Saints' HC Payton Suspended Over Bounties

[HoosierCougar]

Is Sean Payton the head man in charge, and therefore accountable? Or is this a case of the NFL making an example and using a scorched earth policy to get a "common" practice within the league to stop?

Vote, then expand on your answer.

Here's a link to the CNN Story:
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/21/nf ... ?hpt=hp_t1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SpiffCoug]

Intentionally hurting players is uncalled for. Incentivizing injury to your opponents is despicable. I'd also start looking at suspending the players involved as well. It shouldn't come as a surprise that we're seeing even more concussions and big hits from defenders.

The NFL should be acting with a heavy hand to clean their sport up.

The NCAA could learn something from the NFL on discipline.

[HoosierCougar]

Intentionally hurting players is uncalled for. Incentivizing injury to your opponents is despicable. I'd also start looking at suspending the players involved as well. It shouldn't come as a surprise that we're seeing even more concussions and big hits from defenders.

The NFL should be acting with a heavy hand to clean their sport up.

The NCAA could learn something from the NFL on discipline.

Spiff, I agree with everything you said. I hope that the "leading with your helmet" rules make the NFL a tackling league instead of a torpedo league.

But should the HC, Sean Payton, be suspended for a year? It's not clear that he was a party to what was going on.

[HoosierCougar]

UPDATE: I heard this morning a report that there's a very incriminating email wherein Sean Payton supports - at least tacitly - the bounty program. This is something I hadn't seen/heard before and it changes the dynamic of the situation.

To suspend the HC simply becasue he's in charge is very different than punishing a willing participant. And it appears that Payton was the latter.

[SpiffCoug]

I've also heard that the NFL offices are communicating with the NFLPA on how to punish the "22 to 27" players involved.

[snoscythe]

I'm waiting for them to start doling out penalties to the 49ers as well as the other teams Williams has run bounty programs for in the past.