(Image Source - The Picayune Times ) 

BY JOSH LANDER

ANCHOR ANA COMPAIN-ROMER


The Shield has brought down the hammer.  National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended and fined four current and former New Orleans Saints staff Wednesday, for their involvement in the “bounty scandal.”

The league had been investigating for more than two years whether Saints defensive players were rewarded for purposefully injuring opposing players.   WDSU in New Orleans says the biggest impact will be the suspension of head coach Sean Payton.

“But the thing about Sean Payton is it’s one calendar year.  It starts April 1st and goes through April 1st next year.  So you wonder if the Saints are gonna have to move on and get a new head coach.  This is huge.”

Besides Payton, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, now with the St. Louis Rams was suspended indefinitely without pay.  General manager Mickey Loomis and assistant head coach Joe Vitt were each given eight and six-game suspensions respectively.

Harsh? Maybe, but MSNBC’s Chuck Todd says the league had no other choice.

“If some player had gotten injured for life, their career ended because of this bounty and the N.F.L. looked like they weren’t doing something big about it, they were going to be held liable.  They had to take action.”

And if you’re wondering why the action taken was so severe, ESPN’s Merril Hoge has an answer.

“This is gonna permeate forever.  Any time you ever think or hint about that, the punishment will be a reminder to everybody: it is not worth it.”

So what about the guys actually fulfilling the bounties?  The players themselves.   CNN reports the Saints players involved will get theirs, but right now it’s just a matter of when and how.  

“There’s no question that players will be punished somehow, but in this statement that has just been released by the NFL, issuing a statement it said that the discipline for the players is still being looked at.”

The last time the N.F.L. handed out suspensions of this length for league misconduct?  1963, when Green Bay Packers running back Paul Hornung and Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alex Karras were suspended a full year for illegally betting on games.