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NFL's big hit: Will the Saints' penalty change the game? - USA TODAY

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NFL's big hit: Will the Saints' penalty change the game? - USA TODAY
Mar 22nd 2012, 05:27

The New Orleans Saints, one of the NFL's feel-good stories in recent seasons, suddenly are stumbling down pro football's dirty back alley with a Bourbon Street-size hangover — one that could have far-reaching implications for the franchise, its coaches and players, and the league.

  • Saints coach Sean Payton will lose $7.5 million in salary after being suspended for the 2012 season for failing to stop the team's bounty program.

    By Bruce Kluckhohn, US Presswire

    Saints coach Sean Payton will lose $7.5 million in salary after being suspended for the 2012 season for failing to stop the team's bounty program.

By Bruce Kluckhohn, US Presswire

Saints coach Sean Payton will lose $7.5 million in salary after being suspended for the 2012 season for failing to stop the team's bounty program.

The NFL ruled Wednesday that the Saints were sinners when it comes to the rules regarding gratuitous violence. Commissioner Roger Goodell sanctioned team management after an investigation of the Saints' illegal bounty program designed, in part, to injure opposing players from 2009 to 2011, a period that included the franchise's only Super Bowl win.

In delivering the strongest punishment in league history, Goodell suspended Saints head coach Sean Payton for the coming season, without pay, effective April 1. Payton's 2012 salary: $7.5 million. The league had never suspended a head coach.

Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams— who hatched the pay-for-performance scheme — was suspended indefinitely, placing his NFL coaching career in jeopardy.

To get the latest sports news from USA TODAY, including game results, columns and features, follow us on Twitter at @USATODAYSports.

Goodell suspended Saints general manager Mickey Loomis for the first eight regular-season games next season. Assistant head coach Joe Vitt received a six-game penalty. The franchise also was fined $500,000.

By Bill Haber, AP

Former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who hatched the Saints' bounty program, had his NFL coaching career thrown into jeopardy.

No Saints players, present or past, have been disciplined — yet. The NFL Players Association is conducting an investigation, and Goodell says he wants to hear its recommendation.

By Jonathan Bachman, AP

According to the NFL investigation, assistant head coach Joe Vitt admitted he fabricated the truth and denied a bounty program existed.

But Goodell's admonition was unequivocal: "I am profoundly troubled by the fact that the players — including leaders among the defensive players — embraced this program so enthusiastically and participated with what appears to have been a deliberate lack of concern for the well-being of their fellow players."

By Kyle Terada, US Presswire

Saints GM Mickey Loomis told the NFL he did not do enough to determine if the bounty system existed or to end the program if it did exist.

While bounties are not new in the NFL, it appears that a confluence of factors, including the concussion issue, triggered Goodell's hard-line directive. The league has been peppered with 39 lawsuits from 850 former players over concussions.

The NFL also concluded that the Saints attempted to conceal the existence of the bounty program. Specifically, the league said Saints coaches, including Payton, lied to the NFL during its investigation and, perhaps more important, the league ordered the team to stop the program and it did not.

Long-term ramifications? The careers and legacies of coaches, administrators and perhaps 20 players are at stake. Will the game lose its violent edge? It's unlikely. In recent years, even as the NFL has escalated fines and suspended players for vicious hits, the highlight reels are not lacking. The game promises to be as malevolent as ever.

Short-term fallout? Almost assuredly, the Saints' 2012 season is in jeopardy without Payton, one of the league's brightest offensive minds, with one Lombardi Trophy in tow and a potential Hall of Fame candidate. Indeed, Caesars had the odds of the Saints winning the Super Bowl this season at 8-1 before Bountygate and raised them to 10-1 right after. After the NFL announcement Wednesday, they fell to 15-1. Payton, along with quarterback Drew Brees, dramatically helped lift the city's spirits during its recovery efforts from Hurricane Katrina.

"It's devastating," ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski said. "(Payton) is a great organizer, a great motivator, a great teacher. Drew Brees will miss him severely. It is a huge loss for the Saints."

'No place for bounties'

The commissioner's stern edict was greeted with approval in many quarters as a way of corralling unnecessary violence that also has led to the serious concussion issues that the league is addressing. Hall of Fame coach John Madden told USA TODAY, "The commissioner had to come down hard.

"We're so conscious of safety today and trying to change the culture — there (is) no place for bounties," said Madden, co-chairman of the NFL's player safety advisory panel and a Goodell confidant. "Something has to be done. And something has to be done that is so strong that it never happens again."

Goodell said there was no evidence that Saints owner Tom Benson had knowledge of the bounty system or that club funds were used for the program.

"Ownership made it clear that it disapproved of the program, gave prompt and clear direction that it stop, and gave full and immediate cooperation to league investigators," the league reported.

However, the NFL said it fined the franchise because the violation involved a competitive rule. Worse, in terms of football operations, the league will force the team to forfeit high draft choices: second-round picks in 2012 and 2013.

Additionally, Goodell issued a statement that said he had directed all 32 owners to meet with their head coaches to confirm that "the club does not operate a similar pay-for-performance or bounty program," and, if such a program exists, "it must be terminated immediately."

Two-time league MVP quarterback Kurt Warner, who along with then-Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre was targeted by the Saints during their successful 2009 Super Bowl run, said the game's future — and ultimately, sustained commercial success — depends upon the game's integrity.

"I'm starting to question, as a father, 'Do I want my kids to play football at all?' " the former St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals star told USA TODAY. "With concussions and the violence issues, now you start hearing things about bounties. It is the most popular game right now, and everybody loves it. But I am really starting to hear that from parents. I just really believe the commissioner is trying to change that perception for the future of our game."

Favre, who suffered numerous injuries in the Vikings' NFC Championship Game loss to New Orleans in January 2010, did not return a call for comment. The Saints were assessed $30,000 in fines for four separate illegal hits, some against Favre, who grew up in Mississippi as a Saints fan.

But when informed about the league's March 2 announcement of its preliminary findings regarding New Orleans' bounty system, the retired quarterback told Sports Illustrated, "I'm not pissed — it's football."

"I don't think anything less of those guys," Favre said. "Said or unsaid, guys do it anyway. If they can drill you and get you out, they will."

But Goodell, ignoring the league's tradition and history of sometimes uncontrolled aggression, was unambiguous in describing NFL policy: "Let me be clear. There is no place in the NFL for deliberately seeking to injure another player, let alone offering a reward for doing so."

The Saints organization issued a statement acknowledging the severe penalties while offering fans, the NFL and the league "our sincere apology." Payton did not comment Wednesday.

Brees, when he heard about Payton's punishment, came to his coach's defense.

"I am speechless," the Pro Bowl quarterback said via Twitter. "Sean Payton is a great man, coach and mentor. The best there is. I need to hear an explanation for this punishment."

'Willful disrespect'

Goodell provided plenty. In part: "When there is targeting of players for injury and cash rewards over a three-year period, the involvement of the coaching staff and three years of denials and willful disrespect of the rules, a strong and lasting message must be sent that such conduct is totally unacceptable and has no place in the game."

The decisions can be appealed, according to the NFL's constitution and bylaws. However, the person who adjudicates the matter is the same one who hammered the Saints — Goodell. Unless Payton or any other offending Saints coaches have new, mitigating information, it is highly unlikely Goodell will reverse course and hand out more lenient disciplinary measures. The commissioner said he reserved the right to consider further discipline against teams if information is uncovered regarding bounties elsewhere.

The NFL said that in early 2010, Loomis advised Payton that the league office was probing allegations of a bounty system. Payton, the league reported, said he met with Williams and Vitt in advance of an interview with league investigators. "Let's make sure our ducks are in a row," Payton told the coaches.

Williams, the league said, "acknowledged that he designed and implemented the system with the assistance of certain defensive players. He said that he did so after being told by Saints head coach Sean Payton that his assignment was to make the defense 'nasty.' "

From 2009 to 2011, the Saints were one of the top five NFL teams assessed for roughing-the-passer penalties. The league found that, during the 2009 playoffs, the Saints had amassed a cash pool of $50,000 or more. Bonuses for "knockouts" ($1,500) and "cart-offs" ($1,000) were supplied, and funds were contributed by players, for the most part.

Those payments are in violation of league policy.

Payton did not directly participate in the plan, but the league determined he did nothing to halt Williams' plot to injure players. Williams, now the Rams defensive coordinator, issued a statement after Wednesday's announcement: "I apologize to the players of the NFL for my involvement as it is not a true reflection of my values as a father and coach."

'Warped football mind'

But retired NFL player Kyle Turley, a former Saint, said he hoped Williams never coached again in the NFL.

"For a coach to be putting his players up to that, intentionally, is completely uncalled for," Turley told Yahoo Sports Radio. "(He) does not deserve to be in the game of football one bit, one ounce. Call it whatever you want in your warped football mind that this is some type of gladiator sport and blood sport. … That has no place in it."

Brutality, long a league selling point, will not vanish from the game, but it might be in for the fight of its life vs. Goodell. His action Wednesday was no mere reprimand as he continues to crack down on what he and his advisers believe is unwarranted mayhem. And that, the league said forcefully, is bad for players' livelihoods and well-being, and, ultimately, perhaps even worse for league business.

Contributing: Jim Corbett and Gary Mihoces

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