Saints

barrett · #1 03-21-2012, 01:12 PM

Wow....

Quote:

Saints coach Sean Payton has been suspended for one year, former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was suspended indefinitely, general manager Mickey Loomis was suspended for eight regular-season games, the team was fined $500,000 and lost two second-round draft picks (one in 2012 and '13) as a result of a bounty program conducted by the team during the 2009-11 seasons.

There was a lot of talk that the Saints have played fast and loose the past 5 years under Payton and disregarded numerous NFL rules. Then they were explicitly told by the NFL before last season to stop the bounty program and they completely blew the league off. Then the NFL ends up dealing with brain/concussion questions all year. Add it all up and the NFL just murdered the Saints, the same team that was sold to America as heroes for the previous 5 years.

WMH · #2 03-21-2012, 01:14 PM

Hammered!!!!!

HPF Bob · #3 03-21-2012, 01:42 PM

I think it was the Katrina comeback that inspired New Orleans' "Good Guy" reputation, the feel-good story of the vagabond team of a devastated city rising from the rubble to NFL titledom.

The next question is "what do the Saints do with their coaching staff and front office"?

barrett · #4 03-21-2012, 03:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HPF Bob

I think it was the Katrina comeback that inspired New Orleans' "Good Guy" reputation, the feel-good story of the vagabond team of a devastated city rising from the rubble to NFL titledom.

The next question is "what do the Saints do with their coaching staff and front office"?

It was definitely the Katrina comeback, but the NFL and all of the networks jumped on board. A city who previously didn't show up for games (and wore paper bags over there head when they did), was presented as a city deeply in love with their team. They were darlings of primetime games and rooted for by everyone.

The 4 page release today also mentions that Payton hated Greg Williams from before he hired him but did it anyways to turn the defense around. Payton then hired a coach whose primary job was to keep an eye on Williams. Then Payton knew about all of the bounties, had emails about it, was told to shut it down, lied about it all, and then got dumped.

Nconroe · #5 03-21-2012, 09:14 PM

Sad story when people decide to win at all costs. Then you get caught and you lose much worse than if you played the game right.

They deserve what they got.

Too bad for all the good Saints and Saints fans.

Joshua · #6 03-22-2012, 10:10 AM

I suspect if they had come clean when the league first began investigating, it probably would have been handled internally with some slaps on the wrists (fines), as I think the league would have preferred to keep this quiet. I think the Saints sealed their fate by thumbing their nose at the league office, generally, and the Commish, specifically. You can't have a coordinated, deliberate bounty program going for 3 years, lie about it to the Commish's face, then continue doing it. It was inevitable that Goodell's head would explode when this all came out.

NBT · #7 03-23-2012, 04:22 PM

And isn't Drew Brees a FA? Do you think he will still resign with the Saints now that Sean Payton won't be there for a year? To say nothing of all the bad publicity.