Scrutiny On Nfl Bounty Pay

[falcon057]

New Orleans case puts scrutiny on NFL bounty pay

By PAUL NEWBERRY

-

Associated Press

Saturday, March 3, 2012

The revelations were shocking to those outside the NFL: A team paid bounties to knock opponents out of the game, including some of its biggest stars.

For those who suit up, however, it sounds more like the long-accepted cost of doing business in a brutal sport/

Atlanta Falcons star Roddy White calls it a “league thing” that goes far beyond the New Orleans Saints.

Shawne Merriman of the Buffalo Bills wonders why all the fuss now about bounties. And former All-Pro guard Alan Faneca says he’s not surprised at all that such a sordid system has come to light.

Retired quarterback Joe Theismann says bounties are a long-accepted part of the game. In his day, it was actually “flattering” to be the target.

Is there more teams doing this?

[falcon057]

On his Twitter account (twitter.com/jayglazer), Glazer quoted sources as saying the Saints are expected to learn their punishment “possibly within the next week or two” for perpetuating a system that allowed defensive players to earn bounties for hits and damage inflicted on opponents between 2009 and 2011. Suspensions, fines and the loss of draft picks are among the punishments set that will likely be levied by the NFL, which announced the findings of its investigation into the bounties Friday.

[falcon057]

Williams reportedly also ran 'bounty' system as Bills' head coach

• NFL.com
  
• 
  

St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, under fire for maintaining a "pay for performance" program that included "bounty" payments as the New Orleans Saints' defensive coordinator, is accused of running a similar system as head coach of the Buffalo Bills, The Buffalo News reported Saturday, citing former safety Coy Wire and three anonymous former players.

"There was financial compensation," said Wire, who joined the Bills in 2002 and told the newspaper that an environment of "malicious intent" existed when he arrived.

Williams coached the Bills from 2001 to 2003.

"That's real," Wire told the newspaper. "That happened in Buffalo.

"There were rewards. There never was a point where cash was handed out in front of the team. But surely, you were going to be rewarded. When somebody made a big hit that hurt an opponent, it was commended and encouraged."

Three other former defensive players, speaking to The News on condition of anonymity, confirmed Wire's assertions. Two of them said cash bonuses were paid for "knockout shots" that sidelined opponents.

One, however, told The News he felt the system "was more player-driven than coaching-staff driven."

The Bills were not mentioned by the NFL on Friday but The Washington Post reported that Williams operated a similar program as defensive coordinator of the Redskins from 2004 to '07. The Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars denied the existence of such a program during Williams' tenures with them.

Bills CEO Russ Brandon denied knowing of the program while Williams was in Buffalo.

"We became aware of the information regarding the investigation late [Friday], when the story became public," Brandon said in a statement. "We are unaware of any type of 'bounty' program occurring during Gregg Williams' tenure as our head coach, and we would not have tolerated that type of behavior."

But Wire told the newspaper that the program was all too real.

"We had a philosophy in Buffalo about how the game is meant to be played and the type of defense that we wanted to be," Wire told The News. "We wanted to be relentless, vicious and feared.

"What the NFL labeled 'a bounty' on Friday, I thought that was the norm, so I accepted it. The purpose was to maximize our potential, to get us to be hungry, to get us to perform to the best of our abilities."

Wire even delivered a career-ending shoulder injury to Detroit Lions running back James Stewart on a clean hit in a 2003 preseason game.

"Now, it's unthinkable that was my reality," Wire told the newspaper. "I shattered James Stewart's shoulder, and he never played again. I was showered with praise for that. It's a shame that's how it was. Now I see how wrong that was."

The NFL revealed Friday that Williams and 22 to 27 Saints defenders created and maintained a "pay for performance" program that included "bounty" rewards administered by Williams from 2009 to 2011.

[ukfalc]

I love how the Saint loving media are now starting to twist this whole thing and down play it, by calling it "pay for performance".

Pay for Performance, is rewarding guys for making TDs, INT's, sacks. Paying guys to injure opponents by any means necesary is totally different, and completely abhorrent. If that's the culture that NFL players foster and condone, then they have no right to whinge about player safety ever again.

THE NFL and their lawyers must be loving this thought. Facing lawsuits from ex-players and a union that cited player safety as a reason for not moving to 18 games, it now transpires that the players are condoning and participating in practices whereby ther teams deliberately set out to injure each other.

smh.

[FalcoChicquera]

My main worry is that this kind of thing sets back the cause of good, hard-hitting, CLEAN defensive football back again.

The rule changes have made it much more difficult to see the kind of hits that got me into the game, and while I applaud to an extent the reasons why they are doing it, I feel that it is unbalancing the game too much.

Now I'm not saying you can't hit anymore, but if these allegations lead to lawsuits etc. the NFL will be under pressure to take hits like this -

(Whitner on Thomas)

out of the game, and that saddens me greatly. Even the "suspicion" that it was motivated by something other than competitiveness and desire disheartens me.

To me, that play set such a tone that it was the defining moment in that playoff game, not the Davis touchdown or Smith comeback drives. It showed that the 49ers were prepared to put it all on the line, and that's why I still get excited about professional sports.

[sdogg]

I was never a big Goodell fan, but Im starting to realize that the players are the ones forcing him to make all these rules. Former players are constantly trying to sue the NFL for not doing enough for safety, players/coaches setting up bounties to hurt other players and players not wanting 18gms due to safety reasons. Yep, the more I see it, the more the players are the enemies.

[SYD]

The biggest deal to me is that this type of stuff goes around the salary cap. The cap is in place for parity and if players know a particular team is going to have bounty systems in place they may take lower contracts knowing they will get more money int he long run. That and the petty nature of trying to take someone out of the game on purpose.

But yeah it does seem like Goodell is trying to snuff out these issues we have never even heard of before. Sounds like Williams should be banned for life as the trail of his bounty program goes wherever he has gone

Edited March 4, 2012 by SYD

[trudweathers]

The biggest deal to me is that this type of stuff goes around the salary cap. The cap is in place for parity and if players know a particular team is going to have bounty systems in place they may take lower contracts knowing they will get more money int he long run. That and the petty nature of trying to take someone out of the game on purpose.

But yeah it does seem like Goodell is trying to snuff out these issues we have never even heard of before. Sounds like Williams should be banned for life as the trail of his bounty program goes wherever he has gone

Ban Williams for life and Payton for a half-life. Rename the Saints to the Stains. Make it happen Goodell

[Guest Gritz]

Whether it's coming from their fans, players, coaches or actual executives within the Taints organization, this "other teams are doing it too" justification defense isn't going to help. If they want to mitigate their punishment they should all (ironically) take a lesson from Gregg Williams: Admit what you did, admit how freaking wrong it was and vow never to do it again.

[Xx FaLcOhoLiC Xx]

Of course they are gonna find some way to make it look like New Orleans basically did nothing wrong. NFL has to protect they're favorite team somehow.

[Guest Gritz]

Of course they are gonna find some way to make it look like New Orleans basically did nothing wrong. NFL has to protect they're favorite team somehow.

I don't think so this time. Taints lied to Goodell and his people.

They're going to get hammered for this.

[Xx FaLcOhoLiC Xx]

I don't think so this time. Taints lied to Goodell and his people.

They're going to get hammered for this.

Well let's just hope so! I'd fine them and take away the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th round picks. Then i'd take the picks and do a drawing between the other 31 teams to see who gets them.

Edited March 4, 2012 by Xx FaLcOhoLiC Xx

[Jah]

Jesus, Roddy, shut your ******* mouth for once, you idiot.

[Guest Gritz]

I bet he wasn't saying that when LT snapped his leg in half like a twig and ended his career!

One of the ugliest things I have ever seen in sports....like something from a Faces of Death video.

[falcon057]

One of the ugliest things I have ever seen in sports....like something from a Faces of Death video.

made me sick at my stomach every time.

[vel]

Jesus, Roddy, shut your ******* mouth for once, you idiot.

And Roddy said what to warrant this?

Lol it's amazing the heat Roddy gets around here. He didn't say the Falcons do it. It was more of "I know this happens in defenses around the league, I have witnessed it first hand". He didn't say "We do it too!". It's obvious we didn't do it as soft as our defense was.

But carry on bashing Roddy as usual

[Carl927]

Roddy gets heat when he fails to live up to his smack talk - as if he somehow "jinxed" the team. I think this is superstitious nonsense, myself. I love it when a star player has swagger.

As to bountygate, Roddy tweeted that the Falcons do NOT do this.

[MattRyan2Canton]

And Roddy said what to warrant this?

Lol it's amazing the heat Roddy gets around here. He didn't say the Falcons do it. It was more of "I know this happens in defenses around the league, I have witnessed it first hand". He didn't say "We do it too!". It's obvious we didn't do it as soft as our defense was.

But carry on bashing Roddy as usual

our defense was tough as nails when they bought in and believed bvg knew what he was doing, AT TIMES during games. very inconsistent results

[vel]

our defense was tough as nails when they bought in and believed bvg knew what he was doing, AT TIMES during games. very inconsistent results

Yea, but if there was a bounty, we would have been able to tell. They wouldn't have frozen up every big game, they would have been more hungry because more money was on the line

[MattRyan2Canton]

Yea, but if there was a bounty, we would have been able to tell. They wouldn't have frozen up every big game, they would have been more hungry because more money was on the line

i think the bounty is more of a "pride" thing. i agree we didn't have one in place, were too goody two shoes.

Edited March 4, 2012 by MattRyan2Canton

[falcon057]

how about fines for missed tackles, dropped inter, missed sacks and year end divide btw the 3 leaders tackles-inter-sacks

[MattRyan2Canton]

how about fines for missed tackles, dropped inter, missed sacks and year end divide btw the 3 leaders tackles-inter-sacks

like a cuss jar

[falcon057]

like a cuss jar

Pay if you don't perform!

[Jah]

And Roddy said what to warrant this?

Lol it's amazing the heat Roddy gets around here. He didn't say the Falcons do it. It was more of "I know this happens in defenses around the league, I have witnessed it first hand". He didn't say "We do it too!". It's obvious we didn't do it as soft as our defense was.

But carry on bashing Roddy as usual

"I talked about the saints story yesterday and like I said it's a league thing but it's about to end because of the saints story"

"I really don't have anything to say about it cause every team does it"

It's amazing how much you guys will apologize for him. He is a great football player, but he is also a complete idiot. If the commissioner of the league has made it clear that he is about to crack heads, maybe it would be better to shut your mouth, instead of suggesting that the behavior in question is ubiquitous.

Edited March 4, 2012 by Mr.Smiley

[Jah]

dp

Edited March 4, 2012 by Mr.Smiley