Posted on 03/21/2012 10:04:06 AM PDT by DukeBillie
The NFL handed down its punishment of the Saints today, ending more than two weeks of speculation after the league first announced its wide-ranging investigation into a pay for performance program the franchise ran during a three-year period.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, coach Sean Payton will be suspended for a year, general manager Mickey Loomis eight game and fined $500,000 and the Saints will be docked $500,000 and second draft picks in 2012.
On March 2, the NFL set forth a wildfire of appall and amazement by releasing findings it says clearly points towards the Saints running a bounty program from 2009-11 under former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.
In all, between 22 and 27 players were involved in the program.
Initiated in 2009, the year the Saints made the Super Bowl, players were getting paid extra money under the table for big plays that included “cart-offs” and knockouts, according to the NFL.
Those plays earned $1,000 and $1,500, respectively, under the system run by Williams, who occasionally put money in the kitty, the NFL alleges.
At some point during that season, the pool reached nearly $50,000, the report says.
The investigation was brought on after the playoffs when the Saints put big hits on both Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner and Vikings signal-caller Brett Favre.
When asked by the NFL about whether he had any knowledge of the program, the league says Saints general manager Mickey Loomis claimed he did not, but promised to stop it.
A year later, when the NFL says it made Saints owner Tom Benson aware of pay for performance program, Loomis again was asked to stop the program. Again, the NFL says Loomis made no attempt to halt the practice.
Saints coach Sean Payton, meanwhile, is said to have not directly participated in it. He did, however, fail to stop it by instructing his assistant coaches and players that the program was against league rules.
Since the story came to light, both Loomis and Payton have released a joint statement accepting responsibility and declaring that it won’t happen again.
Additionally, Payton and Benson have both been to New York to visit with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, the coach to apologize, the owner to again offer continued cooperation.
Meanwhile, Williams, now with the St. Louis Rams, issued a statement nearly immediately after the initial allegations came out, accepting responsibility as well. He has since met with Goodell, too.
Who dat?
Ouch dat!
contrast with how Selig handled the steroid scandals.
Greg Williams is suspended indefinitely
The man behind it all Gregg Williams suspended indefinitely.
They all should be barred for life ala Pete Rose. Period. What a disgrace!!
What a bunch of girlified, wussified bull sh*t! This stuff happens in locker rooms all over the NFL...every locker room in the NFL and in just about every college, high school and pop warner league locker room in the country. Not for money...but it happens. It’s football not girls softball.
I remember while watching both those games, particularly the game against the Cardinals, and thinking how I'd seldom seen a team go after quarterbacks the way the Saints were. I also thought some roughing penalties should have been called, especially the way they kept hitting Kurt Warner.
People can blabber about how football is a rough game, but games should be won by superior play and not by trying to injure opposing key players>
These penalties are appropriate and there should also be some penalties for the players involved. There was a story about how Peyton Mannings' initial neck injury happened after rough hits in a Redskins game when Williams was the defensive coordinator.
The commissioner works for the owners. The owners want more money. You get more money if more games are played —but only if the merchandise remains undamaged. It certainly has nothing to do with player safety.
People will no longer respect Sean Payton. He’s a disgrace to his game, his team, and his family. Mr Nice Guy is a dirt-bag thug; no better than Michael Vick.
Have they protected the QB too much? Sure. Have they protected the WR's to much? Yep. But when you are paying players bonus money under the table to injure a guy...an possible END their career? That's too far. Let someone do that in your line of work and see how you like it. Let's see if it's fair and part of the "game."
Great news! This isn’t Roman Gladiators. But it would be a great proposal for our convicts (Running Man: the movie)
How about all of Congress in the Hunger Games arena?
Here's the sad thing is many Bears fans have a lot of respect for Payton since he went to Naperville North High School here in the suburbs. But if they paid for "cart offs"? He should be arrested IMO!
There is a difference between hitting someone hard and trying to cause a severe injury or end a player’s career. Only a thug would take pleasure in hurting someone else.
No first round picks lost (don’t know if they were traded or not), and they keep their Super Bowl championship.
They got off easy.
Strip ‘em of the Super Bowl trophy, and give it to the Vikings who were clearly better the better team, but chose to play by the rules.
Real defenses know how to tackle.
Payton’s suspension will cost him $7-million dollars in lost salary.
That seems a bit harsh...
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