With Goodell recusing himself from the Smith/Vilma suspensions and giving way to his old boss, Paul Tagliabue (I know I butchered the spelling of his name), should Sean Payton re-appeal his suspension? I'm not even sure if he can or not, but by letting PT decide the appeals of Smith and Vilma, Goodell is basically acknowledging that he has too much power. Now, I don't believe that head coaches have a union and if they do, it's certainly not as powerful as the NFLPA, but regardless, if SP has any recourse at all, he should do whatever it takes to get his suspension lowered.
I wondered the same thing. Why wouldn't the coaches try this approach now as well. Definitely, the union has something to do w/it, but now that the cat is out of the bag, seems like an argument could be made via private lawyer.
It all comes down to the fact that the players have a union and the coaches don't. The Collective Bargsining Agreement between the league and the players sets out the appeals process for player suspensions and lets Darth Roger "or his designee" hear those appeals. Tagliabue has been tapped (for now) as the designee. But the coaches have no union and, therefore, no set appeals process. If CSP is smart though (and I believe he is), then he may well have an attorney contact the league after the player appeals are done and ask for a rehearing with someone other than Darth. But if he does that, he'll probably do it very quietly. And then the other issue he has is that he's running out of time. There are 10 weeks left in the regular season and it won't really do him or the Saints any good if he gets an answer nine weeks from now.
I'm still sticking with my overall analysis of this episode. League blew the actual meaning of the Saints' program out of proportion, which is why the players - who are fighting to hang on to a much shorter potential career than the coaches - should protest their innocence. But there's no doubt the league told the Saints to stop whatever it was they were doing, and they didn't listen. Payton doesn't have nearly the leverage in his case that Vilma has. Add to that, he's already 6 games into his suspension. Suppose he appeals, gets back on the field for a few weeks, and then Goodell slaps him down and makes him finish the suspension. That throws the end of this season back into turmoil, and affects the beginning of next season. Better to accept the consequences and deal without him for this season. BTW, Payton had some kind of fund-raising deal at Lucy's in New Orleans during the game today. Read on another site that Jimmy Graham showed up, and even got his picture taken with CSP. We can only hope that this is only a rumor, and neither of them was that stupid.
Damn. Not smart. Really hope this doesn't bite the saints in the ass. We all know Goodell's crosshairs have been on the saints for a long time, itching for a reason to bend them over again.
