How’s abounty those Saints?

BY NOW YOU’LL have read about the Saints bounty scandal.

If you haven’t (why haven’t you clicked the link?) I’ll give you a short synopsis.

Former Saints defensive co-ordinator Gregg Williams has admitted to running a bounty programme that saw Saints defensive players awarded cash for knocking targeted players out of the game.

Players were given $1,500 for knocking a player unconscious and $1,000 for having them carted off the field.

Since the news broke, there’s been considerable outrage and rightly so. As a coach, I expect my players to hit their opponents as hard as possible but as fairly as possible.

Of course there are times when those hits border on legal but that’s just something that happens during the course of a game played at full speed.

Naive

The key though, is that our players are not coached to injure opponents and they’re certainly not rewarded for it. Indeed, more often than not, we pull them out of the game until they calm down.

What Gregg Williams was doing – and it’s naïve to think he could have organised this without the express consent of Saints head coach Sean Payton – was wrong not just because he was putting the careers of opposition players on the line.

It also put Saints players’ careers in jeopardy. Poor technique, coupled with players focusing on their payouts rather than the game in hand, is a recipe for disaster.

There really is no punishment too high for Williams and the Saints. Fines, suspensions and, most importantly, loss of draft picks are needed to show that this behaviour is not acceptable.

Funny how quiet opposing coaches have been about this whole affair though isn’t it?

What a Manning

So the inevitable happened Wednesday when the walking neck surgery that is Peyton Manning was released by the Indianapolis Colts.

The move came as no great shock as Manning was due a $28 million bonus on Thursday but what is surprising is that as many as 12 teams have expressed an interest in signing the 36 year old quarterback.

Some of those teams are obvious; the Redskins, Dolphins and Seahawks are all in desperate need of a quarterback, even one who hasn’t played for a long time.

Other potential destinations might raise a few eyebrows. The Houston Texans, for example, can’t rely on Matt Schaub to make them perennial contenders and it gives Manning a chance to show the Colts just what they’ve given up twice a year.

Another possible destination is the Jets who clearly don’t believe in current quarterback Mark Sanchez. It would, like the Dolphins move, mean facing Tom Brady twice a year though and, at this stage of his career, Manning is looking for an easy route to the playoffs.

For that reason, don’t rule out Denver as a possible destination. The AFC West is the second weakest division in football and Manning would take much more advantage of the likes of Eric Decker and Demarvius Thomas than Tim Tebow, at his current ability, ever could.

Of course there is the Tebow factor, but who better to learn the finer aspects of the game from (like how to throw a football with a spiral) than the league’s only four time MVP?

Drew Brees signs autographs at a high school in January – Marco Garcia/AP/Press Association Images

A cooling Brees could turn into a storm

Finally, returning to New Orleans, you have to wonder what’s going on in the Saints front office.

Drew Brees has just smashed a passing record that lasted for more than 25 years and taken an average team comfortably into the playoffs. Why would you NOT pay him as much as he wants for as long as he wants? He is your franchise.

The word coming out of the Brees camp is that the QB is far from happy with the Saints putting the franchise tag on him instead of rewarding him for the greatest season by a quarterback in the history of the league.

The Saints have enough problems coming their way. Just pay the man.

Steven O’Rourke is the offensive co-ordinator of Tullamore Phoenix American Football Club, winners of the IAFL DV8s national title in 2010 and 2011. Tullamore are always recruiting new players so, if you’d like to play football and not just read about it, Steven would love to hear from you.

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