Drew Brees: Please shut up

[Jim Wilke]

We know you and the rest of your team think you were screwed. We get it, you feel you have been unfairly prosecuted.

Tough.

You and the rest of the players, represented by the NFLPA, signed the CBA a year ago and agreed to abide by the terms. Among those was handing over sole control of disciplinary matters to the Commissioner. If you had a problem with this structure, it should have been addressed during the negotiation process. Your union, the NFLPA, brought this deal back to you and you and your teammates signed it. Go play football and move on.

Shut up.

[cheeseczar]

[Gateway Fan]

It is worse than that. Brees was one of the players involved in the negotiating process. HE knew this was in there even if other players did not.

[Frank Capua]

B-b-but Drew Brees single handedly brought New Orleans back from Katrina... Right?

[midtown]

We know you and the rest of your team think you were screwed. We get it, you feel you have been unfairly prosecuted.

Tough.

You and the rest of the players, represented by the NFLPA, signed the CBA a year ago and agreed to abide by the terms. Among those was handing over sole control of disciplinary matters to the Commissioner. If you had a problem with this structure, it should have been addressed during the negotiation process. Your union, the NFLPA, brought this deal back to you and you and your teammates signed it. Go play football and move on.

Shut up.

Link?

[Jim Wilke]

[Roadster Fan]

B-b-but Drew Brees single handedly brought New Orleans back from Katrina... Right?

Yes, but not without the help of his birth mark.

[Gomer Simpson]

[WheelerDealer]

STFU

[MoparsRule]

We know you and the rest of your team think you were screwed. We get it, you feel you have been unfairly prosecuted.

Tough.

You and the rest of the players, represented by the NFLPA, signed the CBA a year ago and agreed to abide by the terms. Among those was handing over sole control of disciplinary matters to the Commissioner. If you had a problem with this structure, it should have been addressed during the negotiation process. Your union, the NFLPA, brought this deal back to you and you and your teammates signed it. Go play football and move on.

Shut up.

I'd be pissed off too if the Commissioner punished my team to that extent without any evidence whatsoever.

Vilma will win in a court of law, he will be reinstated & then coach Payton will be reinstated... and then Goodell will have nothing left to do other than resign.

You can take that to the bank.

[Roadster Fan]

I'd be pissed off too if the Commissioner punished my team to that extent without any evidence whatsoever.

Vilma will win in a court of law, he will be reinstated & then coach Payton will be reinstated... and then Goodell will have nothing left to do other than resign.

You can take that to the bank.

You won't be taking it to the bank.

"Without any evidence whatsoever." Now that's funny.

All of the evidence was obtained in accordance with the Players Union agreement and all legal avenues. Goodell had every right - by law, and it's been upheld in court time after time - to suspend the players and coaches to the degree that he did. If, by some freak accident, it's does get to a court that has true jurisdiction, Vilma will be ready to retire.

[MoparsRule]

Yes. Punished without supporting evidence. This is going to get extremely ugly.

[BADGER]

I'd be pissed off too if the Commissioner punished my team to that extent without any evidence whatsoever.

Vilma will win in a court of law, he will be reinstated & then coach Payton will be reinstated... and then Goodell will have nothing left to do other than resign.

You can take that to the bank.

It's one thing for Drew and the rest of the team to lie about knowing nothing to the press, it's perjury to lie to a jury. If this ever goes to trial. Let's see how many stick with the same story they tell the press.

[MoparsRule]

Vilma, Hargrove, Smith, Fujita suspensions overturned on appeal

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap100...rned-on-appeal


Like I said... this is going to get extremely ugly!

[Gomer Simpson]

The NFL HAS to have the authority to deal with these kinds of situations.

[MoparsRule]

The NFL HAS to have the authority to deal with these kinds of situations.

Absolutely! And they have to have the the responsibility to do it correctly.

[Canth]

Yeah, read the take of profootballtalk and they said that the NFL could still win the war on the bounty issue against the players. This appeal basically sent it back to the NFL to do it over. The issue appeared to be which hat that Goodell was wearing when he made his decision based on the evidence or something like that.

[jackinbox]

If they want to show evidence, that's fine but my understanding was that the players asked for proof and Goodell refused. If that's correct, then I'm happy about this ruling.

[Gomer Simpson]

If they want to show evidence, that's fine but my understanding was that the players asked for proof and Goodell refused. If that's correct, then I'm happy about this ruling.

The NFL needs to protect the "snitch" (Warren Sapp's word) so that others won't be afraid to come forward in the future. I would imagine that's the biggest part of it.

[Frank Capua]

I'm watching Drew Brees when he was playing for Purdue on the Big Ten Network right now. The TVGuide write up claims that Notre Dame traveled to Indiana to play the Purdue Boilermakers.

Traveled from where to Indiana?

[Jim Wilke]

The Times-Picayune obtained a memo sent by NFL executive vice president Jeffrey Pash to all team chief executives and club presidents re-affirming the league's stance on its findings for the New Orleans Saints' alleged bounty scandal.

The memo spelled out the decision of the three-person panel that ruled to vacate the suspensions for Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma and defensive end Will Smith and former Saints defenders Scott Fujita and Anthony Hargrove.

Then in the final paragraph, the NFL stood firm with its findings: "Nothing in today's decision contradicts any of the facts found in the investigation into this matter, or absolves any player of responsibility for conduct detrimental, nor does the decision in any way suggest what discipline would be appropriate for conduct that lies within the authority of the Commissioner. Per the panel's direction, the Commissioner will promptly reconsider the matter and make a determination of the appropriate discipline consistent with the standards set forth in today's decision. All clubs will be advised when that decision is made."

http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf...ew_orlean.html

[MoparsRule]

I'd be pissed off too if the Commissioner punished my team to that extent without any evidence whatsoever.

Vilma will win in a court of law, he will be reinstated & then coach Payton will be reinstated... and then Goodell will have nothing left to do other than resign.

You can take that to the bank.

[MoparsRule]

.

[rodneyh]

I think that was Taglibue's angle. He knew this was eventually going to get to a court of law and saved the NFL from a nasty fight.

Blame it on the organization who have already accepted their fate, no need for it's game on with the NFLPA.

[FTHurley]

Context for the thread revival can be found here (link to the Boston Globe running an AP article).

‘‘To be clear: this case should not be considered a precedent for whether similar behavior in the future merits player suspensions or fines,’’ his ruling said.

Way to "Bush v. Gore" the crap out of that one. I hate it when decisions specifically disallow the use of themselves as later precedent. It's like saying, "Hey, I was forced into the crap decision, but let's not go too far with it."

[Rivage]

The story is not over yet and it could continue to get ugly.

Interesting interview on the CBS This Morning show DeMaurice Smith: NFL bounty program "never existed"
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57558666/demaurice-smith-nfl-bounty-program-never-existed/

Also noticed on NFL.com that Jonathan Vilma will continue to pursue his defamation lawsuit
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap100...uit-vs-goodell

[beej]

If Smith says the NFL is guilty of sloppy investigating (And it probably is), he needs to be held accountable for sloppy negotiating.