Saints bounty system took aim at Favre, Warner

While National Football League executives were making rule changes to reduce serious injuries such as concussions, one team was operating a bounty scheme aimed at deliberately hurting rival players. That's the mixed message gridiron fans are dealing with after the NFL's security department uncovered a bounty program run by former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams with the knowledge of coach Sean Payton. In addition to tainting the Saints' 2010 Super Bowl triumph, a victory that lifted the spirits of a city ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, the bounty scandal of payoffs for inflicting injuries that sidelined rivals stung the league. "The payments here are particularly troubling because they involved not just payments for 'performance', but also for injuring opposing players," said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. "It is our responsibility to protect player safety and the integrity of our game and this type of conduct will not be tolerated." The program was run by Williams from 2009-2011 with 22 to 27 Saints players involved, sometimes with payments as high as $50,000 when involving star rival quarterbacks such as Brett Favre and Kurt Warner. "Now the truth comes out. That's good. But that's football," the now-retired Favre told Sports Illustrated. "I'm not going to make a big deal about it. In all honesty, there's a bounty of some kind on you on every play." There were bonuses of $1,000 for having a rival carted off the field and $1,500 for knocking out a rival player. Favre was playing for Minnesota against the Saints to decide which team would go to the 2010 Super Bowl when he felt he was being targeted. The Saints won 31-28 in over-time to advance. "In that game there were some plays that, I don't want to say were odd, but I'd throw the ball and whack, on every play. Hand it off, whack. Over and over," Favre said. "Some were so blatant. I hand the ball to Percy Harvin early and got drilled right in the chin." "I've always been friends with Darren Sharper and he came in a couple times and popped me hard. I remember saying, 'What the hell you doing, Sharp?' I felt there should have been more calls against the Saints. I thought some of their guys should have been fined more." Favre spent months recovering from injuries suffered in that loss but don't look for Favre to press his case in legal action against Williams or the Saints. "I've got a lot of respect for Gregg Williams. He's a great coach," Favre said. "I'm not going to make a big deal about it." Sharper and former Saints defensive end Alex Brown defended their actions in radio interviews on Monday, Sharper telling a Philadelphia station the idea "that we were trying to maim guys or try to cart a guy off is just totally ridiculous." Brown told a Chicago station that hard hits on opponents did not necessarily mean Saints players were using illegal moves to try and inflict injuries. "You can knock a guy out of the game and do it legally," Brown said. "Just because you knock a guy out of the game doesn't mean it's an illegal thing. Just because a guy gets hurt that doesn't mean it's illegal." Sidelining a star quarterback can disrupt an opposing offensive unit enough to diminish their scoring chances. Williams and the Saints are expected to face heavy fines, suspensions and potential loss of draft selections as a result of the bounty scheme. Williams, named defensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams in January, has apologized to the NFL and reportedly was set to meet with league officials on Monday. "It was a terrible mistake, and we knew it was wrong while we were doing it," Williams said. "Instead of getting caught up in it, I should have stopped it." While violent hits are a part of the sport, any special rewards or payments for inflicting punishment are strictly prohibited by the league, which has been scrambling to avoid injuries that have sidelined star players for entire seasons, such as the neck injury that kept Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning out for the entire 2011 campaign.