NEW ORLEANS, LA - After Sean Payton's suspension for the year, Roger Goodell will surely target players involved in the bounty scandal next. Who will take over as head coach and is the 2012 season already in jeopardy? Here's a taste of "What They are Saying"
From ESPN:
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced heavy penalties (suspensions, a heavy fine and the forfeiture of draft picks) against the New Orleans Saints on Wednesday. But this story is far from over.
From CBS News
CBS News special correspondent James Brown said, "There was a lower level employee within the organization, an ex-employee who was disgruntled by the way he was treated or not treated by Sean Payton and Gregg Williams.
From SI.com
After bringing the hammer down hard on the coaches, administration and future of the New Orleans Saints Wednesday, National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell clearly has one major job remaining in his discipline of those involved in the Saints bounty scandal: the players.
From NBC Sports.com
The Saints could look outside the organization, although that seems like a thankless job for someone to take under the circumstances. That would leave in-house candidates and the two most obvious ones are defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael.
From The Huffington Post
The league is reviewing the case with the NFL Players Association before deciding what to do about players who were part of the Saints' scheme from 2009-11.
From ABCChicago.com
Payton is the first head coach suspended by the league for any reason, while Loomis is believed to be the only GM to be. Goodell also suspended assistant coach Joe Vitt for the first six games.
From The Washington Post
Really, when does the NFL get what it has coming: a long, hard look at how one man and one team became scapegoats for this car-accident-in-pads-and-helmet league?
From USA Today
Short-term fallout? Almost assuredly, the Saints' 2012 season is in jeopardy without Payton, one of the league's brightest offensive minds, with one Lombardi Trophy in tow and a potential Hall of Fame candidate.
From NOLA.com
Warren Sapp, former defensive lineman for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and now an NFL Network analyst, accused former New Orleans Saints tight-end Jeremy Shockey of being the NFL's source for the team's bounty program.
From The Washington Post
According to the NFL, Payton ignored instructions from the league and Saints ownership to make sure bounties weren't being paid. The league also chastised him Wednesday for choosing to "falsely deny that the program existed," and for attempting to "encourage the false denials by instructing assistants to 'make sure our ducks are in a row.'"
From The LA Times
The NFL has dropped the hammer on the New Orleans Saints in the wake of a three-year investigation of the team's "pay-for-performance" bounty system.
From SI.com
SI.com reached out to Jeff Diamond, the former VP/GM of the Minnesota Vikings, former president of the Tennessee Titans, for his reaction to the penalties doled out by the NFL to the New Orleans Saints for the bounty program they ran from 2009 to 2011.
From ESPN.com
Payton's season-long suspension without pay will cost him $7.5 million, sources familiar with the contract extension the Saints coach signed before the 2011 season told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen.
From The New York Times
The punishment handed out to the Saints significantly dwarfs that handed down by the league against the New England Patriots in 2007 for what became known as the Spygate scandal.
From NOLA.com
The NFL slammed the Saints with penalties Wednesday for a bounty program the team ran from 2009 to 2011 that, most significantly, paid bonuses for hits that knocked opponents out for all or part of a game.
From Boston.com
Goodell called what the Saints did "particularly unusual and egregious" and "totally unacceptable."
From CNN.com
New Orleans Saints Head Coach Sean Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 season and the team was fined $500,000 for operating a bounty program against opponents, under sweeping discipline announced by the NFL on Wednesday.
From Foxnews.com
Handing down sweeping and serious punishment for a system that paid out thousands of dollars when hits knocked specific opponents out of games, Goodell also suspended Saints general manager Mickey Loomis for the first eight regular-season games next season, and assistant coach Joe Vitt for the first six games.
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