I think he could have steered away from the line a bit and still had a workable speech and attitude. I don't think it's wrong to preach that you get inside their heads by hitting them hard. Make Frank Gore think about how to avoid a hit rather than delivering one. Make Crabtree think about getting hit instead of catching it. But he kind of kept coming back to phrases that could only mean contact with their heads. And hitting them in the head in a pile. And that mention of the ACL and knee.
Why what do you think the coaches say to them? Do you think they tell the players to go easy on them, and avoid the head? Hell no, they are told to knock the hell out of players. Bruise them, mentally break them. Inflict pain. Make them fear ya
Louisiana Senate panel passes resolution in support of Saints http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000...-panel-passes-resolution-in-support-of-saints Good I'm glad. All of these pansy fans on which hunts are getting on my nerves. It's football, and yes it has been going on forever. Yes it's screwed up. Yes it shouldn't take place. Some changes should be made. But No. Peyton nor Williams should be freaking suspended for that long and if they do it then they need to hit everyone across the board, they need to do it fairly, and not do everything behind scenes without any real explanation. This isn't a Saints issue, it's a LEAGUE issue and everyone knows it and I love all the holy voices that are claiming exempt all of a sudden and playing dumb, as if they haven't also been playing this same game. The NFL and ESPN have become one of the biggest mediapocracies in America and believe they are above the law and influence the public any way they see fit rather than honestly reporting the truth. No integrity whatsoever. Just doing the league's dirty work. That convenient "leak" is so freaking obvious something the NFL and ESPN planned together to brainwash the public and manipulate public opinion. If you're going to hand down punishments like this, then you need to present actual evidence, preferably public, let the public and teams as well as coaches know what they found and actually SET CLEAR GUIDELINES on how and why things should proceed from now on. Not some audio tape on ESPN. Right now what have they done other than "don't do this" without even explaining what "this" really is? Go knock his head off...but don't try knock his head off. Play tough defense, but don't touch him. The line between what is ok and what is not ok is so gray nobody in the hell even knows how to explain it to the public what it is exactly the Saints have done that was so terrible. So money isn't ok, but did they ever say coaches should STOP coaching to target injuries? So it's ok as long as no money is involved? We'll pay you bonuses for getting sacks, interceptions, tackling hard, etc....but you can't possibly use it to target injuries and run a pool inside your organization because "we care". But hang on a minute, the NFL DEMANDS a list of injuries every week, when they know, that other teams use it to target players. Coaches have known about this for years and have expressed their concern about it, yet the NFL didn't care. That's why coaches like Bill Belichick lie about it. The Giants admitted to targeting concussed 49ers players too, just before the SB? Did you forget? Wait, could they ALSO be involved in similar practices? Could EVERYONE in the NFL? It's just so much bullshit and gray area in between everything they are talking about. None of it makes any sense but the public doesn't know any better and the NFL is using that leaked tape to fight the outrage that should have come out of this in support of these coaches. It is or it isn't a violent sport? Why not fine UFC and MMA players for punching and targeting prior wounds? Boxers for targeting and punching cuts? It's so clear to me Goodell wanted to make an example out of the Saints to protect his ass. You wanna protect players? Stop demanding teams report injuries, and if someone reports a concussion, demand a team keep him out of the game for the full year. And start imposing some real freaking penalties on FRANCHISES not just players, when they hit illegally. Heck make players wear knee pads while you're at it. This is a really dictatorial way of not doing anything right and not really solving the issue while making an example out of a couple of guys. This isn't the Saint's baby. This is the NFL's baby, and killing one of your delinquent kids to save the rest from punishment isn't the way to go about doing things. PS: Greg Williams didn't come up with this. No way in hell are you going to convince me he came up with something that's been around since the 50's.
if you want to protect players tehn seriously really really seriously go after performance enhancing drugs.... guys are getting injured because you have 270 lb linebackers running around like they were running backs. those guys never used to be more than 220 or 230 lbs because they couldnt get that big and still have the speed necessary. these guys are so blatantly using peds yet everyone continues to turn a blind eye to it instead of really fixing it. they instead do everything they can to stop making the game of football actually look like football. instead of banning hits against guys coming across the middle ban guys like laron landry who are bound to hurt someone when they come flying through at the size/speed they do. these issues didnt just pop up in the last 15 years for no reason... they popped up because EVERYONE is bigger and still just as fast. either football players have evolved 10000 times faster than the rest of hte human race or there is something else going on. and to all of you who say i dont care what they use just so long as they play good, well these rule changes that so blatantly and negatively affected the league last year are what you get for not caring. sorry for going off on a tangent. im going to sit down and stfu now.
Not taking a stance on this, but I would like to point out it's pretty much common knowledge the Steelers in 70s were juicing, and many others around the league as well. Roids have been around forever. And how does Laron Landry keep passing piss tests if he's juicing?
All his tests have been voided. The drug testers keep dying from mysterious exposure to gamma radiation.
those are both fair points, i never heard anything about the 70s steelers but would imagine with all the winning they did that its surely possible they were dealing in peds. i cant say i have some kind of inside knowledge of things but they just dont make human beings that size and that speed... there have never been guys that big and that strong and still that fast. this is a phenomenon of the last 15 to 20 years. once upon a time there were a handful of guys who were just above and beyond everyone else. now there are 53 of them on every team. with all the money to be made there are surely people out there who are staying ahead of the curve on testing procedures or capabilities. ill ask if anyone knows, how does a test occur? does someone just show up and ask for pee? or is someone notified that someone will be here on tuesday to get urines? i just used landry because i can remember his physical makeup when he was in college and now looking at him he is a completely different human being. he has transformed and i just dont believe he has done it naturally.
There's a big difference between telling your players to hit them hard and make them think twice, and specifically telling players to target ACL's and heads. And no, I don't think every team does what Williams did. If they did, why are so many players and ex-players coming out with how disgusted they were to hear this stuff. Unless they are all lying.
AMEN. I remember being told as a kid first one to take out the Trojan qb gets a steak dinner. I was 14. It was pop Warner league championships. No one took him out but I garuantee we won that game bc we were all motivated to lay people out. ( legally. Dirty plays negate the bet). Point being is that it's a part of the game from day one. It's a violent game and you win with physical play. And almost every person who has a problem with this story and thinks its so awful ( and every person I have personally talked to with that view) has never played the game in an organized level, or played and quit bc they couldn't handle it.
