NFL suposedly has a ledger detailing bounty payments

A ledger detailing New Orleans Saints payments for injuries would be the kind of evidence we've been demanding

All along, the NFL has insisted that it has direct evidence against the New Orleans Saints that payments were made for specific injuries that occurred on the field. And if the league indeed has a ledger detailing those injuries and payments, as Yahoo! Sports reported, it would certainly back up those claims.
I don't understand why the league would keep such evidence private, since it would help to erase the doubt and skepticism surrounding the league's investigation. But if the league is at least willing to share this evidence with the suspended players during the appeals process, that's a good start.
I still don't think the punishment fits the crime, even if the Saints were paying out incentives for cart-off hits, knockout hits and "whacks." As I've said all along, after talking with a number of sources, I believe that those hits were a part of the Saints' pay-for-performance program, but I believe that those hits are the kind of clean, legal hits that every defense strives for at every level of football. That's why I believe Saints players and coaches have vehemently argued that it's not the same thing as a "bounty program," where they were targeting specific players and trying to injure them at all costs.
However, it is also understandable why this would be a punishable offense. And it would be difficult for the Saints to claim total innocence if they were indeed rewarding each other for injuring opponents - even if the hits were legal.
I assume that some of the league's strongest evidence comes from confidential testimony, and I understand why that would be more closely guarded. But written evidence like this ledger is something that could and should be shared.
Hopefully the NFL does have this type of specific evidence, since it has leveled the Saints with the most severe punishments in league history. And hopefully the league is willing to make such evidence public, because punishments this severe should leave no room for doubt and skepticism.

http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2012/06/a_ledger_detailing_new_orleans.html

 

I call BS.

Anyone with a grudge can create evidence like that. Why didn't they share that sooner...afraid professional handwriting analysis would say it wasn't anyone in the Saints organization's writing? I bet that's the kind of evidence that's inadmissible that's why Goodell is still keeping it from the NFLPA.

The timing of this smells more of PR than confirmation.

 

Yep, and I'm wondering why the saints organization hasn't done more to defend themselves. More damage control, PR campaign, legal action, etc. Is it because the organization itself is "in league" with the league?

 

Why this continues to be a story is beyond me. Ok, the Saints (and 31 other NFL teams) had a bounty program. This has been established. Goodell has meted out his unfair punishment, so let's move on. There's no sense in continuing to pile on.

 

The whistle blower wants to regain his credibility and he furnished some poor "artwork" to Goodell.
Funny how the guy claims that Brees and Fujita gave him the "Okey Dokey" to go ahead and release the video of Williams ranting.

This is all spin. Goodell's playing along with it because the whistle blower's credibility augments his own credibility. It's all a crock.

 

Lawyer for Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma issues statement about ledger allegation

Peter Ginsberg, the attorney for New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, issued a statement Saturday about the Yahoo! Sports story on the existence of a ledger that tracked payments in the Saints' bounty program. Vilma is challenging his suspension and has filed a defamation suit against NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
Here is his statement:
The story published by Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports yesterday quoting two anonymous sources suggesting that there exists a supposed ledger showing the existence of a Bounty Program run by the New Orleans Saints is yet more evidence of how misguided and irresponsible Commissioner Goodell has been in handling this issue. Even the sources' own description of the "ledger" undermines the Commissioner's allegations and accusations:
•Commissioner Goodell accuses Saints players of putting money on the head of specific opposing players - the so-called ledger, as described by the anonymous sources, identifies no players, either Saints or opposing players;
•Commissioner Goodell accuses the Saints defensive teams with having operated a Bounty Program - statistics of the 2009 Buffalo Bills game, which the anonymous sources first identified as the game in question, and the 2009 Carolina Panthers game, which the sources now claim is the game in question, show that opposing defensive players, not offensive players, were the brunt of any physical plays; and
•Commissioner Goodell must know, having been told by the author of the so-called ledger as well as by numerous other people, that a Saints assistant coach passed out minimal amounts of money for good, clean, legal plays, and that the "whacks" and "cart-off," though regrettably named, were descriptions of good, clean, legal plays, and that any dirty or penalized play resulted in fines to players, not awards.
The truth is that Jonathan Vilma gave no money, incentive or encouragement ever - not at any time in his eight-year career - to injure or knock out of any game any player with a dirty or unsportsmanlike hit. The facts are plain and simple. During the three seasons in question, Jonathan Vilma was one of the least penalized players not only on the Saints but in the NFL. There is not one instance in which Jonathan Vilma set out to injure a player or gave any incentive to another player to injure an opposing player.
This is what Saints columnist Mike Triplett had to say on the matter.

http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2012/06/lawyer_for_jonathan_vilma_issu.html