I've been critical of Roger Goodell quite a bit in the past. I didn't like his actions before the lockout. I didn't like the fact he keeps trumpeting that fans want an 18-game schedule when few fans actually do. That all said, I gained a lot of respect for Goodell today. He did come down on the Saints, and he did come down hard. He exceeded my expectations of what the punishment would be. Maybe he went a little overboard giving Sean Payton a whole year, but it doesn't matter. He was able to finally tell the players, and the fans, that he can be just as stern against management as he is under players. Good on you, Roger Goodell.
After the Saints scandal broke four weeks ago, I was amazed at the score of defensive players who came out and said that they were surprised about all the fuss made over some bounty program, that this was going on all over the place. Now, I believe that this probably was going on in places outside of New Orleans, but that is not the issue. These defensive players were also speaking about how this is the mentality of defensive players, that this is what the NFL is about. (I should say that there were a lot of players who also condemned this. I remember being pleasantly surprised that on an ESPN panel with Marcellus Wiley and Darren Woodson who both thought that this whole thing was ridiculous, Tedy Bruschi ripped into NFL players that thing this is the right way to play defense). The NFL is not about intentionally hurting opponents. The NFL is not about that. At all.
There is nothing wrong with hitting a player hard. In fact, in many times, some of the most awesome plays in the NFL are those hits. Perfectly timed, perfectly formed. Every now and then, a perfectly legal hit will result in a player getting injured. That is life in the NFL. Everyone in the league knows that, accepts that. The issue is no player, after administering such a hit, should get basically rewarded for that for the sole fact that the guy he hit had to leave the game. If this is prevalent around the league, that is a problem. It shouldn't be. The league cannot be a place where money is handed out to players who inure other players. That is not what the league should be. Hits are fine. I'm even fine with some spend money given to players who get sacks or interceptions (I realize these have cap issues), but it becomes a different issue when teams are giving out money for injuring opponents. It is disgraceful. If it is going on around the league, well, then all of those teams are disgraceful. It is amazing that people are taught from childhood that the "everyone else is doing it" excuse is about as flimsy and weak an excuse you can use as a defense. Yet, somehow, in the most 'manly' sport, instead of acting like a man and not getting extra money to potentially put quality of life in risk, it becomes the go-to excuse and somehow viewed as a legitimate way to defend this act.
I am of the belief that the penalty would not have been near this severe had Sean Payton and Gregg Williams not lied to the NFL in 2010 when the NFL first investigated the bounty system after the 2009 NFC Championship Game, and then continued to lie, and more appallingly, continued to have the system. Yes, Sean Payton may not have actually taken part in the system, but he apparently knew about it, did nothing to stop it, and denied knowledge to the NFL. It was a systematic loss of trust and control of that organization by Payton. This stuff happens in the NCAA (not bounties, but lying to NCAA investigators, loss of institutional control, etc.) and there, despite that entity being corrupt as shit, such actions a lot of times result in losing your job. Now, I don't think Sean Payton should be banned for life. If Tom Benson wants to take that step, it is his prerogative. But I think sitting him out for a year, for not only doing nothing to stop this despicable program, but lying to the NFL about it, is more than fair.
I credit Roger Goodell for not taking the easy way out and just given Sean Payton a fine (that is the easy way out because if I have read correctly, no head coach has ever been suspended for a single game before). I credit him for sticking to his beliefs, for not accepting behavior that in the 'real world' could easily result in losing your job. At some point, this became not only about bounties and injuries, but the lies and deceit involved on the part of the Saints.
The Saints under Sean Payton were the most uplifting story the NFL had seen all decade when they returned to the Superdome, when the city was still very much recovering, and surprised everyone by going 10-6 and reaching the NFC Championship Game back in 2006. That was before Gregg Williams got to New Orleans. Three years later, they still had some of that goodwill, but now they had Gregg Williams. They had a defense that took the ball away, and an offense that was the best in the league. They won their Super Bowl, which was widely hailed as a beautiful moment for a league, and for an owner, that stood by the city of New Orleans. Three years later, for me at least, that moment is ruined.
My team lost in that Super Bowl. Each day that passed, the pain of that loss got worse. The only one silver lining was that they lost to a team, and a city, that was deserving. Honestly, I can't feel that way anymore, and it isn't even about the Super Bowl, where I don't remember any hit that seemed curious. No, it goes back to the game that evidently started this whole thing, the 2009 NFC Championship, a game dominated by the Vikings in every capacity other than the ability to hold onto the ball. The Saints pounded Favre that day, many times after the whistle. They blitzed him all day (coincidentally, they couldn't really cover anyone), and hit him into oblivion. Favre tweeted out a picture of his ankle after the game, and in it, the ankle more resembled a piece of charcoal. Did the bounty put on Favre that day help the Saints win? In my mind, definitely. Favre's first interception came on a play where he was hit illegally (some blame goes to the refs, for not calling it). That play led to the audio evidence of one player yelling "pay me my money" after for the time-being, knocking Favre out of the game. Favre's 2nd, and more infamous, interception came after he was too injured to run the ball, when he could have gotten 6 or 7 yards and brought them back into reasonable field goal range. The Saints didn't actively cheat, but they won dirty.
That all said, I don't think Roger Goodell should strip their title, not that I think he ever considered it.No, Roger Goodell did enough, and everything he did was fair. He took the two people most responsible and gave them a stern, but fair punishment. Honestly, even if Gregg Williams never gets to coach in the NFL again, it would still be fair in my book. Roger Goodell stood up for the player safety he believes in. He stood up for his own league's ability to trust their teams. He stood up for the players who may have fell victim to the Saints' dirty system. He didn't take their title, but he took their master, and their innocence. The Saints aren't heroes. Their title may have captivated an area sorely needing happiness, but now those same people must live knowing that their title will always be covered in a shroud of dirty play, bounties and lies.
