#Saints Vitt on bounty transcript leakage: “We knew that the scuds were going to come. WE knew there would be a leakage of information"
— WWL-TV Sports (@wwltvsports) December 13, 2012
Vitt: "We'll hunker down and wait for the scud to come tonight."
— WWL-TV Sports (@wwltvsports) December 13, 2012
#Saints Vitt: “I don’t know about the rivalry. I really don’t. I don’t think we have a pep rally or bonfire tonight anywhere."Obviously we have to do something about this. Where can we throw together a quickie bonfire this week?
— WWL-TV Sports (@wwltvsports) November 8, 2012
To say Vitt has been awaiting this day would be an understatement. His suspension marked the first time in 44 years he has not coached football.We missed the eminently quotable Joe Vitt bad too. Here's to a memorable rest of the season.
"I missed these guys so bad," he said this weekend.
Meanwhile, if former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue delivers a ruling significantly different from commissioner Roger Goodell's when he hears the appeals of players suspended as a result of the NFL's bounty investigation, many league sources told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen that they believe Saints owner Tom Benson will petition Goodell to reconsider Payton's one-year suspension.
"To be clear," Goodell said in a statement, "I have not consulted with Paul Tagliabue at any point about the Saints matter, nor has he been any part of the process."Also, too, Tagliabue is currently representing Goodell in Jonathan Vilma's defamation lawsuit against him. I'm sure he'll have every incentive to be absolutely fair.
If you have to explain that the appeal process isn't corrupt, let alone specifically note that the new guy didn't consult on the original penalties (even though it would be reasonable to assume he might have), then there really isn't much hope for credibility. And that's especially true from the groups (some fans, some players) who already think this was a witch hunt.
The best process – and judge – needs no defense.
Goodell and the NFL will regret not finding a true independent mind here – there is no shortage of retired judges out there who could've sorted this out. In an actual legal court, Tagliabue would have to recuse himself because of his past. And the idea that this is too complicated for anyone but a NFL commissioner, past or present, is the definition of arrogance. All this does is call into question what, in all likelihood, is meant to be a legitimate process.
METAIRIE, La. – Acting head coach Joe Vitt knows his six-game suspension will begin once the regular season starts.He just doesn’t know exactly when in Week 1; a league source said Wednesday the precise date the suspension begins is still being discussed.
The Saints’ final preseason game is Aug. 30. NFL rosters must be cut down to 53 players on Aug. 31 and a practice squad must be announced on Sept. 1. The first regular season game is Sept. 9.
Metairie, La. - Saints Executive Vice President/General Manager Mickey Loomis has designated Offensive Line/Running Game Coach Aaron Kromer to replace Assistant Head Coach/Linebackers Joe Vitt during his absence.
Vitt: "listen to me hard because I'm going to tell you soft, I said no."
— Paul Murphy (@PMurphyWWL) July 26, 2012
Vitt on "bountygate: "My words make a difference... What I say and how I say it, I want to make a difference. I've made a conscious effort."Keeping his resolve to have his words make a difference in mind, Vitt went on to say
— Jeff Duncan (@JeffDuncanTP) July 24, 2012
Vitt on who takes over for him: “The discussions have taken place. They’re in the infantile stages right now."Oh wait. But then he said.
— WWL-TV Sports (@wwltvsports) July 24, 2012
Vitt on Payton: "This team won 41 games the past three years. You don’t do that through osmosis."There is no osmosis in football, people! Write it down. And to think,there was moment when we thought this year's obligatory T-shirt slogan was going to be something as lame as "Do your job."
— WWL-TV Sports (@wwltvsports) July 24, 2012
Clearly upset with the fact that the suspended Saints coaches, players and management don't have a chance to clear their names in an open forum, Vitt said,
"The bylaws of the National Football League supersede the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights."
ESPN says Joe Vitt called Roger Goodell this morning to tell him he never offered any bounty money and the allegations against him are false.Update: Meanwhile, this should help free up some of whatever Brees is still asking for right? Or at least I think that's how this works.
Schefter says that Vitt told Goodell he will take a lie-detector test to prove innocence or sign sworn affidavit that he never participated in bounty program.
ESPN quoted Vitt as saying, "They're lies. What is on that paper (shown to NFLPA and media) is false. How can anything else on that paper be considered?"
The hope comes from the fact that the gap is far smaller than previously reported.The $400 I paid yesterday should help close that $1-2 million gap. Although I may have confused matters by earmarking those funds for other purposes. In the memo line I wrote, "Good for one whack or cart-off" which, of course, I didn't mean literally. But there's a decent chance we'll soon see Roger Goodell waving my little joke in front of the media as some sort of nefarious bounty evidence. At least Scott Shanle seems to get it.
Widespread reports over the past several months have pegged the Saints’ offer at $18 million per year, with Brees’ demands north of $21 million. Some accounts have put Brees’ expectations at $23 million annually.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, that’s not the case. Brees, we’re told, has never asked for $21 million. And the Saints are believed to be offering more than $18 million, possibly closer to $19 million than $18 million.
What Shanle described fits with the narrative we've pieced together through various sources, both on and off the record. The Saints did have a pay-for-performance program, which included payouts in the range of $500 and $1,000 for a variety of big plays, including big hits. And those hits were sometimes referred to as "cart-offs" or "knockouts" when players were injured. But Shanle said that didn't mean the intent or purpose of the pay-for-performance system was to target players for injuries.These incentives, while unsportsmanlike at least in terminology, were in practice based on the result of contact that occurs legally within the rules of football. It's not out of the realm of what we expect from football coaches... Gregg Williams in particular.
Shanle said those terms were used "in Gregg's language," referring to the fiery defensive coordinator, whose over-the-top motivational tactics have been well-documented. But Shanle insisted that players didn't take Williams literally, and he believes Williams was the best motivator he's had in 10 years in the NFL. "Gregg said crazy stuff," Shanle said. "If you take him literally, you're gonna be locked up. But he was the best motivator I've ever been around."Anyway I'm not defending Williams' attitude. But there's a difference between meathead hyperbolic coach talk and actually laying bounties on individual players as the league has alleged. Williams' unfortunate motivational device here is designed to encourage his players to hit hard. Which is... you know.. what football coaches do. Many current and former players have been saying all along that you're likely to find similar rhetoric in any locker room. Take, for example, this quote from acting head coach Joe Vitt this afternoon.
#Saints Vitt said LB David Hawthorne has been pleasant surprise. Said he knew he was athletic and a 'thumper.' Also pleased by smarts.Goodell has yet to rule on whether or not he's going to fine Hawthorne per "thump" this season as they occur or just wait until the end of the year to check the ledger.
— Mike Triplett (@TripTP) June 6, 2012
It is important that we keep Sean Payton's philosophy front and center during this season. Sean has been the driving force behind the tremendous success our team has enjoyed during the past six years,
