NFL: Saints Bounty Thread

[Peyton]

Well I'll give you my opinions. I think you were looking for Guido's, but I have something to say about these.

(10-26-2012 07:07 PM)ATLBound Wrote:  There are a few things that I find difficult to explain for the ones claiming innocence and also some things that need to be cleared up. This may be long so I apologize ahead of time.

1. Fujita was not involved in the bounty as noted by Goodell. He recognizes this and found nothing to contradict Fujita's claims. He punished Fujita for being a defensive leader and not stepping up as a team leader.

How in the world is that a punishable offense? That makes no sense at all.

2. Hargrove's punishment has been the same throughout the whole process. Don't lie to the commish.

Lot's of Saints players have stuck to their guns and directly disputed the Vilma story. None of them have been punished. Hargrove was punished so severely because they thought he was the guy on the tape saying "Give me my money". The league ultimately admitted they were wrong about that.

3. Smith's statement is the 2nd mention of the cart-off payments. Just like JDave brilliantly mentioned. Cart-off is a well known term around the NFL and fans of the NFL. Goodell is basically saying it is extremely difficult to believe that cart-offs doesn't mean what cart-offs has always meant in the NFL world.

Cart off probably means you knocked someone out of the game for at least a minute.

4. Smith's punishment is is the same punishment as Vilma's minus the 10K pledge.

I've got no comment on this one.

5. Getting paid when a player needs smelling salts under a trainer's care. This was testified by Vilma AND Vitt. Correct me if I'm wrong but you don't need smelling salts for havign the wind knocked out of you. I'm pretty sure it's used for concussions.

Or this one.

6. Throughout the whole statement to Vilma, Goodell is clearly punishing him for being involved in the program and also for pledging money. He NEVER mentions specific intent to injury. He implies it but it's not mentioned in his reasoning for punishing ANY of the players.

You don't think that specific intent to injure has been part of this case?

7. Cerullo and Williams submitted the SAME 10K pledge story from Vilma without even knowing what the other person said. Yes, there stories of how the 10K was handed over differed, but they both connected Vilma with the 10K. Please explain how the story of two people who never spoke about the issue matched in an amount as high as that and also the person pledging the amount. AND under oath.

See my previous post.

8. Fujita and Vitt mentioned the meeting got out of hand, while Vilma claimed nothing out of the ordinary happened. Very minor detail but also very telling. Why don't you ever talk about their stories differing?

I don't see that as remotely important. Certainly not as important as the difference in Cerullo and Williams sworn statements.

9. Why would a player say " Give me my money" in response to Vitt inadvertently advising the players that Favre's leg was broken???

I couldn't really tell you why an unknown player made that particular comment at that particular time.

10. Also the 3 judge panel gave Goodell a way out. Why would he reestablish these punishments if he knew that the investigation was shoddy? By the time of the beginning of October he knew everything that we all knew back in August. There was no different or new news. It was all the same. So why subject himself to this again?

Why did he reduce the punishments if his investigation was not shoddy? I mean, Roger Goodell is a very arrogant and stubborn man. I think that much is obvious, not just from this case, but from the player lock out and also the referees lock out.

These are questions that have yet to be answered and gives me plenty of reasons to believe that something happened and I may quite possibly have been incorrect in my assessment that the punishments were too extensive. I would appreciate a VALID response to all the questions