The National Football League did exactly what they had to do last week — come down hard on the New Orleans Saints’ practice of offering “bounties” to players who intentionally injure opponents.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell revealed the league’s punishment: a one-year suspension for head coach Sean Payton; an indefinite suspension for former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams (the apparent author and executor of the bounties); an eight-game suspension for general manager Mickey Loomis; a six-game suspension without pay for assistant coach Joe Vitt; the loss of the Saints’ second round draft picks in 2012 and 2013; and a $500,000 fine.
Penalties on individual players who participated are likely forthcoming.
It’s a substantial penalty — the harshest in NFL history — delivered both for perpetrating the bounty program and for covering it up later by providing false information.
The league clearly understood that the practice of what one newspaper called “pay for pain” is not only harmful in its most immediate sense, in that it encourages the injury of players, but in a broader sense, in that it cheapens and diminishes the sport of football itself.
The NFL might well also have been seeking to bolster its defense in potential lawsuits brought by players injured in the bounty scheme. With Goodell’s major punishments and fines, the NFL can claim it is responding appropriately to the bounty scheme. And it is. If potential legal liability is what it takes to help the NFL get things right, so much the better.
“The game doesn’t need to be played this way,” Goodell said on NFL Network last week.
“We think that while it is a strong message, its an important one to send — that we need to protect our players.”
A wise and welcome decision.
Copyright © 2012 by the Intermountain Jewish News
