Saints Player Punishments Released

The NFL had already dropped the hammer on the New Orleans Saints for a bounty scandal that came out in early March. Head coach Sean Payton is suspended until after the Super Bowl, and then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is out indefinitely.

Wednesday, four players who were prominently involved in the program were suspended by the league. The full press release is below.

The Packers signed defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove as a free agent after the scandal broke, so it's to be assumed the organization knew a suspension was coming. They might be surprised at the length, but the team should have already prepared to not have Hargrove at the outset of the regular season.

Four players - Scott Fujita, Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith, and Jonathan Vilma - were notified today that they have been suspended without pay for conduct detrimental to the NFL as a result of their leadership roles in the New Orleans Saints' pay-for-performance/bounty program that endangered player safety over three seasons from 2009-2011. Participation by players in any such program is prohibited by the NFL Constitution and Bylaws, the standard NFL Player Contract, and the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The specific discipline was determined by Commissioner Roger Goodell after a thorough review of extensive evidence corroborated by multiple independent sources. Under Article 46 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and the standard NFL Player Contract, a player is subject to discipline by the commissioner for conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the NFL. The discipline imposed today for such detrimental conduct is as follows:

n Scott Fujita (now with the Cleveland Browns) is suspended without pay for the first three games of the 2012 regular season. The record established that Fujita, a linebacker, pledged a significant amount of money to the prohibited pay-for-performance/bounty pool during the 2009 NFL Playoffs when he played for the Saints. The pool to which he pledged paid large cash rewards for "cart-offs" and "knockouts," plays during which an opposing player was injured.

n Defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove (now with the Green Bay Packers) is suspended without pay for the first eight games of the 2012 regular season. Hargrove actively participated in the program while a member of the Saints. Hargrove submitted a signed declaration to the league that established not only the existence of the program at the Saints, but also that he knew about and participated in it. The evidence showed that Hargrove told at least one player on another team that Vikings quarterback Brett Favre was a target of a large bounty during the NFC Championship Game in January of 2010. Hargrove also actively obstructed the league's 2010 investigation into the program by being untruthful to investigators.

n Will Smith of the Saints is suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2012 regular season. Smith, a defensive end, assisted Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams in establishing and funding the program during a period in which he was a captain and leader of the defensive unit. Multiple independent sources also confirmed that Smith pledged significant sums to the program pool for "cart-offs" and "knockouts" of opposing players.

n Linebacker Jonathan Vilma of the Saints is suspended without pay for the 2012 NFL season, effective immediately per league policy for season-long suspensions. The investigation concluded that while a captain of the defensive unit Vilma assisted Coach Williams in establishing and funding the program. Multiple independent sources also confirmed that Vilma offered a specific bounty -- $10,000 in cash - to any player who knocked Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner out of the 2009 Divisional Playoff Game and later pledged the same amount to anyone who knocked Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre out of the 2009 NFC Championship Game the following week (played on January 24, 2010). Vilma is eligible to be reinstated after the Super Bowl in 2013.

Fujita, Hargrove, and Smith may participate in all off-season activity, including preseason games, prior to the suspensions taking effect. Each player disciplined today is entitled to appeal the decision within three days. If an appeal is filed, Commissioner Goodell would hold a hearing at which the player may speak on his behalf and be represented by counsel.

"It is the obligation of everyone, including the players on the field, to ensure that rules designed to promote player safety, fair play, and the integrity of the game are adhered to and effectively and consistently enforced," Commissioner Goodell said. "Respect for the men that play the game starts with the way players conduct themselves with each other on the field."

The evidence conclusively demonstrated that from 2009-2011 Saints players of their own accord pledged significant amounts of their own money toward bounties, that players accepted payments for "cart-offs" and "knockouts" of injured opposing players, and that the payout amounts doubled and tripled for playoff games.

Commissioner Goodell concluded, as he did with the Saints' non-player employees, that it was appropriate to focus on those individuals who had a higher degree of responsibility and whose conduct warranted special attention. While a significant number of players participated in the pay-for-performance program, whether by contributing funds to the pool or collecting cash rewards, the players disciplined participated at a different and more significant level, Commissioner Goodell noted.

"In assessing player discipline," Commissioner Goodell said, "I focused on players who were in leadership positions at the Saints; contributed a particularly large sum of money toward the program; specifically contributed to a bounty on an opposing player; demonstrated a clear intent to participate in a program that potentially injured opposing players; sought rewards for doing so; and/or obstructed the 2010 investigation."

Each of the four players disciplined today met one or more of those criteria, Commissioner Goodell said.

The evidence supporting today's disciplinary decisions is based on extensive documentation and interviews with multiple sources. The information was developed by NFL Security, working with independent forensic analysts, and the disciplinary decisions are each based on evidence that has been independently corroborated by multiple sources. The facts supporting the discipline issued today are largely the same as the facts that Commissioner Goodell relied upon in March in assessing discipline on the club and several non-player employees. Those facts have been part of the public record for two months and have not been disputed by the team or the individuals involved.

"No bounty program can exist without active player participation," Commissioner Goodell said. "The evidence clearly showed that the players being held accountable today willingly and enthusiastically embraced the bounty program. Players put the vast majority of the money into this program and they share responsibility for playing by the rules and protecting each other within those rules."

The NFL Players Association received the confidential March 2 and March 21 reports on the Saints matter that were distributed to the clubs. In addition, members of the NFL staff, including the NFL Security investigators, met with NFLPA officials to review the results of their investigation. A number of current and former players, including each player disciplined today, were offered the opportunity to be interviewed with counsel present. One player (Hargrove) submitted a written statement in which he did not dispute the existence of the program, but no player agreed to be interviewed in person. In addition, the NFLPA publicly stated that it conducted its own investigation into this matter, but it has shared no information from that investigation with the NFL.

Commissioner Goodell also has advised the NFLPA of the names of all other players shown by the NFL's investigation to have participated in the Saints' pay-for-performance/bounty program but were not disciplined. The commissioner again invited the union to provide recommendations on how best to promote fair play, player safety and the elimination of bounties from the game at all levels. He said that identifying the other participants may assist the union in its stated desire to advance those goals.

Discipline for the Saints and club management was announced by the NFL on March 21. The Saints were fined $500,000 and forfeited two second-round draft choices (one in 2012 and one in 2013). In addition, suspensions without pay were issued to former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams (indefinitely), head coach Sean Payton (2012 NFL season), general manager Mickey Loomis (first eight regular-season games of 2012), and assistant head coach Joe Vitt (first six regular-season games of 2012).

Gregg Williams Speech Should End Saints Appeal of Bounty Bans

Thursday, the NFL is scheduled to hear appeals by the New Orleans Saints, general manager Mickey Loomis, assistant coach Joe Vitt, and head coach Sean Payton of their respective punishments from the bounty scandal that's been all the rage. The Saints took a fine and lost two draft picks. Loomis was suspended for half the upcoming season. Vitt got a six-game ban. Payton was suspended for a year.

Also suspended was former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who has since moved on to the St. Louis Rams. Williams was suspended indefinitely -- he will miss at least the upcoming season before he can be reinstated.

After Wednesday's revelation, Williams should be informed he will never be welcome back in the league, and the Saints should just scrap the idea of trying to appeal these suspensions.

I'll let Mike Silver, the fine NFL writer for Yahoo! Sports, take it from here.

The night before Gregg Williams’ final game as the New Orleans Saints’ defensive coordinator, the since-suspended coach gave a fiery speech to the team’s defensive players during which he made specific references to inflicting physical punishment upon several San Francisco 49ers in a postseason game the next day.

In the speech at the team’s hotel near the San Francisco Airport, Williams – according to documentary filmmaker Sean Pamphilon – at one point made a hand signal suggesting he would personally pay for a ferocious shot on 49ers quarterback Alex Smith.

Williams also referenced the prospect of his players inflicting a severe knee injury upon San Francisco wideout Michael Crabtree and exhorted them to “put a lick on” backup receiver Kyle Williams in an effort to “find out” if he was still suffering from the effects of a late-December concussion.

That's the G-rated stuff.

Simply ridiculous.

I know that the Saints weren't the first -- and likely won't be the last -- team to use a bounty system to fire up players or unite them or whatever stupid excuse you want to buy into.

But as I've said numerous times before in a number of different situations, "Everyone else is doing it" is no more an excuse for breaking the rules than ignorance -- "Oh, I didn't know that was against the rules" -- is.

You don't get to stand up and say you're not worthy of a severe punishment because others are breaking the same rule. It's that simple.

The Williams audio -- available here if you can stomach it -- flies against the spirit of competition, and it is as disrespectful as anything you'll ever hear when it comes to a coach trying to fire up his team.

The audio isn't damning of Loomis or Payton. Filmmaker Sean Pamphilon, who was working on a project featuring former Saint Steve Gleason, who now suffers from ALS, said Loomis and Payton weren't present for the meeting where this particular audio was recorded.

That said, this audio should end their appeals. The team was aware of the league investigation before this playoff game. The team was aware that there was a freaking filmmaker who had access to meetings and was recording them. In a move that reeks of the ultimate "You can't touch me" arrogance, the Saints continued to allow Williams to run roughshod, letting him deliver a speech that was at the height of insanity.

Loomis didn't do anything enough to stop the bounties. Payton didn't do anything enough to stop the bounties.

Now, it's clear Williams was not backing down, even faced with the strong possibility of getting caught. His indefinite ban should be turned into a permanent one, no matter how strongly he tries to speak out against this type of behavior. He did what he did, and then he delivered his own version of an "eff you" to the NFL by continuing the program amid the ongoing league investigation.

The NFL doesn't need to mess around with reinstating this guy. Send him into retirement, where he can think indefinitely about the strong reputation he tarnished when he crossed the line and started asking his players to hurt opponents for money.

Vikings-Saints Should be Good Start to Season

My love for the Vikings is non-existent.

That said, I think they have a very good team, even without Sidney Rice. Brett Favre is a special breed, and there's no reason to assume he won't play well again in 2010. People have tried the "Ah, he'll just get hurt" crap for so many years that I wonder how they haven't given up yet.

In the end, though, the Vikings need a few things to go their way, however, to pull off a win in the season opener at New Orleans tonight.

Run the ball. It's an old saying, but the Vikings have to run the ball and control the clock. They don't have the horses on defense to make anything happen if they're in a 45-44 shootout-type game. It just won't work for them. Instead, they need to run the ball effectively, control the clock with Adrian Peterson and the short passes, and keep the Saints offense standing on the sideline with their hands on their hips.

It sounds simple, but sometimes you got to keep it simple.

Win in the trenches. The Saints' front four defensively is good, but not unbeatable. They made their money last year by blitzing. The Vikings have issues on the offensive line, but Peterson is their biggest liability in pass protection.

I expect the Vikings to combat this not by subbing him out of games, but by using tight end Jim Kleinsasser as a running back on passing downs. Add another extra blocker -- I'd propose tight end Jeff Dugan -- and the Vikings are in a situation where they can allow Favre to make the plays in the passing game without fear of constant harassment. If the Saints see the Vikings using the max-protect looks that they didn't use much in January, I would expect them to blitz less, not more.

Leaving four Vikings in pass patterns and facing man coverage is a deadly move if you don't get to Favre quickly. He's shown he can make that work before, and he'll do it again if he has to.

The biggest thing is to keep him upright and confident in his pocket.

On the other side of the ball, the Vikings have a similar choice. They're woefully thin in the secondary, so they either need to use their linebackers to help in pass coverage, or they need to get a hell of an effort out of the front four. Look for New Orleans to spread the Vikings defense out. Sean Payton isn't dumb. He knows he can spread out the defense, keep them from disguising a lot because of their lack of bodies, and probably neutralize the front four a little bit.

That means the front four needs to play their best game since the last time they faced the Packers.

Defense can win games, too.

Composure. Amid all the talk of cheap shots and dirty hits and what not, this game will not be decided by fisticuffs.

The officials will be looking to keep the game clean, and they'll be looking to keep it from getting out of hand.

That means you can look for something to be called in the first quarter that wouldn't normally be, whether it's an extra shot along the sidelines, or a borderline hit on a quarterback, or an overly aggressive open-field hit on a wide receiver. It's probably going to happen, and the team that avoids taking those penalties and best maintains composure will have a huge advantage, especially early in the game.

In the end, I see the Vikings coming up just short. It doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things, because they should feel pretty good about things as long as they go in and play reasonably well. With Favre leading the way and inspiring his teammates, I expect they'll play well.

Just not well enough. New Orleans is too healthy and too deep, especially on offense, where they can really hurt the Vikings without getting too far away from what they do well.

Saints 23, Vikings 20

The rest of Week 1 (home team in CAPS):
TAMPA BAY over Cleveland
Miami over BUFFALO
CHICAGO over Detroit
Oakland over TENNESSEE
NEW ENGLAND over Cincinnati
N.Y. GIANTS over Carolina
PITTSBURGH over Atlanta
Denver over JACKSONVILLE
HOUSTON over Indianapolis
San Francisco over SEATTLE
Arizona over ST. LOUIS
PHILADELPHIA over Green Bay
Dallas over WASHINGTON
Baltimore over N.Y. JETS
KANSAS CITY over San Diego

'Who Dat?' Done It

As odd as it is to write, the New Orleans Saints are Super Bowl champions.

Good for them, I say.

It wasn't a fluke, either. The Saints fell behind 10-0, but it was almost like a rope-a-dope maneuver. From that point, New Orleans owned the show, outscoring Indianapolis 31-7 and clearly establishing themselves as the better-prepared team, along with being the better team.

There are many ways to emerge victorious in a one-game playoff. It's part of why playoffs are a bit of a misnomer when it comes to determining the best team in a given sport. However, there is no questioning a team that dominated virtually from start to finish, and then beat three future Hall of Fame quarterbacks in very different ways to win a championship.

(Think about it. The Saints jumped all over Kurt Warner and the Cardinals, running up points like crazy and then coasting through most of the second half. They practically broke Brett Favre in half in the NFC title game. While they didn't hit Peyton Manning much, they rattled the hell out of him mentally and confused him like he hasn't been confused in a long time.

Yes, I know I picked Indianapolis. If I had it to do over again, I'd pick the Colts, too. Not to pat myself on the back, but at least I got part of the equation right.

Turnovers. Special teams. Fundamentals. These things don't always decide games. But they're usually a good starting point. And they're terribly hard to predict. ... it's so hard to say that one team or the other will win the battle of "little things" in a game like this.

The Saints won the battle.

I had a feeling before the game that something like this would happen. Sean Payton made clear his message to his team throughout the week, and he made clear during meetings with the CBS broadcasters that he would not let his team get caught playing passive, not-to-lose football.

They were going to be the aggressors, and in doing so, the Saints made up a new blueprint for success in the NFL.

New Orleans treated this like a hockey game, really. They wanted to initiate from the start, but they also knew they weren't going to bash Manning around like they did to Favre. Instead of initiating a physical assault on Manning, they initiated a mental one. Read Dan Graziano, FanHouse colleague, on the Saints' plan.

You have to go back to Monday, Jan. 25, the day after the Saints beat the Vikings to claim the NFC title. In a meeting with his coaches, Saints head coach Sean Payton was discussing the idea that they would do well to encourage the Colts to run.

"You guys can't be upset," Payton said to defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, "if they have 100 yards rushing."

Williams, who agreed with the sentiment, went a little harder.

"We can't be upset if they have 200 yards rushing," Williams said.

So a couple of days later, Payton addressed the defense in a team meeting and hedged.

"You guys can't be upset if they get 150 yards rushing," he said.

So a multi-faceted game plan developed, and one of its key facets was a shift to a 3-4 alignment for the first quarter so the Saints could cover the Colts' receivers deep and invite them to run the ball up the middle.

"We tried to invite them to run as much as they would do it," Williams said late Sunday night, when it was all over.

The Colts did. They racked up 66 rushing yards in the first quarter and raced out to a 10-0 lead that might have had Saints fans panicked but was pretty much along the lines of what Williams had been expecting. As long as the score didn't get out of hand, he knew he could stick with the amoeba game plan, which called for a switch back to a 4-3 alignment for the second quarter and then a ton of shifting looks in the second half.

"You can't beat Peyton Manning if you don't keep changing what he's looking at," Williams said.

That last quote is the money shot from this game. You can read 3,000 more words on the Super Bowl, and none of them will be as significant as those 14.

Finally, someone had the guts to change defensive looks, possibly allowing themselves to be singed for a time, because they knew they couldn't afford to get into a pattern.

I'm not about to say that this is the downfall of the Colts or of Manning. He's an elite quarterback, and he will be enshrined in Canton someday. He will have more chances to win rings, and he will likely hoist the Lombardi Trophy again.

But he met his match -- for at least one night -- in Williams. He met his match with an opponent who refused to sit back and play passively, allowing Manning to dictate matchups and tempo for four quarters. He met his match with an opponent who refused to allow Manning to adjust, because Williams was prepared to be the initiator in the mental game during the second half.

Payton, however, gets the award for aggression. It's one thing to see a hole in a team's kick return game that can be attacked by an onside kick. It's another to 1) have enough faith in your kicker (who had never tried an onside kick), 2) have enough faith in a defense that was beaten regularly in the first half to make a stop if necessary, and 3) have the guts to make the brashest Super Bowl play call in years.

The guts of Payton, the confidence and swagger of Williams, and the talent of guys like Brees, Tracy Porter, and -- yes -- Thomas Morstead made this team unbeatable on this night.

Even for a guy like Manning, who is used to having nights like this go his way. This time, Manning found an opponent who refused to let him win, no matter what he could have tried.

Let's see how many teams follow the blueprint, because it's not a popular path to choose.

NFL teams aren't known for ruthless aggression from a standpoint of strategery. They prefer to do what everyone else does, and play this bland, conservative style of football, hoping the other teams screws up.

Since guys like Manning rarely screw up, teams who play the Colts conservatively are ripe for the picking. But the Saints clearly saw things on film in the AFC title game, when the Jets bottled the Colts up until the two-minute warning of the first half.

Where the Jets went wrong, though, is that they had no answer once Manning figured them out. They didn't have anything to throw at him, because he had seen it all and had a way to beat it.

Williams, as noted by Graziano, knew going in that they had to be constantly changing looks, the way the Saints do on offense.

By turning his defense into an offense, Williams held the key to a Super Bowl win for a franchise -- and a city -- that will revere it like no other.

Super Bowl XLIV: All About the Quarterbacks (Maybe)

There aren't many things in the world harder than penning a Super Bowl preview and coming up with something original.

After two weeks of storylines, press conferences, hype, overhype, and more overhype, the game is Sunday in Miami. Instead of sitting here talking about things you've already read about, let's try to keep it relatively simple.

The little things are always important in a football game.

Turnovers. Special teams. Fundamentals.

These things don't always decide games. But they're usually a good starting point. And they're terribly hard to predict.

The Green Bay Packers were plus-28 in turnover ratio this season. They lost their only playoff game this year -- at Arizona -- largely because they were minus-two in the game. Who could have seen that coming?

The Chicago Bears had an game-opening kickoff return touchdown by Devin Hester in the Super Bowl three years ago. They were then thoroughly dominated by Indianapolis and lost 29-17, despite making the only truly significant special teams play of the game.

Whoda thunk that Kurt Warner -- future Hall of Famer -- would throw the dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb pass he threw to James Harrison that turned Super Bowl XLIII on its ear before halftime? Warner knew better, and he threw it anyway, costing his team points and causing a huge shift in momentum before halftime.

These things happen in playoff football games, and it's so hard to say that one team or the other will win the battle of "little things" in a game like this.

Myth: Quarterbacks decide this game.

What if they don't? What if the defenses pick up their play and change the way it's played?

You're telling me you don't think Gregg Williams can pull a rabbit out of his hat and at least slow Peyton Manning down long enough to make him think a bit?

Same for the Colts and Drew Brees. It's crazy to think a defense that stiffened like it did during the AFC Championship could be helpless against an offense that has been notorious for slow starts on the road (Miami and Washington this season come to mind). Oh, and Brees didn't exactly light up the Vikings, especially in the second half, when they were held under 100 yards.

It's just as likely that guys like Joseph Addai, Donald Brown, Pierre Thomas, and Reggie Bush will have a huge say in how the game plays out.

No need to oversimplify things. Brees and Manning are big-time quarterbacks, and the offenses are both keyed by the passing game. Both teams, however, have proven they can run the ball, and one-dimensional offense isn't likely to win the game.

The game is better with the week off.

Having watched a couple Super Bowls where the teams didn't have an off week ahead of it, I believe pretty strongly that the overall quality of play is better when you have that extra week. Most teams will build their game plan at home during the bye week, then fly to the game site Sunday or Monday before the game.

Practices happen in the host area, but neither team is doing a ton to tip their hand, because each team has a pool reporter assigned to their workouts (closed to the public). The game plan has been in place, everyone knows what is going to happen, and it's all about mental preparation and blocking out all the distractions for the game.

When you don't have the off week, you accelerate everything. In some respects, it could be a better game if you don't give coaches an extra week to overthink everything. Without the extra week, coaches are more inclined to do what got them to the Super Bowl, instead of trying to re-invent the wheel.

But you need the right coaches and players to make the short week work. With media obligations, family and friends begging for tickets, and having to get to the host city early in the week, there is a lot going on outside of the preparation. For many teams, it's proven to be too much to deal with in recent years.

Stick with the week off, NFL. The quality of the game is more important than the oversaturation of coverage that is produced when you have the off week.

The Colts are the better all-around team and will win.

It busts me up, because I want the Saints to win. But Bill Simmons probably said it best.

How dumb will you feel in the fourth quarter, with the Colts leading by 10 and driving for another score, if Manning has the New Peyton Manning Face going? Would you be kicking yourself? Would you be saying, "Why did I go against Manning? What was I thinking?"

Let's not be That Guy. Manning is better than Brees. Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garcon, Austin Collie, and Dallas Clark are better than Devery Henderson, Marques Colston, Robert Meachem, and Jeremy Shockey. The Colts are better on defense, even if Dwight Freeney is limited or sidelined.

Oh, and Manning is better than anyone on the field for either team.

If you're in doubt about a game, you look at who has the better players. You have to love the story of the New Orleans Saints, but how can you argue they have better players? That's insane, and it's wrong.

Colts win.