Saints Defense maintained a Bounty Program

[KNUBB]

Ya'll are acting like they are flagged all the time. Like the team is full of Ndamukong Suh's

Not saying I condone it at all, but the Saints aren't dirty(like they are the scariest D in the league amirite)

The punishment should be no harsher than spygate. I skimmed over most of this thread due to the incredible overreaction. I will say that there is no doubt in my mind that this isn't the only system in the league.

[Tailback U]

The Saints were tied for 8th most in the league in personal foul penalties over the last 3 years. So it's not like they were significantly ahead of everyone else in the NFL and can be labeled as a dirty team or whatever.

If you look at the stuff being said from players around the league, a lot of them don't think this is as big of a deal as some of you do.

Damien Woody said this isn't surprising, "bounty" programs are run everywhere.

Darren Sharper has said that ever since he came into the league he's been a part of pay for performance programs. He also said they were not paid to try and injure players, but obviously he could be lying.

Chris Harris, Shaun Phillips, Ryan Clark, and a few others have all said something about how the NFL is a contact sport and you sign up to get hit.

Like I said, it is a violent game, the other team is trying to hurt you. The other players you go up against are trying to hurt you. I don't know where you guys played football where you lined up against a guy who didn't try to knock you out with a blindside hit when he had the chance but that is what 99% of football players do and are expected to do.

Blind side hits are legal and encouraged and the majority of fans love them. Some would say they are cheap and dirty but they are a part of football and nobody has ever questioned them.

You can't play the sport of football at a high level and look out for the opponent's health. You don't want anybody to get seriously injured but knocking the piss out of someone and having them miss the rest of the game isn't going to keep any of these guys awake at night.

[Bear Pand]

Not looking out for opponents health is completely different than trying to go out and injure someone.

Hitting someone has hard as you can =/= going out with intent to injure.

[mgoblue2290]

How many personal fouls they had is irrelevant. Its the fact that they openly competed as a team for money to take opposing players out of the game. So when tackling someone maybe they went for a knee or made sure there was a little more helmet to helmet contact.

I don't disagree with these guys trying to beat the hell out of each other either. Like Tailback said, these guys want to inflict pain. It is a violent game and players are going to get taken out. The problem is they had a system in place rewarding the behavior and encouraging it. It doesn't matter whether or not they succeeded in taking guys out, they went into games actively trying to injure other players.

[KNUBB]

I swear none of you have seen the Saints defense play. It is evident in the overreaction

[Warner2BruceTD]

The Saints were tied for 8th most in the league in personal foul penalties over the last 3 years. So it's not like they were significantly ahead of everyone else in the NFL and can be labeled as a dirty team or whatever.

If you look at the stuff being said from players around the league, a lot of them don't think this is as big of a deal as some of you do.

Damien Woody said this isn't surprising, "bounty" programs are run everywhere.

Darren Sharper has said that ever since he came into the league he's been a part of pay for performance programs. He also said they were not paid to try and injure players, but obviously he could be lying.

Chris Harris, Shaun Phillips, Ryan Clark, and a few others have all said something about how the NFL is a contact sport and you sign up to get hit.

Like I said, it is a violent game, the other team is trying to hurt you. The other players you go up against are trying to hurt you. I don't know where you guys played football where you lined up against a guy who didn't try to knock you out with a blindside hit when he had the chance but that is what 99% of football players do and are expected to do.

Blind side hits are legal and encouraged and the majority of fans love them. Some would say they are cheap and dirty but they are a part of football and nobody has ever questioned them.

You can't play the sport of football at a high level and look out for the opponent's health. You don't want anybody to get seriously injured but knocking the piss out of someone and having them miss the rest of the game isn't going to keep any of these guys awake at night.

So because other ridiculously barbaric bounties exist, that makes it ok when one of them gets busted? Is that the argument you're making here? Are you saying you think it's ok to offer money for injuring players?

And why do you keep bringing up things like blind side hits and Chris Harris talking about football being a contact sport? Is this new information? Who cares? What does that have to do with bounties?

[Warner2BruceTD]

How many personal fouls they had is irrelevant. Its the fact that they openly competed as a team for money to take opposing players out of the game. So when tackling someone maybe they went for a knee or made sure there was a little more helmet to helmet contact.

I don't disagree with these guys trying to beat the hell out of each other either. Like Tailback said, these guys want to inflict pain. It is a violent game and players are going to get taken out. The problem is they had a system in place rewarding the behavior and encouraging it. It doesn't matter whether or not they succeeded in taking guys out, they went into games actively trying to injure other players.

I have no idea why this is so hard for people to understand.

[Warner2BruceTD]

I swear none of you have seen the Saints defense play. It is evident in the overreaction

Knubb, this is not an overreaction. The fact that the Saints play bad defense does not get them off the hook. This is terrible PR for the league, street thug shit, and very unethical and disgusting behavior.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Not looking out for opponents health is completely different than trying to go out and injure someone.

Hitting someone has hard as you can =/= going out with intent to injure.

Tailback had coaches who apparently taught him to MURDER AND KILL on the field, so you have to excuse his inability to understand this.

[KNUBB]

Yo the Saints are the dirtiest team in the league

and

Yes this is an overreaction and it is personally hilarious to me.

[KNUBB]

BOUNTIED

CALL THE DOG

[Tailback U]

So because other ridiculously barbaric bounties exist, that makes it ok when one of them gets busted? Is that the argument you're making here? Are you saying you think it's ok to offer money for injuring players?

And why do you keep bringing up things like blind side hits and Chris Harris talking about football being a contact sport? Is this new information? Who cares? What does that have to do with bounties?

It depends on what the bounties were for.

If there's a bounty out on a player to knock him out the game legally and with a clean hit then who really cares? What difference does it really make?

You're not trying to injure him necessarily. What you are trying to do is hit him so hard that he can't come back out. What's so bad about that? It's what these guys do anyway and it is what they are encouraged to do regardless of this stupid "bounty" program.

If the bounty is for actually going for somebody's knee or head or something like that then it's an entirely different story.

[KNUBB]

Saban tell his players to make the other team quit

Hit em til he don't want to play anymore

[Warner2BruceTD]

It depends on what the bounties were for.

If there's a bounty out on a player to knock him out the game legally and with a clean hit then who really cares?

You're not trying to injure him necessarily. What you are trying to do is hit him so hard that he can't come back out. What's so bad about that?

astounding

[Tailback U]

Knubb, this is not an overreaction. The fact that the Saints play bad defense does not get them off the hook. This is terrible PR for the league, street thug shit, and very unethical and disgusting behavior.

You are out of your fucking mind. You have no idea about what goes in an NFL locker room or on that football field. Guys routinely eye gouge, twist ankles, punch cocks, etc. at the bottom of the piles all the time. This has been going on for YEARS. Now all of a sudden a bounty program is in the media and shmucks like you are appalled by such an act. L O L.

To you and all the other naive fans who have no concept of how aggressive and violent the NFL is, this is an atrocity. To everyone else that has played football at a high level and understands the violence of the sport, this is nothing.