much difference to them. Interim coach knows system. Offensive coordinator is still there. Defense needed work so maybe it works out better for them?

It's Payton's system and in truth he's really the OC, not Charmichael.

 

[Forget Favre]

I still think the trophy should have been taken away.

For the consequences, I just hope this is a good start and not the end.
Will be interesting to see how other teams as well as the refs react when they play the "Saints."
Knight's armor with sword and shield is what I'm guessing.

 

[Forget Favre]

Anyone else feel glad it's that team and not ours?

Yes friends, it's another good day to be a Packers fan.

 

[Southpaw]

I just hope this isn't going on in our teams locker room. If it is this should be a reminder to stop doing it. In this day in age nothing can be kept a secret for long.

 

[RB1958]

It's Payton's system and in truth he's really the OC, not Charmichael.

True, but somehow I suspect that they knew this was coming for a while. Most of the nation probably wasn't aware, but Sean Payton moved his family to the Dallas area quite a few months back. If the writing was on the wall, I would expect a team to have been working behind the scenes to plan for a year or more of change.

 

[Bogart]

That is total ********.


They didn't suspend Belichek when he got caught with Spygate, but more importantly, Payton does not do anything on the defensive side. Blaming it all on him is total BS.

I wonder why the NFL didn't investigate all teams. Just single the Saints out. **** you Roger Goodell and your "safety comes first ****". As many injuries as I've seen around the years, I wouldn't be surprised if Pittsburgh, Baltimore (they admitted), Washington, and oh, the NFL's favorite team, the New York Giants got busted with something like this. Didn't the Giants admit they were targeting Kyle Williams head in the NFC Championship and they did nothing about it? I guess it's OK when you're a top market team that everyone loves.



This stuff has been going around for YEARS. If you're going to punish one team, you might as well go back and start damning the historic teams that did it. Goodell just proved once again, that by 2020, we won't even have defenses, and if you touch the quarterback anywhere on his body, you will get suspended and fined. Who gives a **** that they beat up Kurt Warner and Brett Favre. If this was back in the 80's or 90's, no one would have cared at all.



And if any of you say the Saints should lose their Lombardi trophy, then what about the Packers knocking out Jay Cutler in the NFC Championship game? Who's to say, they don't play the bounty game? As many times they got to Cutler, I wouldn't be surprised, nor do I really give a ****, because it's the offensive line's fault for not protecting him (just as the O-line deserves all the blame for letting Favre get his **** kicked in). Did you forget about that? Or what about the god awful Pittsburgh Steelers that needed the refs to beat the Seahawks for them in the Super Bowl? And can't forget the evidence that was surfacing that the Pats had spy gate going on when they played the Rams in the Super Bowl. The Pats didn't even get close to this kind of punishment as they should have been.

This makes me hate Goodell worse, and my fan factor of the league is dropping dramatically.

In the day and age, that running a bounty system that has went on for so many decades is considered worse than spying and taping your opponents walk through (including the Rams before the Super Bowl), the NFL is dying as far as killing the defense and making it a total one dimensional offensive game.

 

[El Guapo]

Bogart - you don't get it and I'm not going to argue it with you.

 

[SyX]

Anyone else feel glad it's that team and not ours?

Yes, and I'm glad the punishment is what it is. Williams needs to be gone. Period. Payton through his knowledge and acceptance of the program earned his suspension. It would be nice if the Saints were to have to send the money they would have paid to those who are suspended towards the fund that pays for players' health care expenses. If they wanted to have a bigger impact on the team, reduce their salary cap numbers in lieu of the fine.

This has an immediate impact on the Rams and Saints, and I hope if there is more information, the hammer continues to fall. If I were Jeff Fischer, I would resign my position on the Competition Committee as well.

 

[Brandon]

I might be alone in this, but I still think SpyGate is a far more horrendous act than this "Bounty System" is. I can pretty much guarantee you that MOST teams have this kind of thing going on. Maybe not a coach paying a player, which is the real issue here, but among players you can bet that they probably make wagers on how well they do in a game, or how hard of a hit they can dish out. This is football, not pansieball, hard hits happens so why not motivate one another with a little extra cash on the line?

I will say that "cart hits", in suggesting that you want to put someone in the hospital is a bit far, but your goal as a pass rusher is to lay out as much brutality as you can, that is WHY they work out and get their muscles big and strong.. so they can play strong. There is nothing illegal about hitting a player hard, so why should this tarnish how the Saints play?

SpyGate on the other hand, you have a coach that is one of the most "respected" in the league with the cream of the crop in talent, yet they still feel the need to steal play signals to give them a tactical advantage on the field? Now THAT was deserving of more severe punishment. You don't exactly look like a genius coach when you knowingly steal signals and have an unfair advantage.

I don't support a coach giving their players incentives as their contract of millions should be incentive enough to play hard, but as I mentioned you can probably wager that these "bounty programs" exist between team mates on many teams. The Saints just happened to be the one to get caught.

 

[Southpaw]

lol @ spygate being worse. The Saints blatantly broke the rules in place on bounty programs which directly coincides with the League's strong policies on player safety in which this is blatant disregard for that. And it was going on for 3 years. Payton knew all about it and the organization lied to investigators about it. It doesn't matter if Payton is on the other side of the ball. He's the ******** head coach. It's his job to know what's going on in his own locker room. If he knew he should be punished - and he has been. If he didn't know then maybe he's not equipped to be in charge of a team

 

[Ceodore]

per yahoo

A league investigation found that bounties were placed on four quarterbacks -- Brett Favre, Kurt Warner, Aaron Rodgers and Cam Newton.