Saints paid players to hurt foes

[LMITOUT]

This is football, not baseball. Does anyone really believe that this is the first time someone went out on the football field with an intent to "take somebody out"? Come on.

I guess it's time to dumb it down some more. Might as well put flags on their waists and just get it over with.

Much ado about nothing and just a bunch of feigned outrage on this message board due to the fact that New Orleans beat Minnesota in the NFC championship game.

Good grief.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

I dont know if I really believe that this type of thing "happens all the time" where coaches and players are involved in paying eachother to take people out. Maybe a wink wink I hit him high you hit him low type deal every now and then...

With all the fines being delt out for hits now'a'days and getting flaged for farting at the QB I would say it just a tad bit more serious then u make it out Limit

[SneakAttack]

I hope they get fired and fined including Payton the head coach since he knew about it. We all knew they were trying to hurt people.

The Belichek cheating scandal, this and I really feel the Giants stole our gameplan or plays in the NFC Championship game. For anybody that thinks they get paid too much to do these things, these guys are super competetive and would probably break somebody's leg for an ice cream after the game.

I'd love to see them take their rings away.

My all time fav Vikings fan excuse

[KrabbyPatties]

This is football, not baseball. Does anyone really believe that this is the first time someone went out on the football field with an intent to "take somebody out"? Come on.

I guess it's time to dumb it down some more. Might as well put flags on their waists and just get it over with.

Much ado about nothing and just a bunch of feigned outrage on this message board due to the fact that New Orleans beat Minnesota in the NFC championship game.

Good grief.

Defending reprehensible behavior and taking a swipe at Minnesota in the process. How unpredictable, LMIT.

You're right--this is football. A game. Entertainment. Nothing more--the outcome of a game isn't life or death to anyone. That anyone should be intentionally injured in the name of entertainment is sick. What if one of these morons were gunning for that pool of money and REALLY injured another player--like paralysis or worse?? I suppose you'd be cool with that too....'cuz it's not baseball.

And for the record lest you think I'm a sour Vikings fan, I can't stand them. I hope they go 2-14 next year, beating only the Packers.

[LMITOUT]

You're right--this is football. A game.

A game that involves contact.

As I said before, if you're that naive to believe this is the first time someone has intentionally tried to take someone out, well, then I've got a bridge to sell ya.

I don't agree with someone trying to take out another guy's legs (Jared Allen) or what happened in New Orleans, but I'm not shocked.

[KrabbyPatties]

I don't care if every team does it. It needs to stop and the Saints are a great opportunity to make an example.

[LMITOUT]

NFL's new logo:

[KrabbyPatties]

OK LMIT--I guess I'd rather watch 2 hand touch.

If your idea of a good football game is watching players trying to deliver game-ending (let alone season or career ending) injuries to the opposing quarterback, knock yourself out. Extended commercial breaks to allow for stretcher details doesn't interest me, I guess.

[LMITOUT]

If your idea of a good football game is watching players trying to deliver game-ending (let alone season or career ending) injuries to the opposing quarterback, knock yourself out.

I've already stated that I don't care for cheap shots as a way to win games.

But people are acting like the Saints were living out the opening scene of The Last Boy Scout or something.

[KrabbyPatties]

OK, but if I were getting paid $50,000 for a cart-off, I'd be out there with a tire iron.

It's pretty significant.

[SneakAttack]

Miami Hurricanes were rumored to have bounties in the 80's, its not right but its not the first and last time this will happen

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

Greg Williams acting as some sort of mafioso boss paying his players to carry out "hits" on other people and being punished for it doesnt make the game flag football like. I dont care if the saints beat the vikes 2 years ago or not. Dont care if its the saints, rams, cardinals, lions, chargers, whoever... they should be punished for this non-sense. If only for the fact they were dumb enough to get caught at the least. Yeah, i agree, im sure players have tried to take other players out of the game before in the history of the league. Not quite sure ive ever heard of something like this though.

Who dat, who dat, who dat gon beat dem saints? Themselves

[LMITOUT]

First rule of Bounty Club: You don't talk about Bounty Club.

[PierBridge]

As far as I'm concerned the Vikings are the 2009 Superbowl Champions....

Bounties have been around forever.

I'm still embarrassed to this day about our 7th grade football coach instructing us to PINCH the other teams players stomachs after we tackled them and we did it.

[flipper]

What are you Vikings fans going to find to cry about next???? I was at the Mon nite game when the headhunting Vikings ended troy Aikman's career. Didn't hear anybody in Minnesota crying then.

[YiGGiN4SLoBS]

I suppose the vikings coaches were paying players to hit him in the head too... righhhhhht

"Second rule of Bounty club- NO ONE TALKS ABOUT BOUNTY CLUB!!!!"

[Scott M]

Just watched a montage of hits Favre took in 2009, and all I saw was a hit to his legs that should have been called.

Here's a snippet from an ESPN piece:

Warner, who retired after the 2009 season, responded to a fan's comment on Twitter that even if the Saints had a bounty program a playoff hit on Warner was clean. Warner tweeted, "I would have to agree with you!!!"

"I don't want to say that there was an attempt to injure, but I definitely think there were games where I could tell you that it seemed that they went beyond what was normal in regard to when they were going to hit me or how they were going to hit me," Warner said on the NFL Network. "Again, not with the intention necessarily of hurting me, but knocking me out of my game to get me to think about things differently. If by chance they hit me and knocked me out of the game, maybe that's a benefit for them."

On the flip side, here's a snippet from ProFootballTalk from Williams as his team prepared for the Super Bowl:

[Williams] is willing to risk a few 15-yard walk-offs if it means that Manning eventually will be carted off the field.

“When you put too much of that type of worry on a warrior’s mind, he doesn’t play all out,” Williams said. “If it happens, it happens. And

the only thing you’d like for me to say is that if it happens you hope

he doesn’t get back up and play again.”

It's a thin line between telling your players to go out there and lay some wood because it will rattle the other team versus telling your players to go out there and knock the other star players out. One is legal, one is illegal, but both can be done with legal hits.

[Rick]

This is football, not baseball. Does anyone really believe that this is the first time someone went out on the football field with an intent to "take somebody out"? Come on.

I guess it's time to dumb it down some more. Might as well put flags on their waists and just get it over with.

Much ado about nothing and just a bunch of feigned outrage on this message board due to the fact that New Orleans beat Minnesota in the NFC championship game.

Good grief.

I can't believe you said this LMIT! Because it's not baseball and/or because you believe it's been done before you're saying it's OK to put a bounty out to seriously injure fellow players.

Since when does playing football....a game...make it OKAY to put a bounty out to HURT-INJURE-& MAIM other human beings.

I can understand accidental injuries, it's a rough game for sure...

I cannot understand the condoning of, no even worse...PROMOTING the Injuring and Maiming of fellow football players.

You do realize, no matter how you minimize or back pedal...

YOU ARE saying that it's OKAY to promote injuring and maiming other players and putting a bounty out to do that LMIT!

Good Grief!!!!!

[Scott K]

Lets say this was a highschool game, and the opposing team had a program such as this, and it paralyzed your kid. How would you feel about the bounty thing then? It is wrong, and all involved should be punished heavily! The Saints organization should be hit HARD! No draft picks for 2 years. The coaches involved should be banned from Pro sports forever, and all players involved should sit out an entire season, without pay. It is plain stupid!

[hawgchaser]

Eyes,

My emotional reaction would be predictable. If the hit that injured my son was a clean hit, the injury is the unfortunate result of playing a rough, physical game regardless of whether there was a bounty system or not. However, the individual who lays money down and more specifically the individual who would collect the money, regardless of whether his hit was clean or not, are subject to reproach because of actions of advocating and celebrating such injuries. It not about the hits and injuries. Its about the actions of those promoting and responding to the bounty system. It's virtually impossible to determine intent so actions after injuries will be the major focal point.

BTW, Some of the Vikings players are jumping on the bandwagon about the 2010 playoff game. If memory serves me right, virtually all the hits that brutalized Favre were were clean hits. Perhaps if Favre had had protectors rather than watchers, the Saints defense wouldn't have looked so aggressive.

[TR21HP]

The Commish will be coming down hard on the Saints and not just because of the bounties. They had been under investigation before the story came out and the Saints were notified in a formal letter to all teams that this behavior would directly affect not only the players but anyone else knowledgable and the Saints continued to employ this .Goddell has a very strong track record when it comes to matters like this and I think we will find out today or tommorow what the players, coaches and owners fate will be.

[mainbutter]

This needs to go beyond "NLF penalties".

Criminal charges should be pressed.

It's one thing to have a rough game, but football is not a fight sport and there is nothing in the rulebook that makes them immune to the law.

This kind of behavior goes beyond playing a game hard, and has crossed into the realm of conspiracy to commit multiple assaults that have long-lasting personal and economic injuries.

Just because 'we know it happens' doesn't mean that concrete evidence of a single case should be dismissed, declaring it 'business as usual'. When we hear of PEDs, if there is concrete evidence of a case, it should be jumped all over.

This is an issue that is way worse than PEDs, and should not be tolerated.

[griff321]

BTW, Some of the Vikings players are jumping on the bandwagon about the 2010 playoff game. If memory serves me right, virtually all the hits that brutalized Favre were were clean hits. Perhaps if Favre had had protectors rather than watchers, the Saints defense wouldn't have looked so aggressive.

Without question the O-line was terrible that game, but the hit that messed up his ankle/foot and caused him to throw the game ending pick instead of trying to run it a bit and kick a FG was a high/low. That's a VERY dirty hit. Or perhaps when Greer twisted AD's ankle back and forth at the bottom of a pile last year. This was after he missed 3 games with a H.A.S. These are not the only instances of how super dirty the saints are.

[Scott K]

I dont care about Favre, what the Saints were promoting was illegal, and I hope those who promoted it, gets jail time as well. It is serious! Think of it this way, if you were in a shopping mall, and someone cleaned your clock, and later you found out, there was a $500 bonus for a group of people that would send anyone to the hospital, would you then look at it as the same way? Oh well, people at the mall get injured all the time.

[reinhard1]

i agree with you here. if in fact someone is ordering someone to hurt or injure someone it should be a criminal matter. especialy if the person doing the damage is compensated for it in any manner. it will be interesting to see how this is handled. good luck.