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Specialist said there were no bounties in 2011 - AsylumGuido - 03-14-2012 12:31 AM
Specialist who worked closely with New Orleans Saints said there were no bounties in 2011
In one of the highest-profile accusations ever leveled against a franchise, the NFL has said the New Orleans Saints for the past three years employed a diabolical system that paid cash bonuses to defensive players who injured opponents. For at least one-third of that stretch, however, the NFL is wrong, and no such bounties were ever in place, according to a physical and behavioral specialist who spent virtually the entire 2011 season with the Saints working closely with former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and his staff.
Duke Naipohn, the chief executive of Sleep Pointe and a self-described "fatigue risk management specialist," attended 16 of 18 games last season, often traveling on the team plane and bus. An unabashed admirer of Williams' essence and style, the consultant was granted unlimited access to defensive coaches' meetings, unit meetings, training rooms, the sideline and the locker room.
At no point in any of those settings, Naipohn told The Times-Picayune on Tuesday, was money paid for a play that injured an opponent. Indeed, such a scheme was never even discussed during 2011 ...
RE: Specialist said there were no bounties in 2011 - AsylumGuido - 03-14-2012 12:42 AM
...
A nearly identical take on things was provided Tuesday by Saints cornerback Tracy Porter, who noted Williams' apology has been widely misconstrued.
"I mean, I haven't really read in-depth the accusations, but all I hear is 'bounty, bounty, bounty,' and there's no bounty," Porter said. "There's not a bounty. I mean, (Williams) came out and said it was a 'pay for play.' So it wasn't a thing of going out and saying, 'We're going to hurt this guy, we're going to hurt that guy.' We came out saying, you know, 'You make an impactful play then you get compensated for it.' That's something that we had in-house. But there was never any ... I can sit here and say there was never any bounty where we said, 'Oh we're going to go out there and hurt this guy.'"
...
RE: Specialist said there were no bounties in 2011 - pauliwood - 03-14-2012 01:04 AM
It's hard to deny something happened when you have already publicly apologized for it.
RE: Specialist said there were no bounties in 2011 - cooperbh - 03-14-2012 02:36 AM
From the same article:
Quote:"As we have stated, our findings were corroborated by multiple independent sources," a league spokesman said Tuesday night.
Multiple independent sources > Some hanger-on who is clearly trying to protect his buddy as well as his most lucrative client.
Looks like the Saints' PR machine has kicked off a preemptive image restoration campaign in anticipation of Goodell's upcoming public flogging.
RE: Specialist said there were no bounties in 2011 - hitwriter - 03-14-2012 02:54 AM
Excuse me but Williams admitted to it already? Save it for later (or the saintsreport) after the ruling comes down.
We're on FA signing watch here....
RE: Specialist said there were no bounties in 2011 - AsylumGuido - 03-14-2012 08:01 AM
(03-14-2012 02:54 AM)hitwriter Wrote: Excuse me but Williams admitted to it already? Save it for later (or the saintsreport) after the ruling comes down.
We're on FA signing watch here....
He admitted to the pay for performance.
RE: Specialist said there were no bounties in 2011 - Beef - 03-14-2012 08:22 AM
(03-14-2012 08:01 AM)AsylumGuido Wrote: He admitted to the pay for play.
LOL, yeah people always apologize for insignificant shit that involves no real wrong-doing or moral indiscretion.
You're getting further in denial by the day.
RE: Specialist said there were no bounties in 2011 - AsylumGuido - 03-14-2012 08:32 AM
(03-14-2012 02:36 AM)cooperbh Wrote: From the same article:
Multiple independent sources > Some hanger-on who is clearly trying to protect his buddy as well as his most lucrative client.
Looks like the Saints' PR machine has kicked off a preemptive image restoration campaign in anticipation of Goodell's upcoming public flogging.
There is no doubt that pay for performance was going on. The guy even says that side bets were rampant among players.
"Players were making side bets," Naipohn said. "You know, 'I'll get a pick before you,' or 'I'll get a pick and you won't,' or 'I'll have more red zone tackles than you,' big plays."
But, this crap that the media has run with concerning "bounties" and "cartoffs" and "knockouts" was NOT going on, at least during 2011 as the media has claimed.
And this is not Saints PR. This is a story by a very well established Times-Picayune writer. Once all of the "evidence" becomes available I am sure we will all see that this whole thing was a lot less damning than the main stream media made it out to be.
RE: Specialist said there were no bounties in 2011 - AsylumGuido - 03-14-2012 08:39 AM
(03-14-2012 08:22 AM)Beef Wrote: LOL, yeah people always apologize for insignificant shit that involves no real wrong-doing or moral indiscretion.
You're getting further in denial by the day.
No, pay for pay or performance is explicitly against the rules whether team run or player run. They definitely deserve and will get punished for that.
And those in denial would be those who bought the media's overblown hype based upon word of mouth alone. There is no doubt that the Saints broke rules and will be punished.
As for the punishment, the Union is demanding that any punishment be postponed until they conduct their own investigation. It appears that they too have serious doubts about the credibility of all of the claims.
RE: Specialist said there were no bounties in 2011 - FullMetalFalcon23 - 03-14-2012 08:52 AM
(03-14-2012 08:39 AM)AsylumGuido Wrote: No, pay for pay or performance is explicitly against the rules whether team run or player run. They definitely deserve and will get punished for that.
And those in denial would be those who bought the media's overblown hype based upon word of mouth alone. There is no doubt that the Saints broke rules and will be punished.
As for the punishment, the Union is demanding that any punishment be postponed until they conduct their own investigation. It appears that they too have serious doubts about the credibility of all of the claims.
They NFLPA want to conduct their own investigation because there are outstanding answers from the player side of things. E.g. why or how did Drew Brees not know about this. Don't just conclude that they are taking your side and your side only. Unfortunately the NFLPA is there to represent all the NFL teams not just New Orleans. Agreeable there are certain issues that need to be verified but it is already been made clear by players coming out and speaking about this that certain things that Williams did have repeated themselves across different teams he has been at