Buddy Ryan would be pleased.
People are going to overreact to this, but the facts are many teams employ similar systems, they just aren’t dumb enough to get caught like the Saints.
Between 22 and 27 defensive players on the New Orleans Saints, as well as defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, maintained a “bounty” program funded primarily by players in violation of NFL rules during the 2009, 2010 and 2011 seasons, the NFL announced Friday.
The investigation by the league’s security department determined that an improper “pay for performance” program included “bounty” payments to players for inflicting injuries on opposing players that would result in them being removed from a game.
In some cases, the amounts pledged were both significant and directed against a specific opposing player, according to the investigation.
The investigation showed that the total amount of funds in the pool may have reached $50,000 or more at its height during the 2009 playoffs. The program paid players $1,500 for a “knockout” and $1,000 for a “cart-off,” with payouts doubling or tripling during the playoffs.
“The payments here are particularly troubling because they involved not just payments for ‘performance,’ but also for injuring opposing players,” Goodell said. “The bounty rule promotes two key elements of NFL football: player safety and competitive integrity.”
There was a paper trail to this and that is where the Saints went wrong.
These types of things can never be recorded. You don’t record your crime. As I mention on Twitter when I was in High School I had a bounty on my head when we played our arch rivals.
I was dating a girl from the opposing school, she snitch on them. I came through the game unharmed and with a touchdown reception.
Best comment about this was from one of my Twitter followers @jermaine611 who said.
The Saints left marshawn lynch off the Bounty List?
