The odds that the New Orleans Saints will be the first NFL team to play a Super Bowl on their home field dropped sharply Wednesday.
New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, left, and Coach Sean Payton, were hit hard by the NFLIn response to a bounty program the league says the Saints ran from 2009 to 2011, Commissioner Roger Goodell unleashed on the franchise the most draconian punishments in pro football history. Most significantly, Coach Sean Payton was suspended without pay for the 2012 season and is essentially barred from involvement with the team beginning April 1.
In addition, General Manager Mickey Loomis is suspended for the first eight games of the upcoming campaign, the club is stripped of its second-round draft picks this year and next, linebackers coach Joe Vitt is suspended for the first six games in 2012, and a $500,000 fine was levied on the club.
The penalties might cripple the Saints during a period when the team has emerged as a perennial Super Bowl contender. Bereft of the most successful coach in team history as of April 1, the Saints are now slotted as a long shot for representing the NFC in Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans next February.
Publicly, the team issued a docile apology; privately, a league source close to the situation said appeals are coming and said no attempt would be made to unscramble the coaching picture until those appeals are exhausted. The NFL acknowledged the coaches and executives do have the right to appeal, but in this case, that path leads right back to Goodell's door.
Saints owner Tom Benson remains unswerving in his support for all of his suspended lieutenants, according to a league source.
As bitter as Wednesday proved for the Saints and their fans, more pain awaits. Unspecified Saints players -- the league says 22 to 27 New Orleans defenders participated in the nefarious scheme over three seasons -- face possible fines and suspensions, too. Those punishments will be meted out after further discussion with the NFL Players Association, according to Goodell.
'We are all accountable'
Goodell made no effort Wednesday to dilute the poison pill he administered to the Saints' championship aspirations. After his announcement he made two television appearances, driving home his point that the bounties broke rules both prosaic and profound and, equally incriminating, his contention that Payton and Loomis orchestrated a web of lies to divert the attention of league gumshoes.
"We are all accountable and responsible for player health and safety and the integrity of the game," Goodell said in a statement released by the league. "We will not tolerate conduct or a culture that undermines those priorities. No one is above the game or the rules that govern it. Respect for the game and the people who participate in it will not be compromised.
"A combination of elements made this matter particularly unusual and egregious," he continued. "When there is targeting of players for injury and cash rewards over a three-year period, the involvement of the coaching staff, and three years of denials and willful disrespect of the rules, a strong and lasting message must be sent that such conduct is totally unacceptable and has no place in the game."
In his televised interviews, Goodell seemed to concentrate his fire on Payton, and he indicated that the duplicity and contempt with which the Saints' top echelon greeted the bounty scandal contributed to the decision to slam the team. The Saints were essentially, "out of control," Goodell said, and ran afoul of the NFL's sacrosanct edict against "conduct detrimental" to the league.
"I hold the head coach accountable," Goodell told ESPN. "One, having this program is very serious, but two is denying its existence to league investigators, to his own ownership -- I think that's a significant problem. Even if you're not aware of something, you should be aware of something like that and that is his direct responsibility."
With the NFL Network, Goodell was equally blunt.
"This went on for three years, and it was investigated. We were misled, there were denials throughout that period," Goodell said. "Clearly, we were lied to. We investigated this back in 2010. We were told it was not happening, and it continued for another two years."
Team offers 'sincere apology'
Though not completely unexpected, the severity of the sentence seemed to suck the oxygen out of the Saints. Punter Thomas Morstead tweeted he felt like he had "been punched in the gut" when the news broke.
The club took hours to muster a statement, even though it has braced for harsh justice since March 2, when Goodell first accused it of paying players for "knockout" or "cart off" hits that sidelined an opponent for all or part of a game.
In the end, the Saints threw themselves on the mercy of their fans and the city, while vowing the situation will never be repeated.
"We recognize our fans' concerns, and we regret the uncertainty this episode has created for them," the team statement began. "We are humbled by the support our organization has received from our fans today in the wake of this announcement, and we ask them to continue to stand with us, as they have done in the past, when both our team and our city have overcome greater adversities.
"To our fans, the NFL and the rest of our league, we offer our sincere apology and take full responsibility for these serious violations," the statement concluded. "It has always been the goal of the New Orleans Saints to create a model franchise and to impact our league in a positive manner. There is no place for bounties in our league, and we reiterate our pledge that this will never happen again."
While the team's public stance mirrored the professional tone it has adopted since the scandal engulfed it, there were some indications the club is outraged by what it considers unduly harsh punishments.
Cornerback Jabari Greer, a starter on all three Saints defenses under the microscope, bristled Wednesday at the NFL's depiction of New Orleans defenders.
"We are not innocent in this situation, but we are men of honor, we are men of integrity," Greer said. "We are not thugs or mercenaries. There's a picture being painted out there that we are men willing to do anything for a buck, and that is not true. This idea I would go out and deliberately try to injury my opponent and take away his livelihood? That is false, and it will not stand. I'm not going to stand for that."
Envelopes stuffed with cash
But the NFL was unequivocal Wednesday in accusing the Saints of the bright line some have drawn between more common "pay for performance" pay scales and "bounties."
"Payments were made for plays such as interceptions or fumble recoveries," the statement read. "Payments were also made for plays on which opposing players were injured."
The report offered another nugget of the NFL's proof on that point.
"A summary prepared following a Saints preseason game included the statement, '1 Cart-off - Crank up the John Deer (sic) Tractor,' in reference to a hit on an opposing player," the league wrote. "Similar statements are reflected in prepared documents or slides in connection with other games in multiple seasons. A review of the game films confirms that opposing players were injured on the plays identified in the documents."
From the beginning, the NFL has insisted its conclusions rest on "multiple, independent sources," and some 18,000 documents, all of which depict a rogue organization pooling thousands in player dollars to pay for vicious hits. Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, hired by the Rams in January but as of Wednesday suspended by the league indefinitely, doled out cash-stuffed envelopes on Saturday night, according to the league, rewarding players for their underhanded maneuvers in the previous game.
In addition to Greer, some Saints players such as cornerback Tracy Porter and former safety Darren Sharper have repeatedly denied any malevolent sheen to their system, lumping it instead with the more traditional kind of bonuses paid for things like interceptions and fumble recoveries that can alter the course of a game. Even those payments are illegal, however, because they run afoul of the NFL's salary cap and its collective bargaining agreement with players.
NFL: Rodgers, Newton targeted
Regardless, Goodell's announcement said the Saints' scheme went much deeper, and he provided new details Wednesday to buttress the league's contention that the bounties extended beyond the infamous home playoff games following the 2009 season in which the Saints battered quarterbacks Kurt Warner and Brett Favre en route to Super Bowl XLIV.
Those two postseason games resulted in a combined $45,000 in fines against Saints defenders, even though all the plays in question did not draw penalty flags. Such was not the case, however, throughout the three-year period in question, the league noted.
"In each of the 2009-2011 seasons, the Saints were one of the top five teams in the league in roughing the passing penalties," the report read. "In 2009 and 2011, the Saints were also in the top five teams in unnecessary roughness penalties; in 2010, the Saints ranked sixth in the category."
In particular, Goodell said the Saints employed a bounty system against Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Panthers signal caller Cam Newton, games that could only have taken place in 2011. Wednesday's report included a charge that Payton used the word "bounty" during the investigation in relation to the 2011 games.
"Prior to the Saints' opening game in 2011, Coach Payton received an e-mail from a close associate that stated in part, 'PS Gregg Williams put me down for $5000 on Rogers (sic),'" the report reads. "When shown the e-mail during the course of the investigation, Coach Payton stated that it referred to a 'bounty' on Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers."
Payton said to be livid
The league also went public Wednesday with its allegation that Saints defensive captain and linebacker Jonathan Vilma offered $10,000 to any player who removed Favre from that 2009 NFC championship game. Vilma has not addressed the charge, but team officials said earlier this month he disputes it.
Williams, who issued one apology on March 2, released another Wednesday when the league's statement showed him as not only a key architect of the bounties, but also one of the NFL's main sources of information about it.
"Coach Williams acknowledged that he designed and implemented the program with the assistance of certain defensive players," Goodell's statement read. "He said he did so after being told by Saints head coach Sean Payton that his assignment was to make the defense 'nasty.'"
Williams "now acknowledges that when he was first questioned about this matter in early 2010, he intentionally misled NFL investigators and made no effort to stop the program," Goodell's statement continued.
Payton did not respond to a request for comment, but Fox Sports' Jay Glazer, a Payton confidant, said he spoke with the coach and described him as markedly upset with the commissioner's ruling. Payton was on a Wednesday afternoon flight to Dallas, where he keeps his permanent residence, but he got up when the aircraft was delayed at the gate, walked out and did not return, according to passengers.
New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, left, and Coach Sean Payton, were hit hard by the NFLIn addition, General Manager Mickey Loomis is suspended for the first eight games of the upcoming campaign, the club is stripped of its second-round draft picks this year and next, linebackers coach Joe Vitt is suspended for the first six games in 2012, and a $500,000 fine was levied on the club.
The penalties might cripple the Saints during a period when the team has emerged as a perennial Super Bowl contender. Bereft of the most successful coach in team history as of April 1, the Saints are now slotted as a long shot for representing the NFC in Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans next February.
Publicly, the team issued a docile apology; privately, a league source close to the situation said appeals are coming and said no attempt would be made to unscramble the coaching picture until those appeals are exhausted. The NFL acknowledged the coaches and executives do have the right to appeal, but in this case, that path leads right back to Goodell's door.
Saints owner Tom Benson remains unswerving in his support for all of his suspended lieutenants, according to a league source.
As bitter as Wednesday proved for the Saints and their fans, more pain awaits. Unspecified Saints players -- the league says 22 to 27 New Orleans defenders participated in the nefarious scheme over three seasons -- face possible fines and suspensions, too. Those punishments will be meted out after further discussion with the NFL Players Association, according to Goodell.
'We are all accountable'
Goodell made no effort Wednesday to dilute the poison pill he administered to the Saints' championship aspirations. After his announcement he made two television appearances, driving home his point that the bounties broke rules both prosaic and profound and, equally incriminating, his contention that Payton and Loomis orchestrated a web of lies to divert the attention of league gumshoes.
"We are all accountable and responsible for player health and safety and the integrity of the game," Goodell said in a statement released by the league. "We will not tolerate conduct or a culture that undermines those priorities. No one is above the game or the rules that govern it. Respect for the game and the people who participate in it will not be compromised.
"A combination of elements made this matter particularly unusual and egregious," he continued. "When there is targeting of players for injury and cash rewards over a three-year period, the involvement of the coaching staff, and three years of denials and willful disrespect of the rules, a strong and lasting message must be sent that such conduct is totally unacceptable and has no place in the game."
In his televised interviews, Goodell seemed to concentrate his fire on Payton, and he indicated that the duplicity and contempt with which the Saints' top echelon greeted the bounty scandal contributed to the decision to slam the team. The Saints were essentially, "out of control," Goodell said, and ran afoul of the NFL's sacrosanct edict against "conduct detrimental" to the league.
"I hold the head coach accountable," Goodell told ESPN. "One, having this program is very serious, but two is denying its existence to league investigators, to his own ownership -- I think that's a significant problem. Even if you're not aware of something, you should be aware of something like that and that is his direct responsibility."
With the NFL Network, Goodell was equally blunt.
"This went on for three years, and it was investigated. We were misled, there were denials throughout that period," Goodell said. "Clearly, we were lied to. We investigated this back in 2010. We were told it was not happening, and it continued for another two years."
Team offers 'sincere apology'
Though not completely unexpected, the severity of the sentence seemed to suck the oxygen out of the Saints. Punter Thomas Morstead tweeted he felt like he had "been punched in the gut" when the news broke.
The club took hours to muster a statement, even though it has braced for harsh justice since March 2, when Goodell first accused it of paying players for "knockout" or "cart off" hits that sidelined an opponent for all or part of a game.
In the end, the Saints threw themselves on the mercy of their fans and the city, while vowing the situation will never be repeated.
"We recognize our fans' concerns, and we regret the uncertainty this episode has created for them," the team statement began. "We are humbled by the support our organization has received from our fans today in the wake of this announcement, and we ask them to continue to stand with us, as they have done in the past, when both our team and our city have overcome greater adversities.
"To our fans, the NFL and the rest of our league, we offer our sincere apology and take full responsibility for these serious violations," the statement concluded. "It has always been the goal of the New Orleans Saints to create a model franchise and to impact our league in a positive manner. There is no place for bounties in our league, and we reiterate our pledge that this will never happen again."
While the team's public stance mirrored the professional tone it has adopted since the scandal engulfed it, there were some indications the club is outraged by what it considers unduly harsh punishments.
Cornerback Jabari Greer, a starter on all three Saints defenses under the microscope, bristled Wednesday at the NFL's depiction of New Orleans defenders.
"We are not innocent in this situation, but we are men of honor, we are men of integrity," Greer said. "We are not thugs or mercenaries. There's a picture being painted out there that we are men willing to do anything for a buck, and that is not true. This idea I would go out and deliberately try to injury my opponent and take away his livelihood? That is false, and it will not stand. I'm not going to stand for that."
Envelopes stuffed with cash
But the NFL was unequivocal Wednesday in accusing the Saints of the bright line some have drawn between more common "pay for performance" pay scales and "bounties."
"Payments were made for plays such as interceptions or fumble recoveries," the statement read. "Payments were also made for plays on which opposing players were injured."
The report offered another nugget of the NFL's proof on that point.
"A summary prepared following a Saints preseason game included the statement, '1 Cart-off - Crank up the John Deer (sic) Tractor,' in reference to a hit on an opposing player," the league wrote. "Similar statements are reflected in prepared documents or slides in connection with other games in multiple seasons. A review of the game films confirms that opposing players were injured on the plays identified in the documents."
From the beginning, the NFL has insisted its conclusions rest on "multiple, independent sources," and some 18,000 documents, all of which depict a rogue organization pooling thousands in player dollars to pay for vicious hits. Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, hired by the Rams in January but as of Wednesday suspended by the league indefinitely, doled out cash-stuffed envelopes on Saturday night, according to the league, rewarding players for their underhanded maneuvers in the previous game.
In addition to Greer, some Saints players such as cornerback Tracy Porter and former safety Darren Sharper have repeatedly denied any malevolent sheen to their system, lumping it instead with the more traditional kind of bonuses paid for things like interceptions and fumble recoveries that can alter the course of a game. Even those payments are illegal, however, because they run afoul of the NFL's salary cap and its collective bargaining agreement with players.
NFL: Rodgers, Newton targeted
Regardless, Goodell's announcement said the Saints' scheme went much deeper, and he provided new details Wednesday to buttress the league's contention that the bounties extended beyond the infamous home playoff games following the 2009 season in which the Saints battered quarterbacks Kurt Warner and Brett Favre en route to Super Bowl XLIV.
Those two postseason games resulted in a combined $45,000 in fines against Saints defenders, even though all the plays in question did not draw penalty flags. Such was not the case, however, throughout the three-year period in question, the league noted.
"In each of the 2009-2011 seasons, the Saints were one of the top five teams in the league in roughing the passing penalties," the report read. "In 2009 and 2011, the Saints were also in the top five teams in unnecessary roughness penalties; in 2010, the Saints ranked sixth in the category."
In particular, Goodell said the Saints employed a bounty system against Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Panthers signal caller Cam Newton, games that could only have taken place in 2011. Wednesday's report included a charge that Payton used the word "bounty" during the investigation in relation to the 2011 games.
"Prior to the Saints' opening game in 2011, Coach Payton received an e-mail from a close associate that stated in part, 'PS Gregg Williams put me down for $5000 on Rogers (sic),'" the report reads. "When shown the e-mail during the course of the investigation, Coach Payton stated that it referred to a 'bounty' on Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers."
Payton said to be livid
The league also went public Wednesday with its allegation that Saints defensive captain and linebacker Jonathan Vilma offered $10,000 to any player who removed Favre from that 2009 NFC championship game. Vilma has not addressed the charge, but team officials said earlier this month he disputes it.
Williams, who issued one apology on March 2, released another Wednesday when the league's statement showed him as not only a key architect of the bounties, but also one of the NFL's main sources of information about it.
"Coach Williams acknowledged that he designed and implemented the program with the assistance of certain defensive players," Goodell's statement read. "He said he did so after being told by Saints head coach Sean Payton that his assignment was to make the defense 'nasty.'"
Williams "now acknowledges that when he was first questioned about this matter in early 2010, he intentionally misled NFL investigators and made no effort to stop the program," Goodell's statement continued.
Payton did not respond to a request for comment, but Fox Sports' Jay Glazer, a Payton confidant, said he spoke with the coach and described him as markedly upset with the commissioner's ruling. Payton was on a Wednesday afternoon flight to Dallas, where he keeps his permanent residence, but he got up when the aircraft was delayed at the gate, walked out and did not return, according to passengers.
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