On Wednesday afternoon, the NFL announced its most stringent and surprising sanctions in history. The laundry list of penalties imposed on the Saints includes the following
- Head coach Sean Payton suspended for the entire 2012 season without pay
- Assistant coach Gregg Williams, in charge of the bounty program, suspended indefinitely
- General Manager Mickey Loomis suspended 8 games
- Team loses second round picks in the next two drafts
- Team fined $500,000
Make no mistake, these penalties usher in a new era of the NFL, all in one fell swoop. The game will most likely change, maybe not immediately, but certainly over the next ten years.
The Saints knew, like all of us, they would receive harsh sanctions. In my previous post on the bounty system, I compared it to the Patriots Spygate controversy which resulted in fines and lost draft picks. Many in the sports world believed suspensions would happen in this case and, let’s face it, somebody on the coaching staff should have been suspended. Commissioner Roger Goodell had to send a firm message and remain consistent. If linebackers receive fines for hits endangering player safety, coaches and franchises should receive penalties for any institutionalized threat against the safety of opponents. Makes sense and he will continue to tout that as a primary motivation.
Certainly, he can make that case, but don’t lose sight of the business reasons inherent in this decision. I don’t doubt Goodell has some drive to protect player safety, but the business of the NFL probably decided the length of these penalties. As I mentioned weeks ago, players like former Bears QB Jim McMahon are currently suing the NFL for not doing enough about concussions while he played. The NFL would rather not sit in courts for years with former players, so an attempt to change the culture towards safety has business (and attorney’s fees) benefits. Still, why such long penalties?
These penalties increased in length because Sean Payton and the Saints lied about the existence of the program. Like many penalties and cover-ups in the past (Nixon, Tressel, Paterno, etc.) the question remains when Payton knew the program existed and his subsequent behavior. The report today issued by the NFL found Payton lied to NFL investigators in an interview about the program after being informed of it through internal Saints email traffic. If true, Payton deserves to be punished, no questions asked. Williams and Payton can apologize all they want now, but the second they admitted they knew the system was wrong during its establishment, penalties will come regardless. To lie about a program like this shows organizational arrogance, which most employers and authorities will never accept.
An additional wrinkle: the Saints were caught. I bet most teams use the pay-for-plays incentive model, but New Orleans should not be excused just because everyone else does it. Pretty sure that excuse doesn’t fly in the real world. While I want to believe those calling this an “injustice,” the truth is harsh penalties make sense given the NFL’s recent initiatives, current and future lawsuits, and the arrogance of Saints coaches in not acknowledging the system to investigators.
That said, I cannot believe a judge in the future would deem the NFL negligent if Payton were suspended for half a season and Williams for a year based on the facts. A yearlong ban for the head coach not in charge of the defense would not be appropriate just for creating a bounty program, because football will remain a contact sport. Regardless of if a bounty program matches the nature of the sport, it would be incredibly difficult to prove a specific cart-off or injury resulted from a bounty, though it would be viewed as likely. A full season ban, then, strikes me as overkill. I can guarantee an 8-10 game suspension would send a similar message while not robbing Payton of $7.5 million.
In the end, I think the Saints got caught practicing a league-wide program, but that should not excuse them from very harsh penalties. Of course, fans of Payton will hate it, since he’s out $7.5 million, but he knew about the program and, worse, lied about it. I disagree, however, with Roger Goodell’s contention that a year-long suspension was the only way to send a message. Regardless, the precedent set here will water down the “violence” in football, probably to the point where touching the quarterback after a pass would be prohibited. I don’t like that prospect, so hopefully the NFL does not overreact to a story such as this.
Bit #1: Same Old Jets
Conveniently, the Tebow trade comes one post after I lamented the short memory of NBA GMs this season. Clearly, Jets GM Mike Tannebaum’s conscience remains conflicted for the quarterback position. He signed Mark Sanchez to a three year extension last week before trading for Tim Tebow on Wednesday night.
The trade makes very, very little sense. First, Sanchez’s already flimsy confidence must sink lower now that he knows how many fans will react next season. The first pick-six Sanchez throws, or the first game he loses, the Tebow Train will ramp up, calling for a QB change. The state of the Jets locker room probably will not be able to support that kind of fan pressure before folding like a lawn chair, dragging every player through the tabloids again.
Second, while Tebow upgrades the backup QB spot over the decayed remains of Mark Brunell, I doubt the Jets will change their offense for a guy who might get 10 snaps a game in a Wildcat formation. Even so, Joe McKnight has done well running the Wildcat in New York, so I fail to see how this move makes any sense for the Jets.
I am in Jacksonville now and can tell you people here are pissed. New owner Shahid Khan certainly didn’t do well in his first real test from Jags fans.
Bit #2: Best soccer player on the planet
With good reason, Americans focused this weekend on football and their brackets. Unbeknownst to them, however, Spain saw the undisputed best soccer player in the world break an old record. Messi scored his 234th goal with FC Barcelona on Tuesday, breaking the all-time Barcelona scoring set 57 years ago. In 45 total matches this season, Messi can count 57 goals to his name, as well as a likely clinching of the Copa del Rey and a good chance in the Champions League. In addition, Messi will likely win an unprecedented fourth FIFA Player of the Year after this season, making a World Cup title the only hardware to elude him. Such accolades are rarely matched, and while Pele and Maradonna were the best players ever, Messi may reach those heights.
Did I mention he’s only 24 years old? Think about that…
Bit #3: Double technicals in the NBA
One of the least discussed aspects of the NBA is the use of replay, or lack thereof. Every time I watch the Lakers, the Dirtbag Formerly Known as Ron Artest goads an opponent into a technical just because they respond to his cheap, Bowen-style play. In a NCAA game over the weekend, officials were able to review a double technical foul on the floor, but the NBA does not allow the use of replay to do so. Once calling a double technical (one technical on two players involved in a little chatter), a referee cannot rescind one of the technical fouls. Perhaps this is a sports geek problem, but somebody should look at it.
Bit #4: Is the NHL next?
With the penalties today in the NFL, I wonder if the NHL will be next to ban violence in its own right. I refer to fighting. I admit I am a fighting sympathizer, but fighting in the NHL also is of a different character than violent hits in the NFL. In hockey, a bone-jarring hit isn’t necessary to prevent a goal. In the NFL, if a player only tries to strip the ball, the ball carrier will get into the end zone. Since everybody must hit in football, picking out an intentionally harmful football hit becomes much more difficult. Hockey, however, does not necessarily require hits, meaning players can more readily spot a malicious hit and police that kind of behavior themselves. Whether such policing actually decreases bad hits is up for discussion, but we should be careful not to confuse the two. I will add, however, many NHL goons suffer debilitating head injuries later in life, with many dying too soon, so it does appear the results are the same, possibly justifying a fighting ban.
Bit #5: March 21, 1964 – UCLA Finishes Perfect Season
Yes, back in the day March Madness actually finished in March. In 1964, UCLA beat Duke 98-83 to finish 30-0 for the season and claim the first of 10 National Championships under John Wooden’s coaching tenure. Of the 7 undefeated seasons in college basketball, Wooden’s Bruins own four of them. We continue to wait for another perfect season, as the last perfect team was the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers, almost three sports generations ago.
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