NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has handed down one the harshest penalties in league history when he suspended the New Orleans Saints’ head coach, Sean Payton, for the entire season.
In that one action Goodell has effectively ended the Saints’ season and possibly set the whole organization back five to ten years.
Make no mistake, the Saints and Payton deserved to be punished. When information about their bounty system became public, everyone knew there were going to be suspensions. But what the commissioner has done is far too severe.
The Saints’ defense had a bounty system set up to where their players were paid a bonus of $1,000 to $1,500 for knocking an opposing player out of the game of having him “carted off” the field.
You could make the argument that those actions are excessively violent in an already violent game. And you would be right.
Except it is naïve to think that the Saints are the only team in the league that is doing this. Ask any former player and they will tell you this is more common than Mr. Goodell wants the fans to believe.
The fact that “other people are doing it” doesn’t make what the Saints did right. But what is happening here is that the NFL is trying to send a message to the other 31 teams in the league. They are saying; clean up your act, now, or face some serious penalties.
The only problem is that they are coming down too hard on Payton and the Saints. A suspension of 4-6 games would have sent the same message and would have given the Saints a fighting chance to have a successful season.
When you look at the next biggest scandal in recent NFL history, Spygate, which involved outright cheating on the part of the New England Patriots, their head coach, Bill Belichick were merely fined and lost a first round draft pick but no one was suspended. Not for even one game.
The NFL is currently being sued by hundreds of former players for injuries they suffered while playing in the league. Their claim is that the NFL was negligent in preventing these injuries.
This heavy handed punishment that Goodell has handed out seems like an effort to cover their asses while dealing with these lawsuits.
Certainly the New Orleans Saints and Sean Payton should be punished. However, this penalty is far too harsh. Many people are comparing this penalty to the “Death Sentence” handed down by the NCAA to Southern Methodist University back in 1987.
That penalty set back the football program for 20 years. Hopefully this penalty will not do the same to the Saints and the city of New Orleans.
