The Shield Reissues BountyGate Suspensions

The NFL has re-issued the suspensions to the four players involved in the New Orleans Saints Bounty Gate investigation.

To wit:

Jonathan Vilma will be suspended a full season again,
Scott Fujita will be suspended three games again but it was reduced to one,
Will Smith will be suspended four games again and,
Anthony Hargrove will be suspended eight games again, but it was reduced to seven.

Those suspensions were overturned over a month ago by an arbitor who claimed that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell went down the wrong path in trying to investigate and suspend the four along with Saints coaches Sean Payton, Gregg Williams, and Joe Vitt. If Goodell were to follow proper protocol, the suspensions would have stuck and the arbitor intimated as much in his ruling.

Goodell resubmitted and, voila!

Here's the release from the league that was shared with Vilma:

“At our meeting, you confirmed that cart-offs and knockouts were part of a broader program in place among the Saints’ defensive players. You confirmed that these terms referred to plays in which an opposing player has to leave the game for one or more plays. You confirmed that, as Coach Vitt testified, an opposing player’s need for smelling salts under a trainer’s care was a consequence of the kind that the program sought to achieve and for which players were offered cash rewards from the incentive pool.

“I also find that you engaged in conduct detrimental by offering a substantial financial incentive to any member of the defensive unit who knocked Brett Favre out of the Saints’ 2009 NFC playoff game against the Vikings. (There is also credible evidence that you made a similar pledge regarding Kurt Warner in the immediately preceding playoff game against the Cardinals, but whether you made multiple pledges of that kind does not matter for purposes of the discipline that I have decided to impose.)"

The NFLPA, which probably, will appeal rather quickly (again) came back with this:

"For more than six months, the NFL has ignored the facts, abused the process outlined in our collective bargaining agreement and failed to produce evidence that the players intended to injure anyone, ever. The only evidence that exists is the League’s gross violation of fair due process, transparency and impartiality during this process. Truth and fairness have been the casualties of the league’s refusal to admit that it might have made a mistake."

The NFLPA has 72 hours to file their appeal and the players still, presumably, can participate in team activities until a final verdict is reached...

Ed Werder has more with FOSG Mike Hill and Michael Kim... and Werder's in your head...
((HT: ESPN))

Vilma Meets Goodell, More Evidence Presented...???

((HT: ESPN))

And now it's Round Two...

The HQ is under the impression that the BountyGate Four will get suspended again... it'll just take a little more time...

And the first step for that to happen again was the meeting (or re-meeting) of New Orleans Saints LB jonathan Vilma and the Jolly Roger his own self.

According to sources (and we all enjoy the idea of unnamed sources) The Shield gave Vilma an affidavit from Gregg Williams that Vilma offered $10,000 to any teammate who knocked Brett Favre out of the 2010 NFC Championship Game. In that same affidavit, Williams confirmed a pay-for-performance pool funded by the Saints players,

The HQ will always maintain that, as long as there is no money trail, all of this paperwork is pretty frivolous. But that's just us...

The three others suspended in the scandal, Scott Fujita, Anthony Hargrove, and Will Smith are set to meet Commissioner Goodell Tuesday.

Ed Werder has more...


Here is the link to the Williams affidavit... if you want to read that kind of stuff...

Developing: NFLPA sues NFL over BountyGate--(Updated)

Yes, it's official: The NFLPA filed a lawsuit in a New Orleans Federal court this morning announcing that they are filing suit on behalf of at least 3 of the players suspended in the Saints BountyGate scandal.

The NFLPA is claiming the Jolly Roger (Goodell) violated the collective bargaining agreement by going public and naming Will Smith, Anthony Hargrove and Scott Fujita as guys who participated before giving them the benefit of a hearing.

Really?

The same NFLPA who released the document Anthony Hargrove signed saying he was told to deny his involvement in this?

Read that story RIGHT HERE

Yeah, we know Jonathan Vilma is filing his own lawsuit and yeah we know Saints fans believe the is NFL is conspiring against them.

**UPDATE**--The Jolly Roger (goodell) or at least his legal team filed a motion in court to dismiss the lawsuit that Vilma has brought forward. There's some discussion of a possible court appearance at the beginning of August for this, but nothing concrete--yet. 

But why?

This also comes on the heels of Goodell's denial of the players appeals, so there's timing involved but there are also a TON of stupid questions:

Why would the NFLPA release the Hargrove statement?

Why would it later (much) be denied by Hargrove?

If these guys are "Truly" innocent...why haven't they just said "Show me proof that money changed hands?" And no, a piece of paper saying it happened isn't proof.

The whole thing is just stupid to us. It's quite obvious the NFL has what they believe to be total proof that "BountyGate" happened. But we also believe there is something in the evidence they don't want the public to see. What that is...we don't know.

At this point, we are growing weary of the whole thing. We kind of hope that everyone just shuts up. There seems to be no denial a "Bounty" system was in place, but yet the players and other seem to be going to great lengths to deny it.

WTF?