NFL ‘pay-for-pain’ coach is banned

The New Orleans Saints “bounty” scandal, which has already seen the American Football team’s head coach Sean Payton suspended for all of next season and general manager Mickey Loomis for half of it, will now see the spotlight turn on the players.

Former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who oversaw and contributed money to the fund to reward big tackles and injuries to opponents, has been suspended indefinitely.

The NFL announced the unprecedented penalties in a determined bid to rid the sport of hits that aim to knock opponents out of a game.

Now NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will turn his attention to possible punishments for two dozen or so defensive players the league’s investigation found were involved.

“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 legal cases by ex-players.

The league is reviewing the case with the NFL Players Association before deciding what to do about players who were part of the Saints’ scheme from 2009-11.

“I am profoundly troubled by the fact that players – including leaders among the defensive players – embraced this program so enthusiastically and participated with what appears to have been a deliberate lack of concern for the well-being of their fellow players,” Goodell said.

Targeted players 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 in the play-offs.

According to the league, Saints defensive captain Jonathan Vilma offered $10,000 to any player who knocked then- Vikings QB Favre out of the 2010 NFC championship game. The Saints were penalised twice for roughing Favre in that game.

The league later said they should have received another penalty for a brutal hit that hurt Favre’s ankle. He was able to finish the game, but the Saints won in overtime en route to the franchise’s only Super Bowl.

Payouts for specific performances, including interceptions or causing fumbles, are against NFL rules. The league warns teams against such practices before each season although, after the revelations about the Saints, current and former players from various teams talked about that sort of thing happening frequently – just not on the same scale as in New Orleans.

Payton is the first head coach suspended by the league for any reason, while Loomis is believed to be the only GM to be. Goodell also suspended assistant coach Joe Vitt for the first six games.

Payton, whose salary this season was to be at least $6 million, 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’.”

Clearly, Goodell decided attempts to hide the bounties were as significant as the original rules violation itself.

As recently as this year, Payton said he was entirely unaware of the bounties – “a claim contradicted by others,” the league said. According to the investigation, Payton received an email before the Saints’ first game in 2011 that read, “PS Greg Williams put me down for $5000 on [Green Bay quarterback Aaron] Rogers (sic).”

The league said that in addition to contributing money to the bounty fund, Williams oversaw record-keeping, determined payout amounts and recipients, and handed out envelopes with money to players. The NFL said Williams acknowledged he intentionally misled NFL investigators when first questioned in 2010, and didn’t try to stop the bounties.

Goodell’s ruling is a real blow to the Saints, a franchise that Payton and quarterback Drew Brees revived and led to an NFL championship after decades of bad results.

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.” When the NFL first made its investigation public on March 2, Williams admitted to – and apologised for – running the system while in charge of the Saints’ defense. He was hired in January by St Louis Rams; head coach Jeff Fisher, who says he’ll probably use a committee of coaches to replace Williams in 2012.

Goodell will review Williams’ status after the 2012 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 co-operate fully with the league. I will do everything possible to re-earn the respect of my colleagues, the NFL and its players in hopes of returning to coaching.”

While some players who played for Williams elsewhere said he oversaw bounty systems there, too, the league said its interviews didn’t find evidence that “programs at other clubs involved targeting opposing players or rewarding players for injuring an opponent.”