New Orleans Saints: Mickey Loomis, Sean Payton break silence on “Bounty Gate”

New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and head coach Sean Payton have finally broke their silence regarding the allegations that with their knowledge former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams had a “Bounty Program” that rewarded defensive players for dirty hits.

The NFL has been investigating the Saints since the 2009 season when several complaint were lodged against them to the league office. In the playoffs that year the Saints aggressively pursued quarterbacks Kurt Warner and Brett Favre — said to the direct result of the Saints bounty payments.

New Orleans is expected to get hit with lengthy suspensions and lofty fines by the league, and that could perhaps also include the lost of draft picks in this years draft or perhaps the 2013 draft.

Gregg Williams in now with the St. Louis Rams, and he is expected to be suspended for up to eight games next season, as well as receive multiple fines that could exceed the $500,000 dollar mark.

Williams met with the league yesterday to discuss alleged bounty payments while with the Titans, Bills, and Redskins during his tenure with these franchises at varous times throughout his coaching career.

"We acknowledge that the violations disclosed by the NFL during their investigation of our club happened under our watch. We take full responsibility.This has brought undue hardship on Mr. Benson, who had nothing to do with this activity. He has been nothing but supportive and for that we both apologize to him.These are serious violations and we understand the negative impact it has had on our game. Both of us have made it clear within our organization that this will never happen again, and make that same promise to the NFL and most importantly to all of our fans."