Still just speculation on the Bounty-gate front. The Talking Heads out there are predicting things like a year’s suspension for Gregg (the 3rd ‘g’ stands for geneous) Williams, hell fire and a raft of lost draft picks raining down on Tom Benson and the Saints, and possible sanctions against some of the players involved on the Saints and Redskins defenses, places where Williams instituted his pay-for-injuries deal. For what it’s worth here, the issue is really about the perception that the Saints (and Skins before them) organization was on board with this activity. By no means are the Saints the only team out there doing this. Just like NE was the only team trying to sneak video of upcoming opponents. Hello Denver? These kinds of gamesmanship issues have been going on for a long time. Mainly though as something done amongst the players. The coaches would nod and wink, but they would NOT be the ones ponying up the cash. The fact of the matter is, the Saints are the ones who got caught. And suddenly all their games in the recent past get looked at in a different way. A coyuple games spring to mind. The playoff games vs Minnesota and AZ. Both those games, there was a ton of hits on Favre that were questionable. A couple got flagged, but the refs sure didn’t really try to slow down the shit going on out there. And in the AZ game, after a pick, someone (Vilma?) unloaded on Warner, knocking him out of the game.

Granted, this IS football, but adding the incentive for extra money (Vilma apparently put up $10,000 for anyone knocking Favre out of that Minnesota game) to intentionally injure a fellow player is pretty much crossing a line that shouldn’t be crossed. With the NFL the way it is now, and with all the player movement, the guy you are trying to maim could very well be your teammate the next season. Besides, a lot of these guys are friends off the field no matter what team they play for, and are all part of the greater NFL at large. Brothers in arms, so to speak. Putting these guys at odds with each other creates an even more dangerous situation for a game that is incredibly violent, no matter how they try to penalize and sanction hits, legal or otherwise.

So, this leads to Goodie Goodell, the Shield, and perception. He HAS to come down hard on Gregg Williams. To integrate the pay-for-injury ploy as part of the culture of a team, you are pretty much spitting in the face of all the work that Goodell is trying to do as part of the overarching policy of trying to protect the players from later health problems. Plus, to the myriad sponsors of the NFL, head hunting and maiming/crippling players doesn’t sell well. THIS is the biggest indiscretion in my book. The perception that the Saints are flaunting Goodell’s directives for the good of the players and the good of the league. Even worse, the Saints front office found out about it in 2009, yet did nothing to stop it going forward. Goodell didn’t talk to Williams, but his security council did. I’d think Goodell would want to talk to him at some point, but I haven’t heard either way. I think the repercussions are going to severe. Williams likely gets suspended for a year. The Saints will lose 3 draft picks, and get fined a shit-load of money.

I think the Video-Gate scandal is the baseline from which they determine the fines. Frigging NE barely got a slap on thwe wrist. I think this one is much more brutal.