Sean Payton suspended for 1 year!!!!

[vols fan]

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!! I knew NFL would do something but damn I didn't see that coming

[vols fan]

I figured Williams would get a year and Payton maybe a few games but Williams might be gone for a long time. Saints fined 500,000.00 and forfeit their second round picks for 2012 and 2013.

[kbsooner21]

Wow! Hefty as hell

[Letswinalot]

Drew Brees to become like peyton manning

[wayne1218]

LMAO

Should we call this Bountygate?

[vinnyvegas]

Well deserved...not a Saints fan, so now the msg has been sent. Saints should have listened to league 1st time. Rams feel pain too losing DC.

[wayne1218]

Wait until they come down on the 20 or more players like Vilma too. Williams career is over if he doesn't start naming names. That is why it is indefinite right now.

[ravenmaniac]

Saints got off easy. You know what would have been a good punishment for them. Take the franchise tag away from them this year. Drew Brees could then be a free agent. That would have really crippled them. As for Greg Williams, I wouldn't be surprised if he never coaches again in the NFL

[vols fan]

Man if we can get some suspensions on the Packers then my Falcons might have a chance.

[Letswinalot]

Im not a Saints fan, but my opinion is that this is very harsh. I mean this is football, not flag football.

[Eliminator]

I am a Saints fan, as they are my home team, WOW, what a punishment...If your Tom Benson, you have to fire Sean Payton, and GM Mickey Loomis TODAY....they didnt listen to league or the owner to stop the bullshit....Fuck both of them...

Clean house and lets move on!!!

[jcindaville]

Baseball Dave and Longnex.......... Opinions on this??

[ravenmaniac]

Im not a Saints fan, but my opinion is that this is very harsh. I mean this is football, not flag football.

You obviously don't get it. It's bad enough they had this bounty program in place but it went on for 3 years after they were told repeatedly that if it was going on to cut it out. Then they all lied about it to the commissioner's face. I would have done the same thing if I was Godell. The coverup and lies always get you in more trouble than the crime.

[Letswinalot]

You obviously don't get it. It's bad enough they had this bounty program in place but it went on for 3 years after they were told repeatedly that if it was going on to cut it out. Then they all lied about it to the commissioner's face. I would have done the same thing if I was Godell. The coverup and lies always get you in more trouble than the crime.

Idk if you get it. I remember Balty's D being very happy about breaking Mendenhall's arm. It's football.

[baseballdave]

Baseball Dave and Longnex.......... Opinions on this??

Fuck the NFL !!! LOL

Seriously, I have a few friends that work with the Saints and they are not sure of the truth.

Here is my take on it - and there are 2 scenarios

First, if players were either gambling or being paid to "hurt" players, then there is a serious problem. If players were being "encouraged" to hurt opponents, thru illegal hits, then the punishment fits the crime. There is no place for this.

Now, if they were being "encouraged" to make a devasting LEGAL hit - an ESPN highlight hit - then that is part of football. They are not playing flag football and this part of football has been inbred in players since they were kids. Youth coaches tell their players to "hurt the QB" They don't literally want the player hurt, but they want him to "know that we are there."
In high school and college, players are rewarded for those "ESPN hits." They get stickers put on their helmets for those highlight hits, just as they also do in youth football.

If ANY one is naive to think that that the Saints were the only NFL team that did this, they are living in a dreamland. ALL NFL teams have a "bounty" or an "ESPN" type program (if that is the right word) where players are rewarded for big hits.

Morten Anderson, when he played with the Saints, came out and said that when they played the Houston Oilers (thats how long this goes back), after a kickoff, he was 30 yards away from the play and a player from the Oilers " blew him up."
He had nothing to do with the play BUT it was a legal hit.
Two years later, the player who did it came to the Saints and Anderson asked him about it. He told him he made "good money" for that hit. Was that a bounty ?

MANY players from other teams have already said that THEIR team does the same thing. Whats going to happen now with them ?

I hope they "bounty" was just for an ESPN hit and not illegal hits. If it was for illegal actions, then the punishment fits the crime. If it was for "ESPN" hits, then the punishment is WAY to steep. I need to hear more of the NFL evidence.

I will say this, just like in court, if the NFL has witnesses to an illegal bounty, then Coach Peyton has the right to face his accusers. And it will be VERY interesting to see who was the so called "rat" because what happens in the locker room, should stay in the locker room.

And also a point of fact, the Saints in the last few years, have been one of the least penalized teams in the NFL. If this so called illegal bounty was going on, they fooled many officials during the games.