NFL Drops The Hammer On The Saints For Bounty Program

or the dumbest thing

 

this is pretty harsh but they deserved it. I heard that a letter went out to nfl teams about the investgation going on and the saints absoltly ignored it. SO I really dont feel bad for them. But now all they need is for Drew Brees to step up and move this team on from here.

 

I agree with you. Roger Goodell is making an example of the Saints coaches and Mickey Loomis to discourage this kind of thing from ever happening. Bounty programs have no place in the NFL.

 

During a time when the NFL is super-sensative to player safety...not to mention the lawsuits the NFL is facing from those players from the 80s.

 

Random thoughts:

1. In today's Dallas Morning News, sports columnist Tim Cowlishaw says the NFL penalties were too severe.

2. Here's something to think about. Players paying players is bad enough. Coaches paying players is bad enough. Is it too much of a stretch to think that bookies could be involved in something like this somewhere down the line?

 

Shut up Tim Cowlishaw, no one cares what you think.

 

Here's a link to the column:

Severe Saints penalties a sign of abuse of Goodell's power? | Dallas Cowboys Blog | Sports News | News for Dallas, Texas | The Dallas Morning News

 

I sent him an e-mail saying how I felt. I'll see if he replies, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

He's replied to me on twitter a few times about some stories, so I know he's not opposed to doing that kind of thing, but yeah it's not terribly common.

 

55,000 emails sent to the league office yesterday from saints fans.

:icon_eek:

 

54,000 of those were from SaintsFan72

 

:Loco:

 

I guess Drag is responsible for the other 1,000...no wonder he's not around...his fingers are sore.

 

lol...not going to waste my time doing that. they were told to stop...they didn't...then they lied about it...they should be punished. i just don't agree with the year suspension of Payton...a bit stiff if you ask me.

 

there needs to be an independent council for punishments

 

I heard from Cowlishaw. He said that the Saints lying about the bounties was worse than the bounties themselves. In my e-mail to him, I mentioned the Cowboys' penalty by the NFL. He agreed with me that it was ridiculous.

 

I have to agree with Cowlishaw here.

What gets me are the people who try to compare this to the Patriots cheating or go on and say the players do this on every play. If you are comparing what the Saints have done with the bounties to either of those two thin situations mentioned above, you're missing the point on this whole bounty thing.

It's not so much about the "bounty.". It's about carting people off the field, trying to injure players, possibly leading to career ending injuries. This is all occurring at a time when the NFL is SUPER-sensitive to player safety. They are getting sued by ex-players that played in the 80s that have head injuries. The NFL is trying to clean up the game, trying to eliminate these head and neck injuries that are occurring in today's game. You can't have teams trying to dole out money, manipulate the salary cap trying to get opposing players carted off the field.

The biggest component to all of this isn't about the "cheating." It's about lying and the Saints lying to the league after they were told to stop after the investigation in 2009. The Saints continued to do it and every time it was brought forward by an investigator, the Saints had plans in place to cover it up. That's what it's about. Not the "bounty" system or cheating. It's about protecting the players and the NFL is trying to ensure that this doesn't happen again. While I think the penalties are a bit harsh, I commend the NFL in this situation.

 

Cut. Print. /thread

 

can't argue with anything you said. I think if Payton didn't lie about it and try to cover it up the penalties wouldn't be as harsh. It is their fault and they have to deal with it.