this is bullshit! how can this punishment be worse than spygate??????????????????????????????????????
Weren't the Pats warned for their filming antics yet still continued? They get a slap on the wrist and the Saints will essentially lose all of 2012.
Roger Goodell shows again, why he is totally inept at his job, and why football and the NFL will just continue their downward spiral, since he started as commish. Comparing these sanctions to those of Spygate, it's just laughable. Playing a little dirty is far more worse than outright cheating, according to the NFL.
not only did the league warn them, but Tom Benson himself warned them to quit it. The act itself isn't what did them in here, it was that they ignored warnings to stop it, and hid the fact they were still doing it anyway.
1. Belichick and the Patriots cooperated from the moment Mangini ratted them out. The Saints denied and deflected for years. Ever get pulled over by a cop without getting a ticket? When you're respectful and admit your wrongdoing they usually cut you some slack. When you're mouthy and deny speeding that's when the ticket is as bad as the cop can make it on you. 2. I'm taking this with a grain of salt considering I'm on a rival team's board, and take my response with a grain of salt because I'm a Pats fan, but I don't think stealing signals is even on the same level as deliberately trying to injure other players. 3. $750,000 and a first-round pick is not a slap on the wrist. Guys like Jordy Nelson, Ray Rice, and DeSean Jackson were all taken in the 2nd round in 2008. The Patriots lost a late-round first. They may have (probably would have) traded down again to move up the next year, but draft picks are huge assets in the NFL, and losing a first hurt them.
rumors are flying that Jeremy Shockey was the snitch to the league. If that's true, it just cements his reputation as a total tool.
The Pats were warned to stop filming and didn't... The difference is one is a power owner the other isn't
Williams from what we heard orchestrated the bounty program and Payton just turned a blind eye. If Payton has a year, wonder what Williams has. I think this is so severe compared to Spygate is because the NFL has been seriously focusing on safety under Goodell and this is a slap in his face, especially if they asked them to stop. Shockey denying he snitched on twitter. Interesting.
Every team was warned about filming prior to that season. The Patriots were not singled out. And they cooperated once the story broke. With New Orleans, Goodell himself said that the Saints gave him "three years worth of denials" about the bounty program before they were busted. Do you think if Payton and Williams came clean as soon as they were asked about it that the punishment would be as severe as it is?
Holy over reaction, batman! 1 year? I don't like this at all. Hold the DC responsible, not Payton, unless you can prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that he knew it was going on and encouraged it.
They have e-mails received by Payton after the league already warned them from people outside of the team saying "Tell Williams to put $5000 on Rogers." If Sanchez had been hurt due to a bounty, I bet the feelings about it on here would be a bit different.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/category/rumor-mill/ If you haven’t yet read the entire NFL report announcing the punishment to be imposed on Saints coach Sean Payton, former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, Saints G.M. Mickey Loomis, Saints assistant head coach/linebackers coach Joe Vitt, and the Saints organization generally, you need to. (Drew Brees definitely needs to.) We’ll be sharing chunks of it here, highlighting specific aspects of the report. For starters, Panthers quarterback Cam Newton can be added to the list of players who were specific targeted by the Saints defense. Newton joined Brett Favre, Kurt Warner, and Aaron Rodgers as the quartet of quarterbacks who had price on their heads. Or, more accurately, on having their asses dragged off the field. The initial March 2 announcement from the league identified Favre and Warner as subjects of a bounty; the internal, confidential (but inevitably leaked) NFL Security memo from that same day said that a bounty had been placed on Rodgers for the 2011 regular-season opener, with Mike Ornstein offering to contribute $5,000 to the pot in an email to Payton. (Wednesday’s announcement from the league doesn’t name Ornstein, but it quotes the email: “PS Greg Williams put me down for $5000 on Rogers [sic].”) Goodell “I don’t think you can be too hard on people that put at risk our players’ health and safety,” Goodell said on NFL Network. “That is a critical issue for us going forward and has been in our past.” Goodell said there’s no doubt in his mind that the Saints lied to the league office when the bounty investigation began. “Clearly, we were lied to,” Goodell said. “We investigated this back in 2010, we were told it was not happening, it continued for another two years until we got credible evidence late in the 2011 season and we were able to identify significant information that verified from multiple sources that this was going on for a three-year period.”
The real question is what the hell do the Saints do with no coach and no GM? They have to do contracts, like with Brees. How do you hire a coach for one year? http://deadspin.com/5890499/meet-th...eligible-and-funded-the-saints-bounty-program
yeah, how ridiculous the head coach is held responsible for something so egregious in his locker room. and why is the Saints organization having to pay a fine? the owner and shareholders probably didn't know this was happening. why should it cost them anything? shadow of a doubt. give me a fucking break.
