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Breaking News - Saints players have won their appeal


Grits and Shins
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So no evidence of listening in on other teams and no evidence of a pay to injure program. So I guess what we have left is what rajn and I were saying all along. An illegal pay for performance program which was punished severely due to thumbing their collective noses at Godell after being told to stop said program. My guess is that if some evidence doesn't start showing itself pretty damn quick this could wind up back in front of various judges for various reasons.

 

I have a feeling Saints fans are going to be even more pissed off about this whole deal the murkier the supposed mountains of evidence become. Has there ever been a Superbowl that the commissioner didn't attend?

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So no evidence of listening in on other teams and no evidence of a pay to injure program. So I guess what we have left is what rajn and I were saying all along. An illegal pay for performance program which was punished severely due to thumbing their collective noses at Godell after being told to stop said program. My guess is that if some evidence doesn't start showing itself pretty damn quick this could wind up back in front of various judges for various reasons.

 

I have a feeling Saints fans are going to be even more pissed off about this whole deal the murkier the supposed mountains of evidence become. Has there ever been a Superbowl that the commissioner didn't attend?

 

 

One serious question - do you truly believe that Gooddell handed out the suspensions with no evidence? Is he "out to get the Saints" or what?

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I guess when I heard the pregame Williams speech I was dreaming? weird..

 

Did you watch the game? Did you witness players acting on Williams' bravado? Did the Saints players make any indication whatsoever that they were attempting to injure any of the 49ers players? Were Gore or Alex Smith hit in the head? Did the Saints players give any kind of indication that they were going after Crabtree's legs? Did the Saints players state at any time that they were targeting said players due to previous injuries or to cause injury? Did the NFL produce any evidence that the Saints players attempted anything that would cause injury during that game? Were any of the Saints players penalized and/or fined for misconduct during that game? You do realize that this is the players actions they are being punished for and not the coaches words?

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One serious question - do you truly believe that Gooddell handed out the suspensions with no evidence? Is he "out to get the Saints" or what?

 

I believe that he handed out severe penalties with enough evidence to warrant lesser penalties. If he had the smoking gun evidence that was inferred when the punishments were being handed down do you really think he would be letting this drag into the regular season. He has been asked repeatedly to provide the evidence as has refused to do so. Now just like Payton getting slammed for thumbing his nose at Godell, Godell has just been slapped back. Seems it was made clear, if he is going to suspend for pay for injury program that was so disgusting to everyone he is going to need to provide at least a little proof that was happening.

Williams speech, while quite a bit over the top for my liking in all honesty, is not new stuff. However, that speech alone without the evidence that a pay to injure program was being run doesn't hit near as hard anymore.

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One more note.

I am an extremely sarcastic person. So I want it out there that this has zero sarcasm included.

 

When the extreme penalties were handed down I really believed that Godell ( OK one little bit of sarcasm ) had the goods on the Saints. I figured there were taped conversations, emails and at least one or two players co-oberating the claims. I figured to hand down such severe penalties that there was no way when pressed that he wouldn't be able to absolutely bury anyone who fought the suspensions.

This was chump change for these guys. The more I see and hear, or don't hear, the more this is starting to look like side betting. Pay for performance, same deal. I did not fight this battle here near as aggressively as rajn did. I won't get involved in another long dispute over this topic either. I will however defend myself and other Saints fans as well as our home team against some of the ridiculous shots that some like to dish out.

 

In a nutshell those are my feelings and thoughts on this situation. Fair enough?

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Did you watch the game? Did you witness players acting on Williams' bravado? Did the Saints players make any indication whatsoever that they were attempting to injure any of the 49ers players? Were Gore or Alex Smith hit in the head? Did the Saints players give any kind of indication that they were going after Crabtree's legs? Did the Saints players state at any time that they were targeting said players due to previous injuries or to cause injury? Did the NFL produce any evidence that the Saints players attempted anything that would cause injury during that game? Were any of the Saints players penalized and/or fined for misconduct during that game? You do realize that this is the players actions they are being punished for and not the coaches words?

 

 

honestly...I probably had redzone on, who knows. Look, you think Goodell was out to get the Saints. Non Saints fans (and most other Siant fans) don't feel that way. I find it hard to believe that Goodell punished the Saints coaches and players without evidence...while you know for a fact he had an agenda to get your boy Payton.

 

and FWIW from things I've read on another board, this is'nt the big win some are claiming it is andis far from over. We'll see...

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Do you think Roger is holding back evidence to make one big lasting impact? He has nothing, never did. He can strut and BS but in the end he has nothing.

 

overabuse of office he has got to go. plus he is just a plain dick that has riuned the game of football into some pansy azz game.

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plus he is just a plain dick that has riuned the game of football into some pansy azz game.

 

 

Can't argue with you here.

 

 

 

 

So he claimed he had 10,000 pages of evidence and your stance is that he made that up and figured noone would ever ask to see any of it? Maybe I'm being naive but I find that hard to believe

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Can't argue with you here.

 

 

 

 

So he claimed he had 10,000 pages of evidence and your stance is that he made that up and figured noone would ever ask to see any of it? Maybe I'm being naive but I find that hard to believe

 

Godell appears to me to have a hell of an ego himself. Being that the players signed off on him being judge jury and executioner he very well may have thought he could just say "screw you" when they asked for proof. I will say it again. If he has the proof why won't he produce it to anyone? He could put this all to rest rather quickly by just producing the evidence and letting it speak for itself. Why allow this to drag into the regular season if it doesn't have to? That makes no sense to me. So yes I question whether the evidence he has will justify the punishments handed down to EVERYONE in this case.

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honestly...I probably had redzone on, who knows. Look, you think Goodell was out to get the Saints. Non Saints fans (and most other Siant fans) don't feel that way. I find it hard to believe that Goodell punished the Saints coaches and players without evidence...while you know for a fact he had an agenda to get your boy Payton.

 

and FWIW from things I've read on another board, this is'nt the big win some are claiming it is andis far from over. We'll see...

 

 

Dude, it was the divisional playoff game last year and I've stated ad nauseum that I don't think that Goodell "was out to get the Saints."

 

Just like most of the people who pay just enough attention to soak up the sensational headlines, you pass judgement without analyzing all the facts.

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One serious question - do you truly believe that Gooddell handed out the suspensions with no evidence? Is he "out to get the Saints" or what?

 

 

:furious: Now we have to go through this again!

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So no evidence of listening in on other teams and no evidence of a pay to injure program. So I guess what we have left is what rajn and I were saying all along. An illegal pay for performance program which was punished severely due to thumbing their collective noses at Godell after being told to stop said program. My guess is that if some evidence doesn't start showing itself pretty damn quick this could wind up back in front of various judges for various reasons.

 

I have a feeling Saints fans are going to be even more pissed off about this whole deal the murkier the supposed mountains of evidence become. Has there ever been a Superbowl that the commissioner didn't attend?

 

 

:lol: You really think Goodell suspends players arbitrarily and capriciously? This isn't over, I'd guess Goodell didn't expose his evidence because it would make the players/coeches look so bad, and hence reflect on the league so badly as a whole.

 

May 2, 2012 story

 

Albert Breer of NFL Network reports that the league explained in a Wednesday memo to all teams that a former prosecutor was hired to conduct an independent review of the evidence.

 

“We also took the step of engaging Mary Jo White, the former United States Attorney for New York, at an early stage of the investigation in order to ensure both the fairness of the process and the reliability of the information on which our decisions were made in the Saints matter,” Commissioner Roger Goodell wrote to all teams. “Following a process that she has frequently undertaken on a wide range of matters in recent years, Mrs. White provided an independent view of the investigation from the perspective of an experienced and highly respected law enforcement officer.”

 

White currently practices white collar criminal defense at the firm of Debevoise & Plimpton.

 

“After her review, she expressed a high degree of confidence in the fairness of the investigation, the reliability of the findings, and the quality of evidence that supported those findings,” Goodell wrote.

 

 

 

I think it's especially relevant to note that Goodell picked as his independent review a former US attorney who now practices criminal defense. He wasn't looking for a feel-good review, he was looking for an adversarial review and got affirmation of his case against the players. Of course, there's always the chance that you & rajn know better after your thorough review of all the evidence...

Edited by Bronco Billy
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For those of you demanding Goodell's hide immediately, what's your alternative? A weak commish that allows young thugs making millions to run wild and control the league? We already have an example of that model - do you really want the NFL to become the NBA? Goodell acts harshly because it is the only way to keep a lot of these young punks in line. That's not to say there aren't a lot of good guys in the NFL, but if you'd start seeing some of them handled with kid gloves, I am absolutely certain that the number of bad actor incidents would rise dramatically.

 

Think about the consequences of the alternative when you react in a knee jerk manner.

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“After her review, she expressed a high degree of confidence in the fairness of the investigation, the reliability of the findings, and the quality of evidence that supported those findings,” Goodell wrote.

 

 

 

 

 

And with the NFL hiring her to affirm their case, that doesn't give her any bias to agree with them I suppose? Dude they paid her to agree with them.

 

Bottom line - Saints fans would probably go along with most of this if there was evidence produced - not the suspension amounts, but with penalties. How in the world can someone hand out punishments, rule that he's their appeals judge, uphold his original punishments, and never show a shred of evidence?

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And with the NFL hiring her to affirm their case, that doesn't give her any bias to agree with them I suppose? Dude they paid her to agree with them.

 

 

 

You seriously think that's why she was hired to review the evidence? To rubber stamp it? That's why attorneys review others' cases? Then why waste the money she was paid? They thought they had a case already. That seriously makes no sense whatsoever.

 

I'd love to hear from an attorney here who thinks in line with you. When I'm hired as an expert to review evidence in a case - which I have done several times - it's my job to find the weaknesses and unsupportable positions in the side of the case of the attorney who hires me, as well as determine where they are strongly supported. In fact, I'm ethically obligated to do so.

Edited by Bronco Billy
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Because the CBA allows him to?

 

 

Even though I admire your stamina when it comes to discussions of various topics here at theHuddle, I doubt even you will see this one through.

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