Goodell Lays the Wood to Saints

[Braveman]

Payton suspended for a year- Williams indefinitely, plus they lose picks in draft...

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/7718136/sean-payton-new-orleans-saints-banned-one-year-bounties

[FlyingSpaghettiMonster]

This was a far worse punishment than almost everyone expected. I thought they would lose at least one first round pick, however. Williams might be done in the NFL now.

[BradleyJD]

This had to be done.

The NFL is trying to protect players. We keep hearing about concussions and debilitating injuries. If they hadn't hammered the Saints and Co. this would have been another open season on lawsuits.

I still want to see how the NFL or Saints deals with players in the future claiming life-long injuries or conditions based on these "illegal" bounty plays.

The can of worms......

[AZ BU Fan]

Paying players to hurt or knock each other out via bounties, by player name, and type of injury, reduces football to a 'Gladiator like' blood sport competition.

If this is what players, coaches, and 'fans' want, remove the helmets/pads, cancel all rules, and change the purpose of the game so the team with the most players still standing at the end wins.

Better yet, release lions and tigers on the field to accelerate the depletion and 'competition'...

Curious how most of the techniques to knock out or permanently injure a player are not allowed in football's rules:

• helmet to helmet contact
• blows to the head
• late hits
• lifting a player up and riding him down on the field like a pro wrestler
• hitting people from behind
• choppnig players' knees, ankles, achilles tendons

But some think its ok to financially reward folks if they are successful disabling players even if they use these techniques...

Of course a country who will glorify a series of books and ultimately movies depicting 12-18 year olds trying to kill each other in competition to stay alive
"Gladiator meets Harry Potter" is probably ready for NFL Gladiator...Would make a great video game too!

The Commissioner's penalty was as much about Saints coaches lying to the Commissioner's Office and the threat or lawsuits from current/former players who's brains are now mush as it is about player safety, or, Gladiator football is not what Americans want to see.

[FlyingSpaghettiMonster]

There is no one that disagrees with you!