People are questioning the severity of the NFL’s penalties on the New Orleans Saints’ for their “bounty” system, which included a one-year suspension of coach Sean Payton without pay, and the loss of draft picks. But there were good reasons for it. The effort to take out specific opposing players by keying on particular parts of the body that are the most vulnerable to injury, like head, knees or ankles was directly opposed to the league’s emphasis on player safety. Injuries to these parts of the body happen in a matter of course, but there is a difference between hitting random parts of the body and intentionally targeting specific parts, particularly when you throw in a monetary motive to do so.
But I think more than the denials and false statements made by the Saints’ organization during the initial investigation, the NFL was conscious of the fact that the most egregious examples of the “bounty” occurred during the 2009 season, when the Saints won the Super Bowl. The NFL could not take away their Super Bowl trophy, but they could send the message that a team should think twice if it thought it could “cheat” its way to a Super Bowl by intentionally seriously injuring a player. The targeting of Brett Favre’s ankle in the 2009 NFC title game was the injury that ultimately ended his career for good. Favre’s ankle reportedly did not respond well to surgery and rehab, which explained why he had to be “convinced” by a special trip by teammates and extra money to return for the 2010 season. His reduced mobility because the ankle injury he suffered against the Saints was almost certainly the reason for the Vikings reduction in offensive production that year and 6-10 finish.
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