I hope the league lays down some wood on the Saints to the fullest extent possible. It's not like we're just talking nickels and dimes here either--1,000 here or 2,000 there--on NFL radio on Sirius they were just saying one player (I can't for the life of me remember who) pitched in $10,000 for the take-out on Favre.
Plus, everyone looks at the last shot Kurt took in our game in 09 and Warner on NFL network just said it was a clean hit, but that's not the issue--in my opinion they were head-hunting him all-game long. The last hit isn't the issue at all, it's the combined devastation they put on him throughout, especially the questionable hits to the head and questionable late hits, they all add up. That not only lost us that playoff game and knocked us out of the playoffs, but may have contributed to his decision to retire (we'll never know for sure).
I'm not one who regularly says to make the game less violent (I think some of the defenseless player rules are suspect); I like the old-time games and the way they played. I also think this has been going on a long long time, but to incentivize aggressive plays (forced fumbles, interceptions, etc) is one thing, while incentivizing injuries is altogether different. All it does is wipe out talent for the sake of one team or individual.
And even if nobody cares about injuries or illegal play, it does circumvent the salary cap in a major way, the way this was done. Greg Williams contributed to these "injury" pools. That basically says the teams (and coaches) with more money will dominate, something the salary cap was designed to mitigate, to some extent. The league is going to come down hard on the Saints--they can't preach protecting players and concussions and such and then look the other way on this. It's not just the injury part of it--the salary cap violations cheapen the game, all of it lessens the spirit of competition those rules were put in place to protect.
Plus, everyone looks at the last shot Kurt took in our game in 09 and Warner on NFL network just said it was a clean hit, but that's not the issue--in my opinion they were head-hunting him all-game long. The last hit isn't the issue at all, it's the combined devastation they put on him throughout, especially the questionable hits to the head and questionable late hits, they all add up. That not only lost us that playoff game and knocked us out of the playoffs, but may have contributed to his decision to retire (we'll never know for sure).
I'm not one who regularly says to make the game less violent (I think some of the defenseless player rules are suspect); I like the old-time games and the way they played. I also think this has been going on a long long time, but to incentivize aggressive plays (forced fumbles, interceptions, etc) is one thing, while incentivizing injuries is altogether different. All it does is wipe out talent for the sake of one team or individual.
And even if nobody cares about injuries or illegal play, it does circumvent the salary cap in a major way, the way this was done. Greg Williams contributed to these "injury" pools. That basically says the teams (and coaches) with more money will dominate, something the salary cap was designed to mitigate, to some extent. The league is going to come down hard on the Saints--they can't preach protecting players and concussions and such and then look the other way on this. It's not just the injury part of it--the salary cap violations cheapen the game, all of it lessens the spirit of competition those rules were put in place to protect.
Lol
