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Lost in the Tim Tebow news yesterday was the severe punishment handed down by Roger Goodell to the New Orleans Saints. The commissioner hammered the Saints far stronger than anyone could have possibly predicted. Head Coach Sean Payton got suspended or an entire year and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is suspended indefinitely. The general manager got suspended for the first 8 games next season and another coach will miss 6 games. The team also lost draft picks and were fined.
I really didn’t think Payton would get suspended without pay or an entire season. I understand Goodell had to come down harsh but isn’t that too harsh? The Saints will be without a coach and general manager or half of a season. We haven’t even heard what the penalties will be for the players supposedly involved. I would imagine some players could miss substantial time and lose a pretty good amount of their pay as well.
The Rams are big losers here too as they hired Williams to be their defensive coordinator for the new season. Now the Rams have to make a hire and try to implement a new defense.
It seems most people in the media are ok with the punishment and I do agree that a bounty program has to be removed from the NFL. The issue I have is that teams have been doing this for a long time, the Saints just happened to get caught. There was a rumor out there that tight end Jeremy Shockey broke the news to the NFL office. Shockey played on the Saints Super Bowl team but is now a Carolina Panther.
As long as the Saints still have Drew Brees they should be fine but Payton called all their plays. Does Brees now call all the plays? He still hasn’t been signed to a long term deal either which is shocking. It’ll definitely be an interesting year in New Orleans. Let’s wait and see what further punishment comes to the players.
There have been plenty of moves since Free Agency started yesterday. Since I’m a Jets fan I’ll start there. The team brought back OLB and longest tenured Jet, Bryan Thomas on a 1 year deal. He suffered an Achilles injury early in the season and it was evident we really missed him. The Jets have been linked to a couple safeties like Reggie Nelson, and Brandon Merriweather and they are bringing in ex-Lions quarterback Drew Stanton in for a visit. Stanton played his college ball at Michigan State.
Staying in the AFC East, the Bills are said to be close to signing the best defensive free agent on the market in OLB, DE Mario Williams. Williams was the first pick taken by the Texans in the 2006 NFL Draft. They were also rumored to be close to signing New Orleans Saints wide receiver Robert Meachem, but he instead signed with the San Diego Chargers. The Miami Dolphins traded away star wide receiver Brandon Marshall to the Bears in exchange for two draft picks, both believed to be 3rd round picks. You thought maybe Miami was looking to clear space for Peyton Manning and Reggie Wayne, but Wayne re-signed with the Colts.
The Tampa Bay Bucs have had a huge start to free agency as they signed away wide receiver Vincent Jackson from the Chargers with a 5 year deal. Today they signed former Saint All-Pro guard Carl Nicks and signed ex-Browns CB Eric Wright.
The other big news from today is that the best wide receiver in the NFL, Calvin Johnson, received a seven year, $130 million dollar extension.
Lastly, Peyton Manning is meeting with the Titans today after visiting with the Dolphins yesterday.
I never really thought about bounties being a part of professional football. The only time I really think of bounty is when I’m watching "Dog: The Bounty Hunter" or that awful movie “The Bounty Hunter” with Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler. I had heard in the past that Buddy Ryan would offer incentives to his players when he was the coach of the Eagles to take out an opposing player.
The more I think about it, I would imagine this goes on quite a bit amongst the players. What do we love as football fans? We love touchdowns and big hits. If guys on the team set a pool up between themselves I don’t really have a problem with it. The issue would be if players are going out of their way to intentionally hurt a player.
Now that we know the Saints have been found guilty of harboring this, you’re going to hear a lot of references to the NFC Championship game against the Vikings in Brett Favre’s last game. I remember watching that game and couldn’t believe the hits Favre was taking. I didn’t think anything of the hits at the time but you can definitely see that some guys were trying to get paid for taking him out that day.
I hope we find out how the NFL decided to investigate the Saints. Obviously someone in the organization had to talk to someone in the NFL office or to someone with ties to the NFL office. Could it have been a player, coach, ball boy, who knows but it would be fascinating to know. Gregg Williams, the former defensive coordinator of the Saints, is supposedly meeting with the NFL today to talk about the program he started. We’ve heard reports that this bounty program also existed in Washington where he coached and also in Buffalo where he was the head coach.
What is the punishment going to be and what team(s) is going to be affected by it? Williams recently took a job with the Rams, are they going to be without their defensive coordinator while he’s out? Does Saints Head Coach, Sean Payton get suspended for his involvement or lack thereof? Does the GM, Mickey Loomis, lose his job? What happens to linebacker, Jon Vilma, who reportedly put up $10,000 for anyone who knocked out Brett Favre in that Championship game?
It’s a pretty fair guess that the punishment that is going to come down from Commissioner Roger Goodell is going to be severe. His whole platform has been about player safety. I think to start the Saints are going to lose multiple picks in the NFL Draft next month. I’m expecting Payton to be suspended a game. I have a feeling Loomis will get fired by the ownership of the Saints. Gregg Williams without a doubt will be suspended and fined and his name tarnished. Whatever players were involved will be fined and I’m sure Vilma will be suspended as well.
We’re not sure when the punishment will come down but it’s going to be unlike anything we’ve seen before. I do think bounties will continue to go on, but teams will be more careful going forward.
There has been good news coming out of the NFL meetings and with the schedule being released and talk of the upcoming draft I am starting to feel that football fever again. The draft is only a week away, and while it is not nearly as hyped as years past, it still should be intriguing to see where some of the big names go. The schedule also shows something to get excited about with several compelling early matchups.
The Carolina Panthers just can't seem to catch a break. They own a number one pick in next week's NFL draft that no one really envies. They are coming off an awful 2-14 season that earned them the number 1 pick and saw an end to the John Fox era in Carolina. Now, as the schedule's been released, they find out that statistically they have the hardest schedule of all teams in the upcoming 2011-2012 season. The Panthers are joined at the top of the list of hardest schedules by fellow cellar dwellers Buffalo. This is of course based off of last year's records so it could end up totally different, but nonetheless this news can't excite Panther fans
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