By Joe Schackman
Gregg Williams may have been the head of the bounty system in New Orleans, but is he really to blame?
The scary thing about the New Orleans Saints’ apparent bounty system is not that defensive coordinator Gregg Williams was the ring leader. It was not that head coach Sean Payton knew about it and did nothing, or even that the team ignored owner Tom Benson when he ordered the program shut down. No, what is truly scary about this whole affair is that it’s not an anomaly. It’s simply a product of the culture the NFL has created, and it’s the type of behavior that will eventually bring the league to its knees.
There is no question that football is a violent game. The blood lust is a large part of why people even turn on the TV. We know it, and the NFL knows it. Big hits are a major part of the sport, and are revered by fans just like key touchdowns and interceptions. It’s why “Reggie Bush gets jacked up” is the first suggestion when you type the running back’s name into YouTube, and why one iteration of that famous hit has racked up 2.3 million views, compared with less than 400,000 for David Tyree’s equally jaw-dropping (but less violent) helmet catch.
The NFL decries the brutality in public, but that blustery outrage is just ruse. This is the league that once used Jamaal Charles’ season-ending ACL tear to promote their fantasy football software. This is the same league that refuses to guarantee players’ contracts. This is the same league that pushed for an 18-game season just a few months ago. So don’t believe the commissioner when he hangs this bounty scandal around the neck of Greg Williams and his defensive players. The NFL’s fingerprints are all over it.
Have you ever played Madden, injured Tom Brady or Peyton Manning early in the game and thought, Wow, this game is already over? Now imagine that in real life, when your job is to actually hit that person. You have the quarterback in your sights and, bounty system or not, the thought has to flash through your mind. Winning is easier when the star player is on the bench. And winning equals paychecks. Food on the table is a serious motivator.
There is no public evidence yet that a bounty system exists elsewhere in the league, but let’s not kid ourselves. There is without a doubt an informal system in place within every organization that rewards sickening hits. If it’s not cash being exchanged, then it’s a high five with a teammate, or an approving look from the team captain or head coach. In an NFL that uses and disposes of its employees with heartless efficiency, there is always an incentive to do whatever it takes help your team win, no matter how sick and brutal.
So what will the NFL do to win this latest public relations battle? It’s likely that they will come down as harshly on Williams and the Saints as anyone in the history of the league. As Joe Posnaski tweeted, “Betting on baseball got Pete Rose thrown out of baseball forever. What is paying players to seriously injure others worth?”
The NFL knows that it can’t legislate the violence out of the game, but that doesn’t mean it won’t pretend to try. The Roger Goodell administration has vilified the league’s big hitters, and it won’t hesitate similarly punish the Saints’ players in what amounts to taking money out of their pockets after the league has profited from their play. Goodell will do his dance and trot out the stern public reprimand so that he can justfiy looking people in the eye and saying he tried.
Our love for football’s brutality not necessarily healthy, but there is no denying that it’s there. Football players are our modern gladiators, the only difference being we don’t send them straight to their death. Instead, we have a slower, more drawn out way of dying, so that we can still look ourselves in the mirror Monday morning.
Yet, just because the public still loves football doesn’t mean the NFL isn’t in the midst of a long downward spiral. The game is proving too dangerous to play, especially for our teenagers, and more health data and scientific studies are unlikely to paint a brighter picture.
No matter what Roger Goodell tells you, Gregg Williams is not the reason that players are being concussed. Football is violent. Players will hurt other players. And we pay them to do that, whether or not it is called a bounty.
Joe Schackman is a co-founder and editor at Began in '96
1 comments:
I agree with everything you say here. Players are paid to make big plays, and a big play is knocking out an All-Pro player. Big hits cause turnovers, turnovers win games. Goodell can huff and puff all he wants but it's bullshit and everyone is understanding that more and more.
Post a Comment