Audio leaked of Saints encouraging injuries

[adam]

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-s...s_bounty_040412

 

The audio was captured by filmmaker Sean Pamphilon, who was doing a documentary on former Saints S Steve Gleason in his battle back from ALS. Gleason was on the sideline during the game. Williams speaks of dealing 49ers QB Alex Smith a "remember me" shot, re-injuring 49ers PR Kyle Williams, and hitting 49ers RB Frank Gore in the head during pileups. Williams wanted WR Michael Crabtree to suffer a debilitating injury. "We need to decide whether Crabtree wants to be a fake-ass prima donna or he wants to be a tough guy," Williams said. "We need to find that out, and he becomes human when you [expletive] take out that outside ACL."

 

I wonder how many games some players will get?

 

 

[jason]

WOW. This is the first thing I've seen that conclusively shows people were encouraging actually injuring someone with illegal tactics. I've stayed somewhat divided from this because I think it's not much different from the sticker system in college if the hits being rewarded are legal. Football is a violent game and people get injured all the time as a result of legal hits. But until this link, I hadn't actually heard someone unequivocally say they were trying to do so illegally (i.e. the head shots to Gore).

 

"Remember me" shot to Alex Smith = Could occur legally

Re-injuring 49ers PR Kyle Williams = Could occur legally

Taking out someone's ACL = Could occur legally

 

Now, actually wanting to do someone else harm in this fashion is a somewhat different issue, and any player who wishes to physically injure another player so that the opponent's career is potentially in danger is downright disgusting. Hurting someone with a legal hit is just part of the game. But hoping you actually injure them longterm is very unsportsmanlike.

[adam]

WOW. This is the first thing I've seen that conclusively shows people were encouraging actually injuring someone with illegal tactics. I've stayed somewhat divided from this because I think it's not much different from the sticker system in college if the hits being rewarded are legal. Football is a violent game and people get injured all the time as a result of legal hits. But until this link, I hadn't actually heard someone unequivocally say they were trying to do so illegally (i.e. the head shots to Gore).

 

"Remember me" shot to Alex Smith = Could occur legally

Re-injuring 49ers PR Kyle Williams = Could occur legally

Taking out someone's ACL = Could occur legally

 

Now, actually wanting to do someone else harm in this fashion is a somewhat different issue, and any player who wishes to physically injure another player so that the opponent's career is potentially in danger is downright disgusting. Hurting someone with a legal hit is just part of the game. But hoping you actually injure them longterm is very unsportsmanlike.

They also noted on ESPN radio that this occurred after the league warned that they were looking into bounty systems. It is one thing to say "hit em in the mouth" or "knock the daylights out of them", but when you specifically name players and body parts, that is pretty blatant to me. This in itself is one thing, but tied to the whole bounty system thing makes it something totally different.

[CrackerDog]

Makes me happy we generally have clean good character guys and coaches on this team.

[Pixote]

I read Hayden had been talked to by NO also, suspect he decided to stay away from the mess down in the Dome.

[Guest TerraTor]

that's really sickening....

[bradjock]

They also noted on ESPN radio that this occurred after the league warned that they were looking into bounty systems. It is one thing to say "hit em in the mouth" or "knock the daylights out of them", but when you specifically name players and body parts, that is pretty blatant to me. This in itself is one thing, but tied to the whole bounty system thing makes it something totally different.

 

I'd compare it to college coaches buying players (with the obvious exception that nobody gets hurt long term in that deal.)

 

It's one thing for a coach to be accused of buying a player. It's another for him to get caught red-handed. In both of these cases the institutions would love to overlook the misconduct, but when it's this obvious, you have no choice.

[AZ54]

I said early on that this indicated a complete lack of leadership and this audio tape confirms that. Of course a Saints player came out and called the film maker a coward. Really? As a player on a team whose goal was to win by injuring other players, in many cases with lifetime injuries and that is not a cowards way to play a game?

 

Drew Brees calls Sean Payton a great man for using these tactics. Hearing 12min of exhortations about specific injury targets for each player is disgusting and worse than i imagined. This goes beyond paying a guy if Alex Smith is carted off. At this point if I were the owner of the Saints I'd fire Sean Payton. You can't hear a 12 min speech like this from the defensive coordinator without knowing that Payton was not only aware of these policies but actively encouraging them. This isn't players and coaches talking quietly off to the side in a locker room. I find it impossible to believe Payton never sat in on one, if not many, of these speeches. He will never out live this and he has done too much damage to the Saints organization.

 

I fully expect the fans of the NFL to let the Saints have it at every game this season. Having them open at the Hall of Fame game? Wrong message there.