quote:
We never liked his wording DD. We DID NOT pay players to intentionally hurt other players. Ever. But that was his narrative and its mostly stuck and that pisses us off to this day.

Simply not true. Also had pay for incentives such as downing a ball on a punt inside the 20$.

The system was in place. Now nothing dirty ever really happened BUT that doesn't change the fact that the system was in place.

LINK

Some snippets since most of you don't care to read it all:
1) For instance, a special teamer who downed a kick returner inside the receiving team's 20-yard-line earned $100. Players could also be fined for mental mistakes and penalties. Players also received "bounties" for "cart-offs" (plays in which an opponent was removed from the field on a stretcher or cart) and "knockouts" (plays that resulted in a player being unable to return for the rest of the game). Players usually earned $1,000 for "cart-offs" and $1,500 for "knockouts" during the regular season, though they were encouraged to put their winnings back into the pot in order to raise the stakes as the season went on. Payments were known to double or even triple during the playoffs.

2) The NFL sent a confidential and detailed memo to all 32 teams detailing its findings. It revealed that the Saints had not only targeted Warner and Favre during the 2009 playoffs, but had also targeted Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton during the 2011 regular season.[17] According to that memo, Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma offered $10,000 cash to any teammate who knocked Favre out of the NFC Championship Game.[12] Another source told CBSSports.com's Mike Freeman that Reggie Bush's agent at the time, Michael Ornstein, was closely involved in the scheme from the beginning. Ornstein contributed $10,000 to the pot in 2009, and an undisclosed amount in 2011.

3) The league found that Payton not only knew about the scheme, but tried to cover it up during both league investigations. During the 2010 investigation, Payton told Williams and Vitt to "make sure our ducks are in a row" when the league interviewed them. Before the start of the 2011 season, Payton received an email from Ornstein detailing the broader lines of the scheme. In that same email, Ornstein offered $5,000 to anyone who knocked Rodgers out of the 2011 season opener. Payton initially denied knowing that this email existed, but subsequently admitted that in fact he had read it.

4) The NFL found that Payton and Loomis' misfeasance amounted to "conduct detrimental" to the league.[21] The NFL found no club money had been used to fund the bounty pool, and praised Benson for doing what he could to shut down the slush fund. Nonetheless, it found the Saints organization as a whole guilty of conduct detrimental to the league as well due to Williams and the players' maintenance of the bounty pool, as well and Loomis and Payton's failure to act "in a responsible manner" to stop it.

So there you go. It happened albeit that other teams did it as well. Just accept that it happened though. 1st step to healing the wound.

5 ...

Report Post

Posted by SaintEB

Member since Jul 2008

22802 posts

Posted on 6/1/15 at 1:34 pm to DoubleDown

quote:
So there you go. It happened albeit that other teams did it as well. Just accept that it happened though. 1st step to healing the wound.

Which player that was said to have placed money on hurting someone, per a "source", served any suspension?

0 ...

Report Post

Posted by LSU fan 246

Member since Oct 2005

90567 posts

Posted on 6/1/15 at 1:54 pm to DoubleDown

you were much better on here when you didnt have the whiny bitch mentality

0 ...

Report Post

Posted by BigBrod81

Houma

Member since Sep 2010

18972 posts

Posted on 6/1/15 at 2:34 pm to DoubleDown

Information from Gregg Williams & Mike Cerullo.

1 ...

Report Post

Posted by BigBrod81

Houma

Member since Sep 2010

18972 posts

Posted on 6/1/15 at 3:33 pm to DoubleDown

quote:
Cerullo's handwritten documentation of alleged earnings, fines and payouts and information submitted to the league via interviews has been some of the NFL's primary evidence against the players and team officials. The information that Cerullo and Williams provided led the league to suspend the four players on two occasions, as well as Coach Sean Payton, General Manager Mickey Loomis, and linebackers/interim head coach Joe Vitt. Williams is still serving an indefinite suspension handed down by the league for his role in organizing the program. Payton is out until after Super Bowl XLVII while Loomis and Vitt have served their suspensions.

According to Cerullo's signed May 22 affidavit, Vilma asked to address the Saints before the 2009 NFC divisional game against Arizona. Cerullo said Vilma raised his hands in the air holding "two five stacks," which Cerullo interpreted as $10,000, for anyone who knocked Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner out of the game. Cerullo said he collected the money from Vilma and gave it to Williams. The money wasn't paid, though, because Warner wasn't knocked out of the game, although he was forced to leave the field following a brutal hit by defensive end Bobby McCray.

Cerullo said Vilma addressed the Saints the next week leading up to the NFC championship game and Vilma said his offer from the divisional game "still stands" for any player who knocked out Vikings quarterback Brett Favre. Cerullo said other players, including Smith and Fujita, began pledging money to the pool.

Williams told Cerullo after Super Bowl XLIV to get rid of the pay-for-performance documents from a computer and Vitt followed up to see if Cerullo deleted the files, according to the affidavit.

Cerullo said he was in a meeting where Vitt told Hargrove to deny any knowledge of the pay-for-performance program. Cerullo added that to the best of his recollection, Hargrove responded by saying, "I can lie with the best of them."

Cerullo admitted in the affidavit that Williams put him in charge of the pay-for-performance program. Cerullo also said players were paid $1,000 for "cart-off" hits and $1,500 for "knock-out" hits and the plan was to up the price during the 2009 playoffs.

quote:
The NFL responded in mid-September with a statement defending Cerullo: "Mike Cerullo should be commended for coming forward. The information and detail he provided was credible and has since been confirmed in numerous respects both by other witnesses and by supporting documents. It is unfortunate that some have sought to unfairly attack his integrity rather than give attention to the substance of his declaration."

Ginsberg included in a Oct. 29 court filing an email Cerullo sent to NFL spokesman Greg Aiello on Nov. 11, 2011:

"So I have info on Saints Joe Vitt Lying to your NFL Investigator on Bounties from 2010, along with proof!!!

"I was there, in the cover up meeting, with players and Joe, I love the NFL and want to work there again, but I am afraid if I tell thge (the) truth I will never coach again in NFL, But I was fired for a situation that the Saints encourage..

"All I want is a Job back in the NFL as a QC Coach anywhere, so If talking to you jepodizes (jeopardizes) that I will have to get back to you, but The Saints are a Dirty Organization

"Contact me

"mike c"

quote:
According to the investigation by Vilma's counsel, Cerullo twice lied to the Saints about personal leave of absences. The first instance allegedly involved an accident with his girlfriend who lived out of town and Cerullo asked Vitt to leave the Saints for a brief period of time. The second allegedly happened during the 2009 playoffs when Cerullo asked for time away after a death to someone close to Cerullo's girlfriend.

Cerullo wasn't retained after the 2009 season. He spent time on the Connecticut football staff during the 2010 and 2011 seasons, and now serves as Princeton's director of football operations.

This post was edited on 6/1/15 at 3:37 pm

2 ...

Report Post

Posted by cdaniel76