Wow - big news from the NFL re: the Saints

**bluestree** · 03-06-2012, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by bluestree

This doesn't diminish the Saints Super Bowl win. We all knew this bounty stuff went on, it's been an open secret. I think the first player impllicated in this scandal was Red Grange. It may turn out that Williams took this to another level, but just the same, no news here otherwise.
Maybe the league office is demonstrating that talk of an increased emphasis on player safety is more than just lip service. That could be the real story.

The other shoe drops. This is what I was getting at. I have a feeling the football of the future will be as different as the football of the '70's;

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...ulture-change/

**Pruitt** · 03-06-2012, 05:04 PM

This is going to be huge - the penalties I mean.

I would tell Saints fans to enjoy this season - no way Brees sticks around for 2013.

**darvon** · 03-06-2012, 05:34 PM

just wait until players who are cut now and don't make the 2012 roster for any team. Lot's of stories going to be coming out.

Problem is that Bounties were everywhere.

**wxwax** · 03-06-2012, 05:47 PM

Originally Posted by darvon

Problem is that Bounties were everywhere.

I don't think that's true. Plenty of ex-players say they didn't have one.

**darvon** · 03-06-2012, 05:55 PM

Didn't mean it literally. How about Bounties were in several teams in the last 15 years? Once you get stories on Team B with a bounty and then Team C and then Team D, people are going to be jaded with it. And the reporters know about a lot of it and will be looking under every rock.

**darvon** · 03-06-2012, 05:56 PM

So far I have heard of stories of bounties on Dallas, Washington, Philly, Bengals and the Phoenix Suns.

**wxwax** · 03-06-2012, 06:31 PM

One of the stories I read about the bounty issue implied that the NFL has for a long time tried to pin down enough facts to make a formal accusation against any team that was offering bounties. They just happen to have hit a vein -- or an artery -- of gold with the 'Aints.

I don't doubt that on many teams over the years, some kind of informal process existed, possibly originated by players. But that's quite a bit different to the highly organized and ridiculously rich -- $50,000 -- effort headed-up by Gregg Williams.

It sounds like the NFL is eager to make an example of the Saints in order to discourage any kind of bounties. I hope it works.

bluestree wrote that he didn't think this tainted the Saints Super Bowl. The more I read, the more I disagree. I wonder if they could have beaten the Vikings without the 6 unpenalized late hits on Brett Favre? I somehow doubt it.

**SpartaChris** · 03-06-2012, 08:10 PM

Jason LaCanfora tweeted a couple days back that Sean Payton's agent, someone OUTSIDE the organization, also contributed some cash to the bounty pot.

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2012/3/2...-saints-bounty

Allowing an outside influence to fund what could arguably be considered criminal activities.. Wow this is bad..

**darvon** · 03-06-2012, 08:32 PM

bluestree wrote that he didn't think this tainted the Saints Super Bowl. The more I read, the more I disagree. I wonder if they could have beaten the Vikings without the 6 unpenalized late hits on Brett Favre? I somehow doubt it.

Again, did a bounty create late hits? Would the late hits have been there without the bounty? The fact that they are unpenalized is NOT a bounty issue, unless you think the Refs got some Bounty.

**wxwax** · 03-06-2012, 08:34 PM

Originally Posted by SpartaChris

Jason LaCanfora tweeted a couple days back that Sean Payton's agent, someone OUTSIDE the organization, also contributed some cash to the bounty pot.

http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2012/3/2...-saints-bounty

Allowing an outside influence to fund what could arguably be considered criminal activities.. Wow this is bad..

A convicted felon, no less. I'm not sure that he's Payton's agent, though.

But even after his felony conviction for ticket scalping, Payton kept Mike Ornstein close to him. And the NFL has emails from 2009 and 2011 in which Ornstein tells Payton he's willing to donate money to the bounty program. When the NFL confronted Payton with the emails, he denied having read them, per Peter King.

You can't help but think that the Saints are handling this wrong. Gregg Williams knows he's in deep doo-doo and after initially denying the allegation (again, per Pater King) he 'fessed up and even made a public apology.

There has been no such acknowledgement from Payton or Loomis, let alone an apology or contrition. Deafening silence. And the Saints organization, through the words of Tom Benson, says it looks forward to the whole thing going away. Again, no apology or contrition.

I just wonder if that's going to upset Roger Goodell and make the penalties even harsher? I just can't see how New Orleans is making the right moves, although what they're doing is entirely in character for Loomis and Payton.