Saints' Halos Knocked But Not Smashed After NFL Findings

by Dugald Skene

It’s only been a few weeks since the New York Giants won Superbowl XLVI and the off-season headlines have been flying in thick and fast.

So far we’ve had the Combine, the ongoing speculation as to where Peyton Manning is heading and the fact that Drew Brees apparently refuses to sign his contract with the New Orleans Saints claiming they are ‘miles apart’ with the terms.  Failure to reach an agreement could see arguably the best QB in the NFL become a free agent!

But perhaps the most dumbfounding headline of all has also come from the Saints. 

This week, the League announced its findings from an investigation into the New Orleans franchise that the players were financially rewarded by former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams for inflicting career threatening injuries on opposition players from what the NFL is calling a ‘bounty’ fund. 

The NFL discovered that somewhere between 22 and 27 defensive players were involved in the bounty system and that it amounted to up to $50,000.

To me, this is incredible.  Sure, I’m a fan of the NFL but I don’t think that is necessary to understand the abhorrence of the crime.  Any fan of any professional sport must surely appreciate that.

To translate this, it’s the equivalent of saying a top team (the Saints won the Superbowl in 2009 and can be considered among the elite in the NFL right now) in the Barclays Premier League have spent the last 3 years rewarding their players for going out to try and break opposition players legs when tackling - it’s ridiculous!

The men at the centre of the 'pay-for-pain' system who are still at the Saints are general manager Mickey Loomis and head coach Sean Payton.  In a joint press conference, they announced "…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 [owner] Mr. Benson, who had nothing to do with this activity. He has been nothing but supportive and for that we both apologise to him.”

Despite this, it is reported that Tom Benson has no intention of firing either Loomis or Payton.

Saints head coach Sean Payton has apologised for his

involvement but faces no further action

For Gregg Williams, who was recently hired as St Louis Rams defensive coordinator, the future is a bit murkier.  The NFL may yet suspend and fine him after it was found that he may have instigated similar schemes whilst at the Washington Redskins and the Buffalo Bills.

The whole issue has divided opinion among fans and commentators in the NFL.  Some believe that the physical nature of the sport is inherent and that violence and injuries are par for the course, so what’s wrong with providing an incentive to go out and do what you would be doing anyway?  Those people have come down hard on the League believing that the opening of an investigation was an overreaction.

The flipside of course is that there are those who believe ‘bountygate’ undermines the integrity of the sport, a sport that prides itself as the best professional league in the world.  Of course, American sports fans have a skewed and short-sighted view of the world and what they actually mean is their own country (where else invents their own sports and whoever wins the national championship is coined ‘World Champion’?).

Nevertheless, the NFL is an ever-expanding brand, evidence of which can be seen by the spread of regular season games to Europe.  The last thing the League needs is for its image to be tarnished.

For all the furore now, it seems that the NFL is keen to put the whole saga behind them as quickly as possible.  Aside from potential punishment to Williams, there doesn’t appear to be any signs at the moment of sanctions to be placed on either the franchise or the other individual co-conspirators. 

In a final statement from team owner Benson, he said "I have been made aware of the NFL’s findings relative to the “Bounty Rule” and how it relates to our club. I have offered and the NFL has received our full cooperation in their investigation. While the findings may be troubling, we look forward to putting this behind us and winning more championships in the future for our fans."

It may be that Benson's hopes will be realised and we will hear little more about this in the coming weeks, but there is a general consensus and growing fear from Saints fans that the NFL, who have strived so much of late to reduce the number of head injuries and concussions in the game, will come down hard on the Saints.

How?  The most obvious way would be to restrict them in the Draft, perhaps to remove their first two or even three picks.  For a team that builds around the Draft and uses it so effectively, this would be disastrous for a team like the Saints.

If the NFL is keen to get this over with quickly, we will likely hear soon of the outcome. In the meantime, there will be plenty in New Orleans crossing their fingers as they await he NFL verdict.