Bounty Player Suspensions

#1
005

005

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#1
per Chris Mortensen on twitter

Villma 1 year suspension, Hargrove 8 games, Will Smith 5 and Fujita 3 games #Saints
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Wow.
 
#8
#8
Ohhhhhhhhhhh. I thought there was some sort of compensation thang in Vilma's contract.

I"m bringing the genius today, that's for sure.
 
#9
#9
Dbake005 said:
Ohhhhhhhhhhh. I thought there was some sort of compensation thang in Vilma's contract.

I"m bringing the genius today, that's for sure.
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Draft picks in the NFL are much more valuable than any contract clause. That would never get by the NFL office if a team tried to skirt something like that in...hehe

Draft picks are like children to NFL teams.
 
#10
#10
I know. I was just confusing myself instead of realizing the utterly obvious
 
#14
#14
Yankee_Vol said:
Let's hear why
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Basically depends on your viewpoint of the direction he is taking the game. Ultimately his job is to steer the game in a direction where it will continue to be profitable and popular going forward. If you think that long-term, fans are going to view a product, where most games are 38-35ish contests where defense is essentially outlawed, as entertaining and viable, then sure Goodell is doing a fine job. If you are a fan of old-school, hard-nosed defense, and are going to miss the days where teams could play a 10-7 slugfest because defenders were allowed to come within spitting distance of a QB without drawing a flag and actually defend WR's, then you probably don't think a whole lot of Roger Goodell and the direction he is taking the NFL, and through a trickle down effect, all of football.

Count me amongst the second group.
 
#15
#15
Yankee_Vol said:
Let's hear why
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He suspends players and coaches for a bounty that at worst resulted in Saints players doing things to opposing players that they would have done anyway..after slapping an organization on the wrist for systematic cheating (Spygate).
 
#16
#16
The people who appreciate good old hard-nosed football are going to watch anyways. Growing the brand is about getting the fans on the margins, and that's why there's a distinct rule shift towards offense, towards family friendliness, towards protecting superstars, etc.
 
#17
#17
JokermanVol said:
He suspends players and coaches for a bounty that at worst resulted in Saints players doing things to opposing players that they would have done anyway..after slapping an organization on the wrist for systematic cheating (Spygate).
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This too. For anyone to act like the fact that the money somehow made the players play any different is foolish. At most the amount of money on the line in the bounty system was marginal to these players. It was about the bragging rights. If Greg Williams had thrown together some sort of cheesy trophy together like many fantasy leagues have, it would have had the same affect. Like with fantasy owners, many would rather have the trophy and the bragging rights that come with winning than the cash. The ONLY difference, is that the money would mean even less to the players since it was such a comparatively small amount compared with their actual paychecks.
 
#18
#18
It's easy to blame Goodell here. He has no problem making himself the target. But that's not the point. If that's where you want to spend all of your energy, then so be it.

If I am a Saints fan, I am pissed at Payton. He let the franchise down. He was invited up to NY to speak to the NFL face-to-face and clear this up to some degree. He was asked some blunt questions to the effect of his knowledge of the bounties and he as so much said he had no knowledge. That is a blatant lie.

All he had to do at the point of this question is own up and take the heat. I do not think he would have been given a year if he had done this. He would probably be looking at 4-6 games and be the example for the franchise outside of williams. I still think player suspensions would have come down and might still be the same, but at least the Saints would have their HC and a better chance to succeed in a relatively weak conference with only two viable teams.

You cannot rightly blame Goodell for Payton lying to his face. Payton gave the NFL no choice but to bring the hammer down on him.
 
#19
#19
_vol said:
It's easy to blame Goodell here. He has no problem making himself the target. But that's not the point. If that's where you want to spend all of your energy, then so be it.

If I am a Saints fan, I am pissed at Payton. He let the franchise down. He was invited up to NY to speak to the NFL face-to-face and clear this up to some degree. He was asked some blunt questions to the effect of his knowledge of the bounties and he as so much said he had no knowledge. That is a blatant lie.

All he had to do at the point of this question is own up and take the heat. I do not think he would have been given a year if he had done this. He would probably be looking at 4-6 games and be the example for the franchise outside of williams. I still think player suspensions would have come down and might still be the same, but at least the Saints would have their HC and a better chance to succeed in a relatively weak conference with only two viable teams.

You cannot rightly blame Goodell for Payton lying to his face. Payton gave the NFL no choice but to bring the hammer down on him.
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Spot on post
 
#20
#20
milohimself said:
The people who appreciate good old hard-nosed football are going to watch anyways. Growing the brand is about getting the fans on the margins, and that's why there's a distinct rule shift towards offense, towards family friendliness, towards protecting superstars, etc.
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I suppose. The NFL is probably too much of a behemoth at this point to be phased by this, but just ask NASCAR how alienating the core fanbase in an effort to draw in the casual fan worked out.
 
#21
#21
bleedorange0037 said:
I suppose. The NFL is probably too much of a behemoth at this point to be phased by this, but just ask NASCAR how alienating the core fanbase in an effort to draw in the casual fan worked out.
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With all due respect to NASCAR, that's just not going to happen with the NFL; the brand is too big and too well-entrenched to be threatened by some sort of mass exodus in the foreseeable future.

FTR I'm in the same boat with you, I think QB's are protected far too much, I don't like most of the new rules changes, and I love watching hardcore defense. But I don't see myself spending Sundays without the NFL.
 
#22
#22
_vol said:
It's easy to blame Goodell here. He has no problem making himself the target. But that's not the point. If that's where you want to spend all of your energy, then so be it.

If I am a Saints fan, I am pissed at Payton. He let the franchise down. He was invited up to NY to speak to the NFL face-to-face and clear this up to some degree. He was asked some blunt questions to the effect of his knowledge of the bounties and he as so much said he had no knowledge. That is a blatant lie.

All he had to do at the point of this question is own up and take the heat. I do not think he would have been given a year if he had done this. He would probably be looking at 4-6 games and be the example for the franchise outside of williams. I still think player suspensions would have come down and might still be the same, but at least the Saints would have their HC and a better chance to succeed in a relatively weak conference with only two viable teams.

You cannot rightly blame Goodell for Payton lying to his face. Payton gave the NFL no choice but to bring the hammer down on him.
Click to expand...

I will never understand the "lying to the man is worse than what you're lying about" angle.

Filming teams' practices but admitting to it is still worse than lying about a bounty.
 
#23
#23
_vol said:
It's easy to blame Goodell here. He has no problem making himself the target. But that's not the point. If that's where you want to spend all of your energy, then so be it.

If I am a Saints fan, I am pissed at Payton. He let the franchise down. He was invited up to NY to speak to the NFL face-to-face and clear this up to some degree. He was asked some blunt questions to the effect of his knowledge of the bounties and he as so much said he had no knowledge. That is a blatant lie.

All he had to do at the point of this question is own up and take the heat. I do not think he would have been given a year if he had done this. He would probably be looking at 4-6 games and be the example for the franchise outside of williams. I still think player suspensions would have come down and might still be the same, but at least the Saints would have their HC and a better chance to succeed in a relatively weak conference with only two viable teams.

You cannot rightly blame Goodell for Payton lying to his face. Payton gave the NFL no choice but to bring the hammer down on him.
Click to expand...

This is all probably true. To me though the whole handling of the bounty thing is just another brick in the wall of the reasons I don't like Roger Goodell. As I mentioned earlier, I don't particularly care for what he is trying to mold the game of football into, and basically every decision he has made with regards to the rules of the game have been in direct contradiction of the hard-nosed game that football has been for nearly a century. He's essentially trying to take the violence out of a game that is popular in large because of it's violent nature. Only time will tell how that works out in the long run.
 
#25
#25
Furthermore, you have to imagine when all of the sports science info was coming to a head about 4-5 years ago the NFL was smart enough to see the PR nightmare looming on the horizon. They started a clean-up process as best they saw it. We have seen this implemented in the further protection of QBs, WRs, etc... More thorough evaluation of players after injuries with guidelines and regulations put in place for injuries particular to the head. The list goes on...

You also have to imagine that a level of "underground" clean-up was instituted as well, for lack of better name. No one would be surprised to find out that all teams had similar fringe programs in place paying players for "bounties" or the like. I imagine the NFL sent out a note instructing that this was not something they would no longer tolerate and to clean it up. If true, it does not take much imagination to assume the Saints and probably some other teams ignored this mandate to some degree. When called on it, they lied over and over. The NFL decided to make an example of the Saints for whatever reason. The reason will probably never be known. The NFL is run like a crime family, in a way, they seemingly take a lot of stuff personal and react accordingly. Perhaps that is the case here.
 
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