What if New Orleans had been successful? What if the bounty the Saints put out on opposing quarterbacks had been collected? What if the Saints had knocked Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers, Minnesota's Brett Favre, Arizona's Kurt Warner or Carolina's Cam Newton out of the game?
What if they had knocked Newton out for two games, or five, or the season? How would you feel if your guy, the biggest star the Panthers have ever had, no longer was able to perform because of a deliberate cheap shot?
The NFL punished New Orleans severely Wednesday for its bounty program. The NFL in effect put a bounty on the Saints.
The league suspended head coach Sean Payton for a year and suspended defensive coordinator Gregg Williams indefinitely. The Saints forfeit two second-round draft picks and lose an assistant coach for the season and the general manager for half a season.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell came down hard to the Saints, and he should have.
Professional football is rough. But to offer a reward to take a player out of the game is stupid and unethical and undermines the credibility of the game. And for coaches to be aware of it, or be part of it, or condone it, or look the other way?
The Saints offered $1,500 for a knockout and $1,000 for a cart-off. Hurt a player so badly that he has to leave the field and earn cash and, what, frequent cheap shot points?
There have to be ethics and there have to be rules and the Saints knowingly and willingly violated them. They got what they deserved.
You tellem Tom. Screw the Aints!!!!
Posted by: jiyugh | March 21, 2012 at 02:29 PM
Couldn't agree more, Tom. And I would even if the Panthers were the violators and not the Saints.
Posted by: joke | March 21, 2012 at 03:02 PM
@Tvan, they were all investigated.
Posted by: Real Panther | March 21, 2012 at 03:39 PM
I agree the punishment was fair. This is football not UFC. I don't think it is a pansy move to punish them for the bounty program. Just for your entertainment, players should deliberately hurt other players. No, these are people with lives and families outside football. This ain't ancient Rome and the time of gladiators in the Coliseum. Oh yeah, I'll tell you like a cop told me once when I was pulled over for speeding. What about the other guy, he said you can't every fish in the sea.
Posted by: Steve | March 21, 2012 at 03:41 PM
@ Real Panther...
If they were all investigated, then where are the punishments for the Bills, Redskins and Titans? Unless you have forgotten, Williams coached there and his players admitted that they ran something similar.
Posted by: Tvan | March 21, 2012 at 03:58 PM
Payton should be banned for life from NFL along with anyone identified who went along with this. Brutal, bad, unnecessary, evil, all come to mind. Fine is too small. The rest of the teams that Payton was involved in should be double checked. I cannot believe that anyone would put bounties on human beings to intentionally injure them. Shocked at the whole thing.
Posted by: Dennis | March 21, 2012 at 04:03 PM
Why doesn't anyone mention the cheap shot taken on Steve Smith after he scored that touchdown against them last season when he was standing in the end zone AFTER the play?
Posted by: markp | March 21, 2012 at 04:18 PM
MarkP - I bet they had a bounty on Smith. That was a deliberate cheap shot.
This is a rough game. Putting out bounty's on players to end their game, season, career or possibly life is NOT sportmanship. These coaches should never work in the league again. The players need to be fined and fired as well.
Posted by: Lee | March 21, 2012 at 04:24 PM
My sentiments exactly Lee.
Here is the classic difference between cheap shots and hard hitting football. Roman Harper hits Steve Smith after the play is over on a touchdown; cheap shot. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLNBkRJyDYM
Vernon Davis knocks the crap out of Roman Harper on a game winning touchdown play by running him over; karma. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEv94hdRySE
Posted by: markp | March 21, 2012 at 04:59 PM
I agree and its about time Goodell did something besides hand out fines. You can always tell the cheaters cause they teams end up fighting.
Posted by: Ray | March 21, 2012 at 05:43 PM
I am just happy our TE busted that shaddy organization!!! We love you Shockley....dont mess with the hurricanes
Posted by: Scott | March 21, 2012 at 09:03 PM
I wonder what would happen if, all of a sudden, all of the law abiding citizens and players decided that we would play dirty in everything we did.
I bet I know who would be crying the loudest. If the NFL would see which teams were hurt the most by the injuries sustained against New Orleans and took away NO's draft picks and gave them to those teams, if the NFL said to the 25+ participating players that they would only get HALF of their BROTHERHOOD pensions since they were trying to hurt their brothers, and suspend all of the coaches who knowingly took part in this fiasco for life, some of those lplayers who took part might think twice before doing it again. it is not like they do not make enough money after all.
Posted by: wayne4304 | March 22, 2012 at 11:42 AM
How could Payton want to intentionally hurt someone that bad... that's now how you play the game. Happy he got caught.
Check out Kurt's interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_RLkU9XB98
Posted by: ATB | March 22, 2012 at 03:02 PM
Wall Street Ace ~ he retired in 2010 but check out his interview... super funny!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_RLkU9XB98
Posted by: ATB | March 22, 2012 at 03:04 PM
It doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone that if the Saints had intended to hurt people, there would be hurt people all over the place. I haven't noticed any 'victims' lying around. The Saints play rough...and admit it...but they also play within the rules. Maybe the rules are what needs changing.
As for bounties, what a ridiculous idea! Why would guys who make millions work even harder just to make a mere $1000 to $1500 extra. They're just doing what they are paid to do, and, for the Saints, that's sack the QB. Football's a rough game, remember?
Posted by: Jo | March 22, 2012 at 03:12 PM
ban Payton for life, and start suspending players for multiple games
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Posted by: Tara | April 22, 2012 at 12:56 AM
, if they had given him at least more screen time, like, he dying maybe in the last mssoiin, IDK, it would be better. The screen time he had was ridiculous. I mean, come on, he's in the cover of the game, for God's sake! He dies right after the tutorial, Goddamn it!I also liked the new characters, and I don't know why, but it looks like Let's Pretend has a lot more outfits. I agree that Whored Mode was useless, you basically can do what you do there in the game, considering that in Campaign Mode you customize your character and fight hordes of enemies. So yeah, pretty stupid.About the activities, I also hated having to play them, ESPECIALLY Mayhem, but they were forced in the other games too. In this one, it almost felt like a demonstration of all the activities. In SR2, sometimes you had to play three or four activities to have enough respect and go for the mssoiin. I also think like the gangs feel like one, by the way. In this point, I preferred the SR2 gangs.Anyway, I think there are pretty memorable moments in the game. Like, when you rescue Oleg, when STAG arrives, when you kidnap Joshua Birk (the Niteblade), when you disguise yourself as Cyrus Temple, were memorable moments for me. And one activity I liked was the one you protect celebrities, I hated that they took it off as well. I also liked a lot of songs in the radios, but I think SR2 s choice of songs were better.Anyway, I felt like SR2 s controls were easier, I don't know why. Also, it felt like the Protagonist (your character) is way more don't mess with me muthafucka in SR2. I mean, he/she didn't do anything VERY evil in SR TT. In SR2, you put Jessica Parish in a trunk and watch while Maero smashes her with a Monster Truck. Also, you cripple Matt with stage fireworks and bury Shogo Akuji alive. So it kinda felt like your character was more evil, harsh in SR2.I liked the graphics, even though some things are more cartoonish, the graphics were better than in SR2, at least in my opinion.And even though Shaundi is looking better in this one in my opinion, she doesn't feel like Shaundi anymore! I mean, Pierce is still Pierce, but it feels like Shaundi is bitter, IDK. In SR2, she felt like a little sister of the protagonist. In this one? Exactly, it's like it's not even the same character anymore. I know she's probably like that because of Johnny's death, but anyway, they could have made her return to her original character at a farther point of the game.I've talked way too much now, so I'll just get to the point, lol. I think you're being a little too harsh with this game, Joe. I would give it a 8/10, and compared to SR2, a 6,5/10 or a 7/10. Anyway, I've told my opinion, lol.
Posted by: Nicole | April 24, 2012 at 08:37 PM
I hope Parcells does coach, it would keep our division interesting and give Aints fans less of an excuse to keep whining about their well-deserved punishment when they start losing games.
I'd also like to see the Panthers have two more shots at Parcells, and avenge that 35-14 loss in 2006 on Sunday Night Football at BofA, in Parcells' last coaching season (and Tony Romo's first-ever start). Easily one of the more humiliating defeats we've ever had; we led 14-10 early in the 4th quarter before they dropped 25 unanswered on us. Can't believe that was over 5 years ago, man I'm getting old.
If the marriage of Parcells and the Saints becomes official, no Panther fan should object.
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