Thread: NFL: Saints defense had 'bounty' fund

New Orleans Saints face NFL sanctions for offering bounty payments for injuring opponents - NFL News | FOX Sports on MSN


New Orleans Hitmen! :O

Ordinarily I would post this in the Rivals forum but because it had a direct impact on a Bears player and quite possibly the season I thought I'd post it here first. If Staff wants to relocate this is fine with me.

Saints bounty program sets off alarms in NFL

KO of Bennett in Week 2 may have cost Bears, paid off for safety Harper

Earl Bennett is injured in the first quarter after taking a hit from the Saints' Roman Harper. (Brian Cassella / Tribune Photo)

By Dan Pompei, Chicago Tribune reporter 8:32 p.m. CST, March 2, 2012



In an NFL that is increasingly consumed with player safety, the idea of placing bounties on opponents will set off sirens and alarms.

That's the message the league sent Friday when it announced the Saints will be punished for a bounty program that has been in effect for the last three seasons.

The punishment, which will be decided by Commissioner Roger Goodell, is likely to include the loss of draft choices over multiple years, including at least one first-round pick.

Fines could reach millions of dollars and be levied against the Saints organization, general manager Mickey Loomis, coach Sean Payton, then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, other defensive coaches and linebacker Jonathan Vilma and defensive end Will Smith, who have served as defensive captains. Suspensions also are possible.

The investigation concluded players regularly contributed cash into a pool and received payments for accomplishments including "cart-offs," meaning the opposing player was carted off the field, and "knockouts," meaning the opposing player was not able to return to the game.

The league said the program paid players $1,500 for a knockout and $1,000 for a cart-off, with payouts doubling or tripling during the playoffs. Vilma reportedly offered $10,000 to anyone who could knock out then-Vikings quarterback Brett Favre in the 2009 NFC championship game.

Using that as a guide, Saints safety Roman Harper likely received $1,500 for putting his helmet to the chest of Bears receiver Earl Bennett in the first quarter Sept. 18. Bennett walked off the field but was brought to the locker room for tests. He briefly returned to the game but did not stay and missed the following five games.

Harper also was penalized for roughing the passer in that game, and quarterback Jay Cutler said he was kicked in the throat by a Saints defender.

"The payments here are particularly troubling because they involved not just payments for performance but also for injuring opposing players," Goodell said.

"It is our responsibility to protect player safety and the integrity of our game, and this type of conduct will not be tolerated."

Williams, now the Rams' defensive coordinator, released a statement that read, "I want to express my sincere regret and apology to the NFL, Mr. (Tom) Benson (owner of the Saints), and the New Orleans Saints fans for my participation in the 'pay for performance' program while I was with the Saints. It was a terrible mistake, and we knew it was wrong while we were doing it. Instead of getting caught up in it, I should have stopped it. I take full responsibility for my role. I am truly sorry. I have learned a hard lesson and I guarantee that I will never participate in or allow this kind of activity to happen again."

Four Redskins who played under Williams when he was the defensive coordinator in Washington told the Washington Post there was a bounty system in place there as well, with players earning up to thousands of dollars for plays that included "kill shots."

Punishments could affect the Redskins, the Rams (if Williams is suspended) and the Raiders (if new head coach Dennis Allen, a former Saints assistant, is suspended) as well as the Saints.

Bounties have been a part of the NFL for decades. Though bounties clearly are in violation of the league's bylaws, the NFL never has gone after perpetrators in this manner.

Williams is a disciple of Rams coach Jeff Fisher. Fisher, the former Bears defensive back, is a disciple of former Bears defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan.

There has been talk for years that Ryan encouraged bounties on opposing players going back to his days with the Bears.

The NFL said Williams contributed to the bounty fund himself, but it has not been established that Ryan did the same.

Former Bears defensive lineman Dan Hampton said, "With us, it was, hey Otis (Wilson), if you knock out Eric Dickerson, I'll buy you lunch. It was between players."

Former Bears kicker Kevin Butler once said players put money in a bag, and the money would go to a player who knocked out a quarterback. The Bears also had monetary incentives for knocking out opposing kickers.

In 1989, when Ryan was head coach of the Eagles, Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson accused him of placing bounties on quarterback Troy Aikman and kicker Luis Zendejas and refused to shake his hand after a Thanksgiving game.

In today's NFL, a coach who deals in bounties can have more serious repercussions to deal with than a handshake snub.

dpompei@tribune.com

Bounties part of game across the NFL

It might not be right or ethical, but if winning means crossing a line, you do it

Bears' Stanley Pritchett is tackled by Matt Bowen on December 21, 2003 at Soldier Field. The Bears defeated the Redskins 27-24. (Jonathan Daniel, Getty Images / December 21, 2003)

Matt Bowen Scouting the Bears 11:54 p.m. CST, March 2, 2012




Prices were set on Saturday nights in the team hotel. In a makeshift meeting room, with the whisper of evening traffic pouring in from the Beltway, we laid our bounties on opposing players. We targeted big names, our sights set on taking them out of the game.


Price tags started low during the regular season — a couple hundred bucks for going after the quarterback hard or taking a running back out below the knees. Chop him down and give a quick smile when you got back to the huddle. You just got a bonus.

The pot was collected throughout the season through fines. Show up late? Ding. Blow an assignment during practice? Again. Walk on the field with your chinstrap unbuckled. Again. Break the rules, you gave to the bank.

The cash was kept stashed away at the team facility, in safe hands. After coaches reviewed Sunday's film, we paid it back out. Our accountability, governed by our accounting.

That's right. We got paid for big hits, clean hits by the rule book.

Money came in for more than watching a guy leave the field. We earned extra for interceptions, sacks and forced fumbles. If the till wasn't paid out, we just rolled it over.

Money jumped in the playoffs. A bigger stage equaled more coin. Instead of a few hundred dollars, now you got a thousand, maybe more, depending on the player.

That's the truth. I can't sugarcoat this. It was a system we all bought into.

I ate it up.

Its hard not to, not when you're playing for a coach like Gregg Williams, my defensive coordinator while I was with the Washington Redskins.

Williams is an excellent motivator. You do what he wants: play tough, push the envelope and carry a swagger that every opponent sees on tape. When you lined up against us, you knew we were coming after you. It was our gig, our plan, our way to motivate, to extra-motivate.

I wanted to be That Guy for him, playing the game with an attitude opposing players absolutely feared. If that meant playing through the whistle or going low on a tackle, I did it.

I don't regret any part of it. I can't. Williams is the best coach I ever played for in my years in the NFL, a true teacher who developed me as a player. I believed in him. I still do. That will never change.

Your career exists in a short window, one that starts closing the moment it opens. If making a play to impress a coach or win a game pushes that window up an inch before it slams back down on your fingers, then you do what has to be done.

Some day, when my three sons grow up, I will make clear to them that this league isn't for everyone. No doubt, it can be downright disgusting living by a win-at-all-costs mentality. It's a fundamental part of the NFL's culture that isn't talked about outside of team facilities.

I'm not saying it's right. Or ethical. But the NFL isn't little league football with neighborhood dads playing head coach. This is the business of winning. If that means stepping over some line, you do it.

Bounties, cheap shots, whatever you want to call them, they are a part of this game. It is an ugly tradition that was exposed Friday with Williams front and center from his time coaching the defense in New Orleans. But don't peg this on him alone. You will find it in plenty of NFL cities.

Win or else. That's the drill.

Special contributor Matt Bowen, who played at Glenbard West and Iowa, spent seven seasons in the NFL as a strong safety. You also can find his work at nationalfootballpost.com


Copyright © 2012, Chicago Tribune

I have a lot of respect for Matt Bowen as a columnist he has insights into the game that few can share but here I draw the line. I'm not talking about clean hits, hard hits, and such. That's part of the game but at a time when the NFL is finding itself in court over past head injuries and riculously changing rules which in their mind makes the game safer this is a real smoking gun.

Greg Williams doesn't deny it either. He does a mea culpa and puts a whole lot of other necks on the chopping block with his own. It wouldn't surprise me to see him suspended from the game indefinitely. Hard hit and tackles are apart of the game I agree, but when it's done with an intent to injure severely enough for that player to leave the game, and like Bennett miss a half dozen more all because Harper wanted to collect his "bounty" it's wrong.

It shouldn't just be discourged. It should be investigated and outlawed subject to fines and suspension for players on up to fines of coaches who condone it, fines for the franchise itself and loss of draft picks. No matter how much a part of the game it is it needs to stop. Rewards for performance is fine but performance shouldn't mean putting the other guy out of the game. We lost a shot at at least one more Super Bowl in the 80's because of that asshole Charles Martin ( I spit on his grave). I want to ask the guys like that in the game now how they'd like if it was their name on that towel and their career and millions of dollar hanging in the balance over a lousy grand.

It reminds me of Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche's $1 bet that they could destroy Dan Akroyds life in Trading Places. I don't really care what other think of it to me it will never be OK.

And to top it off; they still weren't a very good defense.

There's so much fail here, they might as well break out those paper bags again.

Way to live up to that whole Katrina legacy.