RoanokeFan
03-04-2012, 10:02 PM
WITHOUT QUESTION, BOUNTIES MAKE A DIFFERENCE (http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/03/03/without-question-bounties-make-a-difference/related/)
"Posted by Mike Florio on March 3, 2012, 2:19 PM EST
<div class="post-body clearfix"><span style="WIDTH: 213px" class="enclosure"><span class="caption"></span></span>
In the wake of the Spygate scandal, one of the defenses offered up on behalf
of the Patriots centered on the fairly simple notion that having advance
knowledge of a team’s defensive coaching signals really didn’t help win football
games.</p>
The fairly simple response? The Patriots wouldn’t have done it if they
didn’t think it helped.</p>
That’s the same reaction to the suggestion that bounties in the amount of
$1,000 or $1,500 or, in the case of Brett Favre in the 2009 NFC title game,
$10,000 would actually make a player play harder.</p>
With a Super Bowl ring and all that that implies firmly within grasp, does a
little extra money really matter?</p>
Apparently, it does. Or the Saints wouldn’t have done it.</p>
If there’s any doubt, consider the words for former NFL safety Matt Bowen.
He played for the Redskins under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, and Bowen
not only admits that it happened but also explains why it worked.</p>
“It was our gig, our plan, <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-0304-bowen-nfl--20120304,0,4015992.column">our
way to motivate, to extra-motivate</a>,” Bowen writes in an item for the
Chicago Tribune.</p>
As Bowen accurately points out, plenty of other teams do the same thing.
Friday’s announcement by the league represents an acknowledgement that the time
has come for the practice to end.</p>
And so the worst thing the Saints arguably did was get caught. Still,
whether the fact that other teams have done it results in less of a sanction for
the Saints isn’t known.</p>
What is known is that the NFL won’t allow any of it going forward, and that
the next team to be caught doing it in 2012 or beyond will get a much stiff
punishment than whatever the league will do to the Saints."</p>
</div>
"Posted by Mike Florio on March 3, 2012, 2:19 PM EST
<div class="post-body clearfix"><span style="WIDTH: 213px" class="enclosure"><span class="caption"></span></span>
In the wake of the Spygate scandal, one of the defenses offered up on behalf
of the Patriots centered on the fairly simple notion that having advance
knowledge of a team’s defensive coaching signals really didn’t help win football
games.</p>
The fairly simple response? The Patriots wouldn’t have done it if they
didn’t think it helped.</p>
That’s the same reaction to the suggestion that bounties in the amount of
$1,000 or $1,500 or, in the case of Brett Favre in the 2009 NFC title game,
$10,000 would actually make a player play harder.</p>
With a Super Bowl ring and all that that implies firmly within grasp, does a
little extra money really matter?</p>
Apparently, it does. Or the Saints wouldn’t have done it.</p>
If there’s any doubt, consider the words for former NFL safety Matt Bowen.
He played for the Redskins under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, and Bowen
not only admits that it happened but also explains why it worked.</p>
“It was our gig, our plan, <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/ct-spt-0304-bowen-nfl--20120304,0,4015992.column">our
way to motivate, to extra-motivate</a>,” Bowen writes in an item for the
Chicago Tribune.</p>
As Bowen accurately points out, plenty of other teams do the same thing.
Friday’s announcement by the league represents an acknowledgement that the time
has come for the practice to end.</p>
And so the worst thing the Saints arguably did was get caught. Still,
whether the fact that other teams have done it results in less of a sanction for
the Saints isn’t known.</p>
What is known is that the NFL won’t allow any of it going forward, and that
the next team to be caught doing it in 2012 or beyond will get a much stiff
punishment than whatever the league will do to the Saints."</p>
</div>