Saints and Sinners

"We've got to do everything in the world to make sure we kill Frank Gore's head. 
We want him running sideways. We want his head sideways"  -Gregg Williams

The National Football League has upheld all of the suspensions relating to the New Orleans Saints' use of a bounty system that financially rewarded players for inflicting injury on their opponents.  The league handed out partial year suspensions to the Saints' GM and Assistant Coach, Head Coach Sean Payton for the entire year, and Former DC Gregg Williams has been banned indefinitely.

"Indefinitely"  likely will mean "a long time," as audio of Gregg Williams' speech to his defense, giving direct orders to inflict specific injuries on certain players.  The transcript was damning... and this was just one game, the Saint's most recent one, a 2012 Playoff loss to the Niners.  This speech references the game's potential targets as Alex Smith, Frank Gore, Vernon Davis, Michael Crabtree, and Kendall Hunter.

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"Every single one of you, before you get off the pile, affect the head. Early, affect the head. 
Continue, tough and hit the head."  -Gregg Williams
 

In recent years, the league has established an initiative to clean up the league in terms of upper body hits to defenseless players.  News of an established bounty system directly contradicts this mission, forcing the league to take prompt and swift action.  

"We need to decide on how many times we can beat Frank Gore's head.'' -Gregg Williams

While I think the suspensions and penalties were a bit harsh, the league was in a difficult position, and could not afford to be soft on head injuries.  there are several pending lawsuits from veteran players groups for medical issues inflicted while playing for the NFL.

I don't expect to see Gregg Williams trolling an NFL sideline any time soon. 

"He becomes human when we (expletive) take out his outside ACL"   -Gregg Williams 

-Kevin Aherne