"I don't want to injure anybody, but I am not opposed to hurting someone." - James HarrisonHurting someone it hitting them hard enough to cause them physical pain. Make them sore. Make a running back think twice about hitting that hole hard, a wide receiver think twice about going across the middle, or a quarterback holding onto the ball a bit longer than he would want to. I do not mean breaking a guy's leg, giving a guy a concussion, tearing up someone's knee, or intentionally causing injury worse than bruises and bumps that come naturally with playing the sport of tackle football.
Being a Steelers fan, I am a big fan of the defensive side of the ball. I personally prefer a game that ends 17-14 than a game that ends 52-47. I like defense, I like seeing big hits. I love seeing a goal line stand. To me, that's football. And I feel that most real fans feel the same way.
Now, playing such a violent sport, there are going to be serious injuries. Just last season, the Steelers had two players tear their ACL (NT Casey Hampton & RB Rashard Mendenhall). Ben Roethlisberger played on a badly sprained ankle (and has played with a broken thumb and separated shoulder in the past). Does it suck when star players get hurt? Yes, especially when they play for your team. But they happen, and there's no way to stop it.
The problem is when these types of injuries happen because there was a bounty out to do so. And it has come out that the New Orleans Saints had a bounty program that was basically instituted and ran by former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams; and that he had similar programs in place while coaching the Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins. Specifically $1500 for a player being knocked out of a game and $1000 if the player was carted off of the football field.
It is believed that there was a bounty on Brett Favre's head in the 2009 NFC Championship Game with the way he was just bludgeoned in that game. It is also believed that there was a bounty on Kurt Warner in their 2010 playoff game against the Cardinals due to the hit that he received when trying to make a tackle after throwing an interception.
One argument that is being made is that there are bounty programs all around the league. However, I believe most of those aren't instituted by coaches but instead players getting together and pooling money together in private for big hits, interceptions, sacks, and defensive touchdowns. This could be entire defenses or just linebackers, or linemen, or defensive backs...and are likely done without the knowledge of coaching staffs or front offices.
There are going to be big penalties for the Saints and the front office personnel, coaches, and players involved in this bounty program. The forfeiture of draft picks & large fines. And suspensions of GM Mickey Loomis, Head Coach Sean Payton, former Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams, and players implicated in the program...and the suspensions will be for half a season if not more. Players that are not even on the team anymore will be affected by this, meaning that this is going to affect other teams in the NFL.
The NFL did an investigation of the Saints for this same thing in 2009 after the playoffs and found no evidence, and told GM Mickey Loomis to stop whatever bounty program there may be in New Orleans. It obviously didn't stop and continued business as usual through last season. For that, I believe that anyone who knew this was still going on should be severely punished for this. Not for the bounties themselves, but for going on with the program after being told to stop it after what was simply a verbal warning.
Also, this is going to affect more than just the Saints. It is going to affect other teams that have coaches or players from these Saints teams if it's proven that the players participated in the program. The St. Louis Rams are going to be without Gregg Williams as their defensive coordinator, and I feel they will likely fire him after learning the length of his suspension, if he isn't banned from the NFL outright by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
And now, people are looking at other teams that play defense proudly like the Pittsburgh Steelers and saying that maybe these teams put bounties out on players and that's why they play defense so well. I don't believe that the Pittsburgh Steelers put bounties out on anyone. I don't believe that the coaching staff tells any player that they will be paid x-amount of money to put a player out of the game.
I believe the defense is coached to play hard, to play tough, and to play violent. I believe that this has been the case since back when Chuck Noll came into coach the Steelers in 1969.
"I am very aggressive and very physical. On the field I guess I am just plain mean." - Jack Lambert.
"I believe the game is designed to reward the ones who hit the hardest. If you can't take it, you shouldn't play." Jack Lambert.
"It's time to plant some seeds. What that means is, hit them in the mouth. Ya know, plant some seeds. Show 'em what time it is." - Levon KirklandThese quotes I feel say all that needs to be said about playing defense. You play it for your own personal pride and team pride. You shouldn't need the possibility of a bounty payment to go out there and play a tough and physical style of defense. I believe that the Steelers play defense the way they do because it's a pride thing. The Steelers history is built very much on defense, and they won't stop playing physical and violent defense because that is Steelers defense.
"...the most violent team is going to win." - Mike TomlinThe Steelers defense is simply trying to play to the standard that was set by all the great Steelers defenses that played before them. Defenses from the 1970's Steel Curtain, to the Blitzburgh defenses of the 1990's, to the 2008 defense that was one of the greatest single season defenses of all time.
"The standard is the standard." - Mike Tomlin
These days, I believe that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wants to do away with as much defense as possible to appease the casual fan that might not want to see hits like these. And this bounty program that was run by the Saints will allow him to handcuff defenses even more than he already has.
The Steelers have become the poster team for "illegal" defense in the National Football League. From hits made by James Harrison, the Steelers rough & tumble outside linebacker who is the poster boy for Goodell's anti-defense stance. I live in Cleveland, OH and I have heard many Browns fans say that they know "for a fact" that the Steelers pay out bounties for big hits. Now of course they don't have any facts, but there is now the perception that the Steelers and any other team that plays tough and violent defense do this too.
This is a black eye to the National Football League. It's being compared to Spygate, and I feel Spygate was a worse black eye because it was blatant cheating that did nothing but attempt to give the New England Patriots an unfair advantage over the team they were playing that week. It was also a worse black eye because of the way it was handled by Roger Goodell who really swept it under the rug. The Patriots were warned against the practice of videotaping another team's offensive and/or defensive signals in a league wide memo and then continued to do so. They also used injured reserve players in practice so their starters could have more time to rest during the week. There was a fine for the team, a fine of Head Coach Bill Bellichick, and the forfeiture of the first round draft pick (31st overall) but were allowed to keep the better pick (#10 overall) where they selected one of their best defensive players, Jerod Mayo. They practiced the cheating through the time that they won three Super Bowls in four seasons. No coaches or front office personnel were suspended over this, even though they were told to stop the practice.
This is going to be a very large black eye, and Roger Goodell is going to do what he feels that he must do to "protect the shield."
No comments:
Post a Comment