Off Topic Board

It is the principle of giving incentive to injure. Big hits are great and should and will be a part of the game forever, but they are not the same as a knock out or an intended injury. In the light of our increasing awareness of the implications of head injuries down the road, this type of thing is mind bogglingly callous.

As a side note, I've often found when people criticize political correctness, they do so in a defense for something that simply should not have been done or said.

I like the Saints too, but this is wrong. Sure the money was not big, but it was still making a game out of trying to injure opposing players.

Yes in this case the size of the bounty is key. A thousand dollars is nothing to these guys and the penalty they get from the NFL for an illegal hit far exceeeds their bounty. These defense players are hitting the offensive players as hard as they can anyway. I don't belive the bounty changed they way the players played the game. I think this is very close to the equivelent of the buckyeye stickers on the helmets and the like. Just an atta boy. From what I understand they also didn't target specific players. It was like $250 for a guy stayhing down, $500 for a guy needing assistence off the field adn $1000 for carried off.

Eh, but it is the message it sends. I'm not about to call Gregg Williams bloodthirsty, and yeah, rewarding 100K for a knockout would be blood thirstiness, so I get you're point, but the fact that he would pay any sum of money for an injury instead of something like a turnover just isn't right

My big problem is the inconsistency between talk and walk.

In the light, the players claim to be concerned about needless injuries.

In the dark they try to cause 'em.

I agree, it's not what sports are suppossed to be about. But it is what the NFL has become. This is more a symptom of the disease rather than the disease itself (imo)

I keep coming back, over and over, to something I first reported Friday evening, something I saw in a confidential four-page memo sent to the 32 teams (and obtained from one of those teams) late Friday, detailing the abuses.

"At times, players both pledged significant amounts and targeted particular players,'' the memo said. "For example, prior to a Saints playoff game in January 2010, defensive captain Jonathan Vilma offered $10,000 in cash to any player who knocked Favre out of the game.''

Anyone who thinks the Saints defense didn't go over the line to try to do just that wasn't watching the game

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/peter_king/03/05/offseason/index.html#ixzz1oGZ0lObW

If you read further in the article that is linked it goes back to a hit Peyton Manning took against the Washington Redskins that Tony Dungy says was the start of his neck problems. Washington's defensive coordinator that day was Gregg Williams.

Totally agree.

I would be fine with it if I didn't hear the players concerned about player safety or a group of former players suing the league.

I don't think we are talking about big hits here, we are talking about a financial reward for injuring players with either legal or illegal hits.

This ... nice two posts Icky ... up vote on both ...

How many of us have ever entered a contest for a prize that we really didn't need? That didn't stop us from entering in an attempt to win the prize, did it?

Many people will do almost anything to win a prize... Even attempt to skirt the rules, if necessary. Why should we expect any different behavior from NFL players then?

The amount of prize money these players were offered is irrelevant. Adding a clause claiming they could not be penalized for the hit is nothing more than CYA protection on their part.

These guys earn great salaries to deliver big blows legitimately. Adding a bounty to their already great salaries is nothing more than an attempt to injure opponents, by any means necessary... And hope like hell they don't get caught.

They got caught. Hopefully Greg Williams is suspended for the entire year, and I kinda liked Bill Plaschke's idea of suspending New Orleans from any playoff appearance next season.