Saints Player Punishment

Many apologies to our many loyal and occasional fans and readers. It's also a bummer that I return from my writing hiatus with such a sour topic but this is something that should be discussed. I am hearing from a lot of people that the Saints players should not be punished. Several news outlets and sports fan are only saying that they were following orders and that they should be excused. A few people have been so bold as to say that if Vilma, among other defensive players, had said no they would be mutinous players against their coach. This is completely ridiculous. Every person, regardless of their profession, is expected to be held accountable for their actions. If that means going as far as to refuse to accept money or every play for a team that has this bounty program in place then so be it. I realize that it would be incredibly difficult to raise issue with your coach about something such as this but each person has to be held accountable and should be punished.

What I take issue with are the specific level of punishments. Vilma in particular was punished too harshly. His fellow athletes are tweeting things such as "suspended for just playing football...wow" but I disagree with this. He was not punished for playing football he was punished for his alleged involvement in the program. Roger Goodell have even said Vilma put up $10,000 of his personal money as part of the program. Gregg Williams, the alleged creator of this bounty program, is suspended indefinitely and Sean Payton, the head coach, is suspended for the entire year. Assistant head coach Joe Vitt was only suspended for  6 games for his involvement.

I find it difficult to believe that a player, non-withstanding that he is the defensive captain, was just as responsible as his head coach for the bounties. I also take offense to the idea that the same player is 3 times more responsible for the program operation than the assistant head coach. Pending if Gregg Williams receives more punishment or not, Vilma and the man who started the entire program could have received the same level of punishment. This is incredibly harsh. Vilma could have fairly been punished with 6-8 games but Roger Goodell had to prove once again that he is The Man.

Finally, Chase Daniels tweeted recently that he was with Vilma when Vilma found out about his suspension. Oh, did I forget to mention that they were watching SportsCenter together, and he saw that he was suspended for the entire season. Really classy move Roger, well done.