New Orleans, LA: The latest entry as “America’s Team” was delivered a crippling sack this past weekend, as former players opened allegations of knowledge and support of a bounty program against the New Orleans Saints’ former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.
The bounty program was incorporated into an “under the table” incentive program, where players paid into a pool, and collected from the pool based on exceptional defensive play. Bounty incentives had to do with incentives paid to players who injured players on the opposing team, either for a play or an extended period of time.
Incentive programs are generally looked down upon by the NFL, as such set-ups devalue the use of a salary cap. Incentives for injuring others are prohibited even more so, especially with the focus on player safety these past few years. These issues have led many sports pundits to believe that the discipline for the Saints, Williams, and players will be severe.
However, many wonder why the Saints should be disciplined harshly, considering how horrible their defense has been in recent years.
These are the defensive states since Gregg Williams became the defensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints:
2008: ranked 26th in points
ranked 23th in yards
2009: ranked 20th in points
ranked 25th in yards
2010: ranked 7th in points
ranked 4th in yards
2011: ranked 13th in points
ranked 24th in yards
While 2010 may have been exceptional in respect to the Saints’ defense in the past, it must also be considered that they lost in the playoffs in the Wild Card round 41-36…to the Seattle Seahawks.
It seems that, in this case, a bounty program should have led to some level of defensive excellence. That was not the case, as rival teams employed the “keep pace” game plan usually reserved for other defensively handicapped teams like the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots.
The embarrassment that such a bounty program didn’t help has led to Star Wars’ own Boba Fett to deny any connection to the New Orleans Saints, Jonathan Vilma, and any cash collected from Jabba the Hutt’s incentive pool in regards to stopping Alex Smith from coming out with his first “come from behind” victory, twice…in one game.