A Nazi-Analogy-Free Breakdown of the Saints Bounty Case

“Wait, what just happened?” is a perfectly reasonable way to describe Paul Tagliabue’s most recent ruling on the New Orleans Saints bounty case.  Who knew the Saints could successfully defend something?  Zing!  In the nuttiest of nutshells, Tags technically ruled in favor of Roger Goodell’s original findings that the Saints operated a pay-for-performance program that included rewards for injuring opponents.  He also found the Saints’ coaching staff culpable as well as three of the four defensive players who were singled out as ring leaders.  Then of course he lifted all player sanctions and exonerated Scott Fujita entirely from bounty disciplinary action.  Even more tellingly, he spent most of his 22-page argument more aggressively than passively slapping Commissioner Goodell on the wrist for the bounty findings Tags largely agreed with.  What gives?  Here are some Lady Blitz “quick” snaps on this matter:

Consider This a Mistrial - This ruling is still a head-scratcher to a public that, in matters like these, loves to rally with pitchforks around a preponderance of evidence much more than matters of plausible deniability.  While there is a wealth of evidence affirming that a bounty program existed in the Saints locker room, it is insanely difficult to draw an indisputable connection to specific players as Roger Goodell tried to do.  One would need to demonstrate several lines of evidence including 1) clear, tangible proof that players behaved differently on the field solely because of financial incentives than they would have otherwise; and 2) clear, documented proof that money exchanged hands between specific players for injury-related rewards.  This is why he so strongly shifts the focus of the case from player culpability to that of the broader coaching/managerial system.  It’s not that Goodell went after a wild goose, it’s that he didn’t have the evidentiary ammo to support singling out these four players with unprecedented punishment in the way that he had ample culminating evidence confirming the existence of a bounty system at large.  Further, no one in the league has been able to produce macro statistical proof that the Saints actually created more opponent injuries, personal fouls, or other measurable consequences of dirty play than any other team in the grand scheme of things despite the system in place.  So while individual instances like taking Kurt Warner and Brett Favre out in the 2010 playoffs seem obvious, these specific plays did not produce an extraordinary number of illegal hits/personal fouls or factor into a discernable longitudinal trend.  Remember, the Saints defense still sucks.

Inconsistency Is the Key - If you just can’t get enough coverage of Bounty Gate (ha!), I highly recommend Pro Football Talk’s article about the underlying message Tagliabue sent to Roger Goodell with this ruling.  At its crux, the document is more significantly a chastisement of Goodell’s shoot first, ask questions later handling of this case than it is about the Saints organization’s sins.  Yes, payment-for-injury bounties are morally reprehensible and to be discouraged categorically in the NFL. But the disciplinary consequences of the Saints’ program were applied so swiftly and harshly in response, one has to ask what historical basis exists to justify these unprecedented consequences and whether they were applied fairly here.  Tags shreds these premises by pointing to the league’s lesser actions in analogous situations.  The Patriots and Packers were found to have pay-for-performance systems in place in the mid-2000s, and were served [relatively] small fines to make amends.  A nearly-identical punishment was assigned in the case of the Patriots and the Broncos for their Spy Gate cheating antics.  There were no player or coach suspensions in any of these cases.  In terms of lying to league authorities, Tagliabue even hilariously points to the wrist slap Brett Favre got during his sexting investigation compared to the much more severe retribution the Saints received for their obstruction in the bounty case. More on hypocrisy in “quick” snap #3.  The point here is not that the Saints’ actions should be absolved because they did not foresee the magnitude of the punishments coming.  Rather, Tags argues that Goodell missed a huge opportunity to ingrain his anti-bounty policy proactively and pervasively throughout the league (and let due punishments stick) through clear, consistent communication to all teams and players about the policy and its consequences well in advance of using the nuclear sanction option.  He should have favored collective wisdom and due process, however drawn out and tedious, over hasty unilateral action, even if the players’ agreement allows the latter.  Instead, what we have is the appearance of a highly reactionary man who went from 0 to 60 to make an example of out a team that undermined his authority more so than of someone who is deeply concerned about protecting the league’s health and safety writ large through broad, consistent change management.

This Does Not Solve the NFL’s Safety Problem - I think it’s fair to classify this as a no-win situation beyond hobbling the Saints’ season and showing us the Commissioner’s new clothes.  At the end of the day, publicly flagellating one team for a bounty program, however well-deserved, will not bring the NFL any closer to resolving its underlying player safety problem.  To paraphrase a wise sage Stephen Colbert, injuring others is part of NFL players’ base pay too, and if this bounty issue brought anything to light about player safety, it is that it is nearly impossible to separate the “standard” player’s performance and injuries from what is allegedly over the top in its violent intent. While Roger Goodell purported here that a clean line could be drawn between these things, this league is in a sea of gray [and litigation] when it comes to protecting players from long-term injury by pretending that these consequences rest solely on an individual player’s intentions.  The league can continue to fine players for dangerous hits until Ndamukong Suh donates enough money to send 60% of Andorra to college, and that’s not a bad thing, but other players on other teams will continue to reap and sow injuries in the daily business of this game whether or not they pay a fine or receive additional pocket change.  In fact, the Goodell hammer on the Saints pales in comparison to his own decisions and actions regarding safety including the introduction of a full season of Thursday night games and the continuing push for an 18-game season, a refusal to negotiate in any way with former players suing for damages from injury, and letting replacement officials wreak havok for four weeks at the start of this season with their incompetence in controlling chippy play and calling illegal hits. Maybe a growing number of people will understand that now that this sad and unfortunate distraction is over.