National Football League

Saints' punishment ushers in new era

Published Mar. 21, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

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PR or reality, reality or PR? It’s doubtful that Roger Goodell even knows the difference anymore. But who cares? The truth is that when it comes to the New Orleans Saints and their bounty system, and to concussions and serious brain injuries in football, PR is reality.

So Goodell hit the Saints hard Wednesday, including a one-year suspension for coach Sean Payton for his actions while coaching a team to a Super Bowl title. Payton looked the other way when he found out that his defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams, was running a bounty system. Players got cash bonuses for hurting other players, extra money for knockouts in an era when concussions are turning ex-players’ brains into mashed potatoes.

Sick.

But the NFL stands for more than current pro football players. This is also an era when boys — and their parents — are dreaming about football stardom, learning their culture from what they do at the top level.

Payton’s suspension was a major victory for current players who can’t stop themselves, and for all those kids, even if they don’t know it.

One year was a good suspension, two would have been better, indefinite would have been best.

The thing is, Goodell was not able to just scapegoat Williams as a rogue to the new culture of Goodell’s NFL. A bigger head had to fall. Turns out, Payton was the biggest fraud of the cuddly story of the 2009-10 season, when the Saints won the Super Bowl for a town that just needed something to feel good about after Hurricane Katrina.

“We are all accountable and responsible for player health and safety and the integrity of the game,’’ Goodell said. “We will not tolerate conduct or a culture that undermines those priorities.’’

He also said that what was needed was “a strong and lasting message that must be sent that such conduct is totally unacceptable and has no place in the game.’’

True enough. Too many former players are drooling on themselves now, forgetting things. Dave Duerson was so distraught about it, that he shot himself in the heart and left a note asking doctors to analyze his brain. Duerson’s family is suing the NFL, saying that it hid the risks of concussions.

It’s hard to say whether Goodell is hitting so hard because he’s worried about the brains of players and kids, or if he’s in it for PR. Remember that while he acted decisively in banning hits to the head, he did nothing about offensive and defensive linemen, who smash heads on every play without TV cameras catching it.

Too bad it had to become a PR problem before someone would act on it. The narrative is that when the health problems of ex-players started to become apparent, Goodell acted. But do you really believe that the NFL didn’t know what was happening to ex-players until reporters started writing about it and showing it?

There is beauty in this moment. It is a breakthrough, bigger than Goodell’s head-hit rules. That one went after rogue players. This one goes after a culture. See, Payton was in a position of power and authority.

You want to know what the culture is? Former star Warren Sapp tweeted that he “just heard who the snitch was’’ on the bounty scandal. Someone responded by asking if it was Jeremy Shockey.

“Bingo,’’ Sapp said.

Look, Sapp has no idea if it was Shockey or not. The point is that he didn’t say, “Just found out who turned in this dangerous practice to help players and kids.’’ He said “snitch.’’

Maybe pressure is coming from parents around the country. Studies show that for the first time, more and more parents are saying that they don’t want their sons playing football.

Mostly, all I’ve seen are parents dreaming of their sons as the high school quarterback, and then college and then . . . Wow. One neighbor of mine talked about his pre-teen son who, at 90 pounds, wanted to be a defensive lineman and kept going up against a 160-pounder. The bigger kid had a rule that he couldn’t get a running start on the hits.

It didn’t matter. The 90-pounder kept getting hit and hit and hit, and finally said he didn’t want to play anymore. Is that what most people do, though? Or have we taught kids that they should get hit in the
skull as often as it takes, and keep getting up. That’s courage. That’s being a man.

See, the 160-pounder was taught to hit the smaller boy as much as possible. Now, you can’t take hits out of football. No one should even want to. Toughness and intimidation are important to the game, to a lot of games.

But you don’t have to teach injury. You don’t have to glorify it.

More studies show that the head hits in youth football are harder and more frequent than people realized, hundreds of shots to the head over a season. And remember, kids are getting bigger, heavier, faster. Weight-lifting, supplements, steroids. You add it all up, and the collisions are bigger.

Maybe we’re getting somewhere now, though. Because the NFL has celebrated the biggest, baddest hits forever. I’ll admit to loving every old film of Dick Butkus smashing everyone. It was a rush just to watch.

But times change. Reality changes. And now, Goodell is feeling pressure from all sides about hits being too hard to the head. This is the one thing that could bring the NFL down, or at least seriously hurt it.

The Saints’ bounties are now being connected, or just suspected, in so many injuries. To Brett Favre. To Kurt Warner. To Adrian Peterson. To Jay Cutler.

To Peyton Manning.

Goodell had to adjust. Payton had to go. Reality demanded it.

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