Bounties NFL wide problem; Breaking the locks off Saints “Bounty Gate”
Every player who is entering the NFL is entering to get paid.
The better player you are the more you’d like to get paid to reflect your performance.
If you’re told you can get paid $2,000 dollars for an interception, that gives you motivation to go out and get that interception.
You can argue you should always have motivation, and want to play your hardest, yes.
The same can be said for kids in grade school who get straight A’s on their report cards.
Some kids get paid, lets say $100 dollars for their grades, so it motivates them to go and perform well next time because they know they’re benefiting financially for their effort.
The same thing goes for the NFL.
If money didn’t matter to these players then contract negotiations would happen overnight, and players wouldn’t want to come to the NFL, they would go play for the IFL or the CFL.
If money wasn’t a factor, then what would be the difference in these leagues?
The reason this issue is a big deal is because it’s news to the casual fan, but this something that happens under the radar with almost every team in the NFL.
Whether or not they get paid for it is a different story.
Kurt Warner addressed the bounty system and said he was “disappointed” but “not surprised” by it.
He even went on to say that Saints defensive end Bobby McCray’s vicious, 2009 postseason hit against him was “clean” and put “a nice exclamation point” on his pre-determined decision to retire from the NFL.
When Brett Favre was asked about it, he calmly said “that’s football.”
The downside to all this is that Commissioner Roger Goodell doesn’t want this as part of the game. He’d rather turn the NFL into a flag football system, rather then the “big hit” splash play league that fans love.
Fans used to see greats like Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton, and Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith go head-to-head with linebacker’s and truck over defensive players.
Quarterbacks didn’t lead their receivers down the middle of the field back then, and wide receivers knew if they were running a route over the middle there was high probability a defensive player would be waiting to lay a big hit on them.
Did that effect Jerry Rice’s career? It didn’t.
Now with these new rules in effect players intentionally throw down the middle of field or lead their players into high traffic areas because they know there is a 90% chance a penalty will get called.
Each time your quarterback gets touched, no matter if he releases the ball the second he gets hit, players and fans start looking around for a flag.
It’s not how football should be played, you should be trying to “win at all costs.”
Colts quarterback Peyton Manning can make $23 million dollars in one season, and average $18 million over the complete course of his contract, but is protected every single time he is hit?
It’s ridiculous when a player is running in for a sack, his arms out stretched, the quarterback steps up, and if his hand hits the helmet through the process of being blocked it’s a 15-yard penalty.
What’s even more ridiculous is Who Dat Nation turning their back to the very players who turned this franchise around.
We cheered Vilma, Harper, and the complete defense in 2009 when New Orleans won the Super Bowl. We applauded the defense’s toughness, and ability to seemingly shut down some of the best quarterbacks in the league.
Yet in 2012, when some bad news comes out about the New Orleans Saints, racist tweets are being sent to players and management is being heavily criticized.
We have enough hatred toward our team without our own “fans” bashing our franchise and it’s players.
When things get tough it isn’t time to fall apart and lose sight of what makes Who Dat Nation the best fans in the NFL.
We stand strong, we unite, and be stand by our team because we are thankful for what they’ve done for this franchise and our city.
The New Orleans Saints will face excessively harsh penalties. from massive fines, suspension, and even the loss of draft picks this year.
Middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who the NFL says they have evidence of him saying he would give someone $10,000 dollars for whoever knocks Favre out, could also face a multi-game suspension.
The IRS will investigate the team for “under the table” money.
The NFL will continue to keep an eye on players and teams during this time, and the New Orleans Saints franchise will likely have this hanging over their heads for a very long time.
You’ll hear about this issue every time the Saints play a game in 2012.
It’ll be all over ESPN for a month as new evidence is found with other teams around the NFL, not just the Saints.
Gregg Williams, who is the defensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams now, may be suspended and face a big, big fine.
However, nothing will change the fact that players do this each and every day no matter the sport.
All of us have done the “I’ll give you 20 bucks if you hit a home run today” gig, and that’s essentially all it is.
Of course people will only see the negative side, which is the NFL reporting the Saints paid players if an opponent was injured.
They’ll completely ignore the fact that the incentive program was not for injuring people, that it was for performance on defense, most of which were good things.
No matter how you slice the pie, people will still see that one piece of bad, and take the system as a negative when its intentions were for good.
It’s everywhere in modern sports whether the casual fan chooses to acknowledge the occurrence or not.
The bottom line is the New Orleans Saints broke the rules one way or another and they deserve to be punished, but lets not forget that the Raiders, Eagles, Titans/Oilers, Redskins, Bills, the Cowboys are all guilty. The Baltimore Ravens could be too.
You can’t point your finger and blame one and make an example out of them and act like the others are innocent. The domino effect has started.
However, there’s really nothing you can do to completely prevent such a thing from happening no matter how hard Commissioner Roger Goodell tries.