Bountygate Punishment for the Saints

[skinsguy]

Originally Posted by skinsfan69

This investigation went on for 2 years. Goodell knew about it. Why didn't he stop it when it was going on? He's so worried about safety then he should've came out and said..."anyone caught doing this will be suspended and docked draft picks"...right there he could've ended this right away. Whether it's right or wrong this has been the culture of football. Defensive players, next year, will try and knock out offensive players. The only difference is funds won't be exchanged.

Yeah, but far too many times, people don't change their actions with just simple verbal warnings. It's not until they actually face that consequence that they realize their actions were stupid.

Kind of like that Teens Scared Beyond Straight show on A & E. No matter how much screaming and yelling those felons dish out to that youth, there is almost always one or two who wind up in jail with them months or a year later. I think in this case, Williams and the players probably always knew in the back of their minds that eventually there could be severe consequences for doing the bounties.

But, until actually facing those consequences, they probably didn't feel the threat of taking those warnings seriously. Williams and the Saints are probably the sacrificial lambs, but they needed the punishment to open their eyes and realize what they were doing was wrong.

My only beef with all of it....not the punishment, but the time frame of the punishment. This affects the Rams as well - an innocent bystander in all of this. Yes, kind of hard to feel very sorry for them after they bent the Redskins over in the trade, but still. Unless the Rams organization knew, ahead of time, that it was likely Williams could be suspended, I dare say they wouldn't have acquired his services. Seems like Goodell could have mentioned to the Rams that Williams was under investigation and they might wish to hold off hiring him. But, I suppose it doesn't work that way.