Saints Player Suspensions Coming Down

I like the punishments. Even better is that it helps us when we put Griffin out there week 1. No Will Smith. And No Vilma. I love how Vilma denied the whole cash and bounty system. You know his rich a$$ put that money on the table. Whenever I picture him doing this I picture the scene from the punisher where John Travolta offers $50,000 to the man who killed the punisher.

Not sure what you were expecting.


If you did something against rules at your job, and you turned around and told your boss you didn't care what he did and didn't show any contrite. What kind of punishment would you expect to come to you?


Had Vilma apologized, and made a half ass attempt to show he was contrite, he probably wouldn't have been slapped with a year long suspension.

As it is, he did not and chose to roll with the arrogant smart ass route and it cost him big time. Next time he'll know what not to do.

A year for Payton and Vilma really?? Over blown. Contrite?? lol I guess he should have cried. But im sure he's saving that for the appeal.

When asked twice whether any players actually were paid for hits, White confirmed they were without going into specifics. She added that most of the money in the bounty scheme was provided by the players.

"Without them, there wouldn't have been a bounty program," she said.

White, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, was asked last December by the NFL to examine the evidence.

"The factual basis for the sanctions is quite strong in my opinion," she said. "You must safeguard the identity of people that provide information to you in order to protect them, and also to encourage others in the future to come forward with evidence of wrongdoing. This is certainly not a one-on-one, he-said, she-said record at all. This is multiple independent sources."

...

"The players sanctioned all activity and enthusiastically embraced this program," White said. "They always had the option to say no. They didn't say no.

"It is no defense that coaches were involved in it, this was an individual responsibility each player has and each coach has. Each player had the responsibility to say no to this program and they didn't do that. They obviously had the option to report this to the union and they didn't do that."

Independent counsel says*bounty payments were made in New Orleans Saints suspensions - NFL - SI.com (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/football/nfl/05/03/bounty.counsel.ap/index.html#ixzz1tuUttqb6)

I don't disagree with the idea of punishing the players and coaches involved. Without having all the "evidence" at my disposal I cannot say whether or not the punishments are fair. I do however think that Goodell has too much power here. How can one man be the judge, jury and also the one to hear any appeals? On top of that, players are saying that they never saw nor heard the evidence against them. I don't if that is true or not, but if it is, to me that is unsat. At a minimum the players should know exactly what they are being accused of, what their "alleged" role was and have an opportunity to defend themselves. And to find out of your suspension via the TV...poor to say the least on the NFL leadership (Goodell). I in no way sanction the bounty program, but many players former and present have come forward and said it is an NFL thing, not a Saints thing. I know the Saints were warned and continued it, but the players say they never knew the organization was warned, so to them it was business as usual...

Like I said, I am not privy to ALL of the information and evidence, but this whole thing doesn't feel right as far as the way it has all been handled...something must be done at a minimum to put Goodell in check and the NFLPA must figure out what something is.

I don't disagree with the idea of punishing the players and coaches involved. Without having all the "evidence" at my disposal I cannot say whether or not the punishments are fair. I do however think that Goodell has too much power here. How can one man be the judge, jury and also the one to hear any appeals? On top of that, players are saying that they never saw nor heard the evidence against them. I don't if that is true or not, but if it is, to me that is unsat. At a minimum the players should know exactly what they are being accused of, what their "alleged" role was and have an opportunity to defend themselves. And to find out of your suspension via the TV...poor to say the least on the NFL leadership (Goodell). I in no way sanction the bounty program, but many players former and present have come forward and said it is an NFL thing, not a Saints thing. I know the Saints were warned and continued it, but the players say they never knew the organization was warned, so to them it was business as usual...

Like I said, I am not privy to ALL of the information and evidence, but this whole thing doesn't feel right as far as the way it has all been handled...something must be done at a minimum to put Goodell in check and the NFLPA must figure out what something is.

The NFLPA agreed to give him all this power in the new CBA.

If that is true, then they lost more than I thought in that process.

I also heard that the punishments imposed (according to the new CBA) must be for actions that occurred AFTER the new agreement. A lot of what they have been talking about occurred in 2009-2010.

Anthony Hargrove's declaration to NFL regarding Saints bounty scandal - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--anthony-hargrove-s-declaration-to-nfl-regarding-saints-bounty-scandal.html)

Anthony Hargrove's declaration to NFL regarding Saints bounty scandal - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--anthony-hargrove-s-declaration-to-nfl-regarding-saints-bounty-scandal.html)


IF real.....HOLY S#$%.TOAST!!!!

Anthony Hargrove's declaration to NFL regarding Saints bounty scandal - Yahoo! Sports (http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nfl--anthony-hargrove-s-declaration-to-nfl-regarding-saints-bounty-scandal.html)

thats a pretty disturbing quoting coming from Williams. I really dont see how he might coach again.

thats a pretty disturbing quoting coming from Williams. I really dont see how he might coach again.

Agreed. Damn.

Again, I don't condone the alleged actions taken by the players involved in this bounty crap, they should be punished appropriately. However, obviously there was undue influence and pressure on these players to participate and also "play dumb" about it. I hope the NFL "Goodell" took that into consideration when he imposed their punishments. It is difficult to believe he did - suspending Vilma for a year.