Larry Brown Sports

When Gregg Williams (pictured) took over as defensive coordinator of the Saints, the players and media raved about the new attitude he brought to the team. Williams ran a swarming defense that got after opposing players. Little did we know he was promoting a bounty system all those years.

An NFL investigation revealed that the Saints have operated a bounty program the past three seasons — all since Williams became their defensive coordinator. As part of the bounty program, players were rewarded for knocking opponents out of the game. According to the report, the program paid players $1,500 for a “knockout” and $1,000 for a “cart-off,” with payouts doubling or tripling during the playoffs.

The investigation says the Saints specifically targeted former Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner and former Vikings quarterback Brett Favre. Anyone who watched the NFC Championship Game between the Vikings and Saints could get that sense, and the pictures of the beat-up Favre support the findings.

Team owner Tom Benson reportedly directed GM Mickey Loomis to stop the system but was unsuccessful. Coach Sean Payton reportedly knew about the system but did not stop it.

Commissioner Roger Goodell notes that the system jeopardizes player safety and competitive integrity — two key components of the league. There are also specific rules against players being rewarded for injuring opponents.

The Saints will be penalized for the bounty program and could face fines, suspensions, and the loss of draft picks. Even though the job of defenses is to stop offenses, placing bounties on opposing players goes against the spirit, integrity, and sportsmanship aspects of the game.

Clever? Check. Entertaining? Check. Unusual to see in an airport? Check. Potential to go viral? Check. A reference to pop culture that makes sense? Eh, not so much.  Don’t get me wrong, I love when the excitement of a team takes over an entire area — even in places where things are generally supposed to be serious.  A digital sign that provides flight information definitely qualifies.  The Saints certainly aren’t a problem for San Francisco anymore, but do they have 49 others?  I certainly hope not, or they could be in for a long day against the Giants on Sunday.

I’m taking it too literally, aren’t I? What a jerk I am.  In any event, I’ll take this Mississippi coffee shop sign over this airport message any day of the week.

Thanks to @brad_wolff for sharing the photo with us

The turnover battle is an underrated aspect of football games, but those who watched the Divisional Round of the playoffs saw its importance. The Packers and Saints, two teams expected to advance to the NFC Championship Game, were killed by turnovers and ended up losing their games. In the AFC playoffs, the Texans got crushed on the turnover front and also lost.

Ready for a stat that will blow your mind? The four teams that won in the Divisional Round combined for 4 turnovers. The four losing teams combined for 14. Here’s the breakdown:

• Packers 4 (1 INT, 3 FUM); Giants 1 (INT) – Packers lost 37-20
• Texans 4 (3 INT, 1 FUM); Ravens 0 – Texans lost 20-13
• Saints 5 (2 INT, 3 FUM); 49ers 1 (FUM) – Saints lost 36-32
• Patriots 2 (1 INT, 1 FUM); Broncos 1 (FUM) – Pats won 45-10

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Any time an NFL player is playing with an ailment that has been made public, they can expect their opponent to target the problem area. Such was the case with Adrian Peterson on Sunday against the Saints. Peterson suited up after having missed the previous three games with a high ankle — mostly because he wanted to help his fantasy owners.  While he expected the Saints to make his ankle a focal point of their tackles, Peterson said they took it too far.

“I came into the game kind of expecting that coming back from a high ankle sprain,” Peterson said according to the Times-Picayune when asked about an exchange with cornerback Jabari Greer. “Guys are going to try to take their shots when we’re on the pile and try to twist it up and things like that. I felt like it kind of got overboard. I got up and kind of got in his face. Thank God I was able to keep my composure.”

Make that two times in two weeks that New Orleans has been accused of playing dirty on defense.  If you remember, Titans receiver Nate Washington complained that Roman Harper was throwing knees after the whistle during the Saints win over Tennessee last weekend.

Whatever the Saints have been doing, it seems to be working.  I would never advocate dirty play, but I doubt you’ll see New Orleans changing its ways any time soon with the way they have been playing.

H/T to Pro Football Talk for passing the story along.

Whether or not Whistlegate is going to pick up steam around the NFL remains to be seen.  The Titans accused the Saints of cheating by blowing a whistle on the sidelines, and a producer from “Titans All Access” claims to have the audio.  As we told you earlier, Sean Payton has his sarcastic theories on what may have happened. Being able to hear a whistle on an audio track wouldn’t exactly pinpoint who was blowing it, but it will be interesting to see what the NFL makes of the situation — if anything.  This morning, Del joined the Denny Schaffer Show on 99.5 WRNO in New Orleans to discuss it.  Here’s LBS on the air during the first 8 minutes of the fourth hour:

Sean Payton knew he wouldn’t get through his Monday press conference without having to answer questions about the alleged whistle-blowing activity that took place during the Saints win over the Titans.  That’s why he decided to come prepared.  Payton came up with three theories as to what may have happened that resulted in the whistle sound on Sunday, and he offered them up as soon as a reporter asked.  Here is a video of his explanation that the Times-Picayune shared with us:

We commend Payton for having a sense of humor about the whole thing, but the explanation could open his team up for more criticism.  His theory about a high school game going on next door would seem to imply that he heard the whistle.  His joke about Whistle Monster is hilarious, but why didn’t Payton deny the allegation?  Chances are, he just wanted to let the public know how ridiculous he thinks the claims are.  That being said, it would have been very easy for him to say that he would never allow something like that to happen on his sideline and has no knowledge of anyone using a whistle.  We would still be surprised if Whistlegate doesn’t blow over in a jiffy.

If everything the Titans are saying about their 22-17 loss to the Saints is true, New Orleans was not exactly playing nicely.  Earlier, we told you how receiver Nate Washington accused Roman Harper of being a dirty player for grabbing him by the facemask and then doing this.  The second accusation is a bit more severe; Tennessee is saying a whistle was being blown from the New Orleans bench area late in the game.

Offensive lineman Jake Scott claims Dean McCondichie, the producer of the team’s television show “Titans All Access,” has evidence that it was indeed happening while the Titans were on offense.

“Dean’s got it on tape,” Scott said according to ESPN.com. “Somebody was blowing a whistle on the sideline. There is audio of it, so we’ll let it go from there. The second to last drive I think.”

“During the game we heard this whistle blowing, but they weren’t stopping the game, they just kept playing,” McCondichie explained. “They were loud enough for me to hear it on the microphone on (offensive lineman Michael Roos). They were all trying to figure out why play continued. I asked them if they knew where it came from and they said the New Orleans bench. Nobody saw it, but it was pretty loud and it was definitely a whistle.”

McCondichie said the whistle was definitely loud enough for several Titans players to hear it.  The team is looking into the matter, and obviously the Saints would be facing huge penalties if the league were to determine that something like that was going on.  For what it’s worth, Sean Payton and Bill Belichick are close friends.