Bounty-Gate

The NFL "recently" discovered that teams, mainly on the defensive side of the ball, put out bounties, or cash payments to players who knock out other players. This has been apart of football for years. The New Orleans Saints are the first team ever to get caught and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was the ring leader. A few weeks ago I wrote a post about how I thought that Jeff Fisher should consider someone else for the D-coordinator job in St. Louis. I knew that Williams and Fisher have been for over 20 years and that would override everything but my point was that the Saints got scored upon with easy in the last few years. Now I understand why. Williams made payouts for big hits on star offensive players, especially quarterbacks, fumbles and interceptions. If you watched the Saints defense the last few years, one always wondered why the left their feet for routine tackles, and why their were always out of position on most of their plays. The worse part about all this is the "intent to injure" players. The bounty part, although not a good thing, has always been apart of the game for motivation and for entertainment. But when you add the intent to injure, then you not only put your team at risk but also the league as well. Looking back at the 2009 season in particular, the Saints tried to take out Kurt Warner, Brett Favre, and Peyton Manning. After watching those games, I remember vividly feeling like I was hit. Most of the Saints hits were high-low, and by that it was at the qb's knees and trying to break him in half. The hit on Kurt Warner after an interception, basically ended his career. If you track Williams career, the one thing you will find that all the teams he coached play through or after the whistle. For instance in 2007, Tony Dungy(read here) has talked about the play that Manning hurt his neck on. It was against a Williams Redskins where Manning was hit so hard that during the timeout, he told backup Sorgi to get ready.

Why put your team at a disadvantage by getting penalties called against you? One word explains it all. Intimidation. Fisher and Williams learned at the feet of Buddy Ryan, and Buddy ball is all about intimidation. Just ask his other protege's Rex and Rob Ryan. The problem going forward is that if Fisher keeps Williams on board, anytime there is a personal foul, or a player from the opposing team gets hurt, people will immediately think bounty. Fisher's teams normally play close to the whistle. Does his regime really need this scrutiny? Can the Rams, a struggling franchise afford to have the league poking around all the time? Williams actions have not only put his previous employer in trouble but has definitely put his current employer in a tough situation as well.

I will leave with this question. Sean Payton knew about the bounty, as well as Mickey Loomis, the GM. Jonathan Vilma is mentioned in the report as well as a few other defensive players. My question is what did Drew Brees know about this bounty program?

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