New Orleans Saints: Alleged Statement by Saints Player Adds to Bounty Scandal

It's one thing to hear about the bounties the New Orleans Saints had out for players, but it’s a whole different ballgame to hear about concrete examples.

The NFL has just that in the 2010 NFC Championship against Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings.

In Peter King's latest Sports Illustrated report, he says the NFL was able to pick up on some audio of players talking about injuring players and cashing in for their efforts:

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On the New Orleans sideline, (Anthony) Hargrove excitedly slapped hands with teammates, saying, "Favre is out of the game! Favre is done! Favre is done!"

An on-field microphone directed toward the sideline caught an unidentified defender saying, "Pay me my money!"

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All you have to do is look at the tape of the game to realize the Saints were overly aggressive. Defensive lineman Bobby McCray and Anthony Hargrove ended up getting fined a total of $25,000, and former vice president of officiating Mike Pereira said the Saints should have been flagged for brutal low hits, according to the report.

The Saints ended up winning 31-28 in overtime and Favre had a severely sprained ankle that rendered him unable to walk.

These events sparked what turned out to be a two-year investigation by the NFL, with the story finally coming out on Friday. In King’s report, he has a very telling passage from a source close to commissioner Roger Goddell that says his first reaction was: “God forbid this is true. This will be earth-shattering."

Two years later, it certainly is.

It’s incredibly tough to be preaching safety while players are secretly being rewarded for knocking other guys out. The game has some serious thinking to do on how to solve this problem.

For now, the Saints are trying to implement damage control. On Tuesday, coach Sean Payton and GM Mickey Loomis released their first statement since the story broke (via CBS Sports):

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We acknowledge that the violations disclosed by the NFL during their investigation of our club happened under our watch. We take full responsibility. 

This has brought undue hardship on Mr. Benson, who had nothing to do with this activity. He has been nothing but supportive and for that we both apologize to him. 

These are serious violations and we understand the negative impact it has had on our game. Both of us have made it clear within our organization that this will never happen again, and make that same promise to the NFL and most importantly to all of our fans.  

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The top layers of this complex issue are only beginning to be peeled. A stern penalty for everybody involved will be doled out at some point in the next few weeks. Former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams will likely be suspended for multiple games, as will Payton.

With proof of a player saying “show me my money," their fate has been sealed. Now the only question is how much of an impact this will have on the entire franchise. 

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