NFL

NFL hits Saints hard

Bounties cost coach full season

New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton (foreground) and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams were disciplined harshly by the NFL on Wednesday for their roles in the team’s bounty program that targeted opposing players. Payton has been suspended for the 2012 season, and Williams has been suspended indefinitely.
New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton (foreground) and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams were disciplined harshly by the NFL on Wednesday for their roles in the team’s bounty program that targeted opposing players. Payton has been suspended for the 2012 season, and Williams has been suspended indefinitely.

— Meting out unprecedented punishment for a crush-forcash bounty system that targeted opposing players, the NFL suspended New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton without pay for next season and indefinitely banned the team’s former defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams.

Payton is the first head coach suspended by the league for any reason, accused of trying to cover up a system of extra cash payouts that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell called “particularly unusual and egregious” and “totally unacceptable.”

Goodell also banned Saints General Manager Mickey Loomis for the first eight regular-season games next season — believed to be the first time a GM was suspended by the NFL — and assistant coach Joe Vitt for the first six games. In addition, Goodell fined the Saints $500,000 and took away their second-round draft picks this year and next.

“We are all accountable and responsible for player health and safety and the integrity of the game. We will not tolerate conduct or a culture that undermines those priorities,” said Goodell, whose league faces more than 20 concussion-related lawsuits brought by hundreds of former players. “No one is above the game or the rules that govern it.”

According to the league, Payton — who was scheduled to make at least $6 million next season — ignored instructions from the NFL and Saints ownership to make sure bounties weren’t being paid. The league also chastised him for choosing to “falsely deny that the program existed” and for trying to “encourage the false denials by instructing assistants to ‘make sure our ducks are in a row.’ ”

Goodell’s ruling is a real blow to the Saints, a franchise that Payton and quarterback Drew Brees revived and led to the 2010 Super Bowl title after decades of such futility that fans wore paper bags over their heads at home games.

Brees reacted quickly to the news on Twitter, writing: “I am speechless. Sean Payton is a great man, coach, and mentor. ... I need to hear an explanation for this punishment.”

Now the Saints must decide who will coach the team in Payton’s place — his suspension takes effect April 1 — and who will make roster moves while Loomis is out. There was no immediate word from the Saints, but two candidates to take over coaching duties are defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. Spagnuolo has NFL head coaching experience; Carmichael does not but has been with the club since 2006.

When the NFL first made its investigation public March 2, Williams admitted to — and apologized for — running the bounty program while in charge of the Saints’ defense. He was hired in January by the St. Louis Rams. Rams Coach Jeff Fisher said Wednesday he’ll probably use a committee of coaches to replace Williams in 2012.

Goodell will review Williams’ status after the coming season and decide whether he can return.

“I accept full responsibility for my actions,” Williams said in a statement issued by the Rams. “I will continue to cooperate fully with the league and its investigation and ... I will do everything possible to re-earn the respect of my colleagues, the NFL and its players in hopes of returning to coaching in the future.”

After the NFL made clear that punishments were looming, Payton and Loomis took the blame for violations that they acknowledged “happened under our watch” and said Saints owner Tom Benson had nothing to do with the bounty pool, which reached as much as $50,000 during the season the Saints won their championship.

The NFL said the scheme involved 22 to 27 defensive players and targeted opponents that included quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton, Brett Favre and Kurt Warner. “Knockouts” were worth $1,500 and “cart-offs” $1,000, with payments doubled or tripled for the playoffs.

“The bounty thing is completely unprofessional,” said left tackle Jordan Gross, Newton’s teammate on the Carolina Panthers. “I’m happy the league has made it known it won’t be tolerated. To think that something like that would happen — guys trying to hurt someone to make a few extra bucks — is just appalling.”

According to the league, Saints defensive captain Jonathan Vilma offered $10,000 to any player who knocked Favre — then the Minnesota Vikings quarterback — out of the 2010 NFC Championship Game. The Saints were flagged for roughing Favre twice in that game, and the league later said the Saints should have received another penalty for a brutal highlow hit from Remi Ayodele and Bobby McCray that hurt Favre’s ankle. Favre finished the game, but the Saints won in overtime en route to the franchise’s only Super Bowl appearance.

All payouts for specific performances in a game, including interceptions or causing fumbles, are against NFL rules. The NFL warns teams against such practices before each season, although in the aftermath of the revelations about the Saints current and former players from various teams talked about that sort of thing happening frequently — although not on the same scale as was found in New Orleans.

In a memo to the NFL’s 32 teams, Goodell ordered owners to make sure their clubs are not offering bounties now. Each club’s principal owner and head coach must certify in writing by March 30 that no pay-for-performance system exists.

Punishment for any Saints players involved will be determined later because the league is still reviewing the case with the NFL Players Association.

Coaching suspensions

New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton on Wednesday became the first NFL head coach suspended for any reason. The following is a list of previous coaching suspensions handed out by the NFL:

2012 New Orleans Coach Sean Payton for the 2012 season, former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams indefinitely and assistant coach Joe Vitt six games, because of the team’s bounty system that targeted opposing players over a three-year period.

2011 Baltimore offensive line coach Andy Moeller for two weeks and a $47,000 fine for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

2010 New York Jets strength and conditioning coach Sal Alosi indefinitely for instructing players to stand in a wall on the sidelines and tripping Miami’s Nolan Caroll on a punt return in their game on Dec. 12. Alosi resigned in January 2011.

2010 New Orleans assistant defensive line coach Travis Jones 30 days for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. 2007 Dallas assistant coach Wade Wilson five games for violating NFL rules on using performance-enhancing drugs. 1978 New England Coach Chuck Fairbanks one game for accepting the head coaching position at the University of Colorado. NOTE The suspensions of Alosi and Fairbanks were team suspensions. SOURCE NFL

Sports, Pages 15 on 03/22/2012

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