Vikings Message Board.Com

Keep in mind, NFL contacted Saints before these playoffs and basically told them to stop bounties. Saints didn't take warnings seriously.

By now you've either heard, or heard about, the explosive speech former New Orleans Saints Gregg Williams gave before January's playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers. In it, Williams encourages his players to injure specific 49ers opponents and reportedly made a hand signal that suggested he would reward the first injury with cash.

The release of the audio has spurred wide reaction, but to me this most disappointing one is the one that suggests it was typical in content and style to what NFL players regularly hear. If you read through ESPN analyst Tim Hasselbeck's Twitter timeline, you can see a pretty good discussion on that topic.

To me, that's an unfair over-generalization that glosses over the line Williams crossed. It's no different than saying every Democrat advocates for welfare and every Republican rails against science.

There are plenty of NFL coaches who do their jobs differently, and no less effectively, than the way you heard Gregg Williams do his. So I was glad to see at least one active player stand up for them Thursday morning via Twitter.

Green Bay Packers guard Josh Sitton listened to the audio and tweeted: "Gregg Williams sounds like a complete [expletive] a******. Glad he got suspended!"

When asked by a follower if Packers coaches talk to players that way, Sitton replied: "hell no."

It's fair to point out that Packers players, much like their division opponents in Minnesota, have a significant and emotional tie-in to this story. The NFL's official report on the Saints' bounty program mentioned four targeted quarterbacks by name. One was the Packers' Aaron Rodgers and another was Brett Favre when he played for the Vikings.

I don't want to come off as a prude. I understand that football is controlled barbarianism and that it's common for coaches to encourage players to "knock the [expletive] out" of their opponents. But the Williams speech, especially the references to causing specific injuries to certain players, goes way beyond the line of acceptable violence in the NFL. This is not normal, it shouldn't be acceptable and I'm glad that Sitton, for one, was willing to say so.

S197 wrote:If the players may face criminal charges these new audio clips should be enough to charge Williams with something.

Mothman wrote:A friend of mine put this image together yesterday. I thought it was hilarious.

PurpleMustReign wrote:I tell you what... this guy is mentally not right. He should be put in jail for a long time. What a disgusting story this is, and an enormous black eye on the Saints organization (understand I am not saying I like the Saints, but it is unfortunate that this has happened to any professional team). If the Vikings had done anything even remotely resembling a bounty that resulted in another player getting hurt, I woul dbe embarassed to be a fan of theirs.

Sean Peyton should be banned from the league as well. There is no way, absolutely no way on Earth, that he didn't know about this. They should have to give up more picks for this crap.

Unreal.

Mothman wrote:A friend of mine put this image together yesterday. I thought it was hilarious.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has upheld the discipline issued to the Saints for their "bounty" program.