Saints Suspensions: Goodell Right to Impose Harsh Sanctions

In a league where it seems like every other day, you hear about someone who sustained permanent damage in an on-field injury, it's good to see that commissioner Roger Goodell is finally taking the steps to make it clear that this is no longer an acceptable standard in the NFL.

Goodell came down hard on the Saints after an investigation revealed that the team had instituted a bounty system that offered players monetary rewards for knocking targeted opposing players out of a game.

New Orleans' Sean Payton became the first head coach to be suspended by the league for any reason.

According to the Associated Press, the NFL said the scheme involved 22 to 27 defensive players, and targeted opponents included Aaron Rodgers, Cam Newton, Brett Favre and Kurt Warner.

The NFL said "knockouts" were worth $1,500, "cart-offs" were worth $1,000 and payments were doubled or tripled during the playoffs.

In addition to Payton's suspension, the Saints' penalties included:

• An indefinite suspension for former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams

• An eight-game ban for general manager Mickey Loomis

• A six-game ban for assistant coach Joe Vitt

• A $500,000 fine

• No second-round draft picks in 2012 or 2013

After the sanctions were announced, Goodell told the Associated Press' Howard Fendrich:

"

We are all accountable and responsible for player health and safety and the integrity of the game. We will not tolerate conduct or a culture that undermines those priorities. No one is above the game or the rules that govern it.

"

Before an investigation revealed what was really happening behind the scenes, Payton was, by all indications, a great head coach.

Since taking over in 2006, he led the Saints to four playoff appearances and one Super Bowl victory, and he also played a significant role in keeping the team—and the fan base—positive in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

But Goodell's ruling on this proves that none of that matters when players' safety is in jeopardy.

Winning doesn't matter when players are getting paid to intentionally inflict game-ending, or possibly career-ending, bodily harm on one another.

This isn't the real-life Hunger Games. Nobody who's watching on TV is rooting for that kind of outcome.

This is a league that, until very recently, seemed to glorify the bad hits, the ones that knocked players out of games and left their heads spinning, sometimes for weeks on end. Those were the plays that were featured most prominently on highlight reels and on SportsCenter's top plays.

It's only now—when we can all take a step back and think about how sick it really is that a team was paying its players extra if they succeeded in knocking out their toughest competition with those types of hits—that we've realized something is very wrong with this picture.

Goodell's ruling is a big step in the right direction. For far too long, the NFL has been viewed as a brutish, unapologetic showcase of aggression, and now, that perspective is finally shifting.

Sean Payton is probably a great guy, like quarterback Drew Brees says, but for this somewhat unforgivable offense, he certainly deserves to serve as the example.

What he and the Saints have done, as Goodell proved with these sanctions, is simply unacceptable.