Saints Win Appeal

Hey All,

The Saints players suspended for Bountygate won their appeal against the NFL, in a stunning turn of events on Friday.

CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora reports that the three-page summary ruling from system arbitrator Stephen Burbank and an appeals panel allows suspended Saints players Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith and Cleveland's Scott Fujita to potentially play this weekend, but the element of for how long remains unknown.

"This puts the commissioner's discipline on hold," said one source who was reviewing the ruling, "but no one is sure for how long."

The letter indicated a more detailing ruling is to follow, but with Week 1 approaching this was issued for now. Vilma, who has not yet even taken a physical for the Saints as e was banned from the facility, could be placed on the PUP list, sources said; Smith is very likely to play while Browns coach Pat Shurmur has a policy that payers who miss all of practice do not play (the fourth suspended player, Anthony Hargrove, is a free agent).

The decision cites Article 14 and 46 of the CBA; the system arbitrator has control over matters in Article 14, which in this case would pertain to the issue of the alleged bounty program being a circumvention of the salary cap. Article 46 pertains to matters of player discipline under the commissioner's domain, and in this case the issue of whether this was a program designed to intentionally injure players.

Given the complexity of this issue, and with matters of both articles intertwined, in the view of this panel, the decision was made to "vacate the player discipline" and "remands the matter to the Commissioner for expeditious redetermination." Thus Roger Goodell is to put forth a new ruling on the matter taking into account these CBA nuances.

The NFL issued a statement on Friday stating they would do just that in an "expedited" fashion.

"Consistent with the panel's decision, Commissioner Goodell will, as directed, make an expedited determination of the discipline imposed for violating the league's pay-for-performance/bounty rule," the NFL said in a statement. "Until that determination is made the four players are reinstated and eligible to play starting this weekend."

There is still the possibility of the federal judge making a ruling on the players' appeal for an injunction on the suspensions.

In the meantime, with a lifted suspension the players would be eligible for Week 1 game checks, and, as vested veterans, those salaries become guaranteed for the season if they are on the roster at that time. So that could further complicate this already murky issue, with the players originally facing no payment while suspended and the possibility still existing that at some point they are suspended again.

Until next time,
You keep doing what you do, and I'll keep you up to date with everything sports.

Brees Reaches Deal

Hey All,

Drew Brees has agreed to a five-year, $100 million contract with the New Orleans Saints, with $60 million guaranteed, said a person familiar with the deal. Brees and the team reached agreement Friday, the person told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been publically announced. Brees had been tagged as the Saints' exclusive franchise player and could not negotiate with other teams.

Had a deal not been reached, the tender for a quarterback was worth $16.3 million. Brees would have had to play for that amount or hold out without a contract.

Brees skipped the Saints' offseason practices while holding out for a new long-term contract that now makes him the highest-paid player in NFL history.

New Orleans had designated Brees, 33, its franchise player in March after the club was unable to reach a new long-term extension with the record-setting quarterback before his previous six-year, $60 million contract expired.

Want to reach the Super Bowl? These players will need big seasons if their teams are going to New Orleans.
Brees however, was steadfast in not wanting to play for a one-year deal.

During the past six seasons, Brees has not only led the Saints to their only Super Bowl title, but has completed more passes (2,488) for more yards (28,394) and more touchdowns (201) than any other quarterback in the NFL. His 67.8 percent completion rate spanning the past six seasons also tops the league.

In 2011, Brees set NFL single-season records with 468 completions, 5,476 yards passing and a completion percentage of 71.2. His prolific passing numbers helped the Saints set a new NFL high for total offensive yards in a season with 7,474.

He led the Saints to a 13-3 regular season record and second NFC South Division title in three seasons. New Orleans defeated Detroit in the first round of the playoffs before falling in the final seconds of their second-round game at San Francisco.

This offseason marked the first time Brees had the opportunity to negotiate a major, long-term deal with the leverage provided by a string of injury-free seasons highlighted by a slew of individual and team statistical records, in addition to a championship.

He commanded only second-round money when he was drafted by San Diego, and the Chargers placed the one-year franchise tag on him when that deal ran out in 2005. The right-handed Brees then had an injury the following season that required major surgery to his throwing shoulder, and which left him with few major offers during the 2006 offseason.

He wound up signing the six-year deal in New Orleans that left him playing for well below what the top quarterbacks in the league earned during the past few seasons.

Brees' new deal tops the previous benchmark contract for elite QBs set by with the five-year, $96 million deal Denver gave earlier this offseason to Peyton Manning, who is three years older than Brees and sat out last season while recovering from neck surgery.

Until next time,
You keep doing what you do, and I'll keep you up to date with everything sports

New Saints Controversial Allegations

Hey All,

 I know I've been posting a lot, but there has been a lot going on, and I just want to make sure I keep you up to date with everything that is going on. Today we will be talking about the new Controversy going on with the New Orleans Saints. If it's not one thing it's something else that they are trying to dig up, and tear this organization apart. This has to be the crazies story that they could have ever made up about the Saints.

If it's not Bounty Gate scandal, it's ear pieces in the GM's ear listening to the other teams play calls. ESPN has got an anonymous tip that in 2002 through 2004, the Saints GM was suppose to have an ear piece so that he could eavesdrop on the opponents while at the Superdome.

Now before I even get into what both parties have said to this I have to say, ARE YOU KIDDING ME!! Isn't it time that the NFL stop focusing on what they Saints did or did not do in the past, and what is going on with the draft coming up on Thursday. I know this is a much bigger thing then the draft, but it is so far fetched that I don't even know what to say to that. If I were the Saints, I'm not to sure how I would react to this. To think that this is believable, you would have to be a pretty dumb individual. I'm sorry to those that the previous statement just offended, but it's the truth and you can't tell me otherwise. In order for this to be true, and to help out the Saints the GM would have to know the language of every other team in the NFL, get the call, decode what it means, radio it down to the coaches on the sidelines, and hope and pray that they get it to the players in time to change the call on the field so that it could work to their advantage. Now, I just don't see there being enough time for all that to happen and it be effective. Now that I got that off my chest, let's hear what the Saints and others had to say about this.


The New Orleans Saints denied an anonymously sourced ESPN report on Monday which alleges that general manager Mickey Loomis' booth in the Superdome was wired so he could listen to opposing coaches' radio communications during games. ESPN could not determine if the system was ever used. The report on Monday's "Outside the Lines" said Loomis would have been able to eavesdrop on opponents from 2002 to 2004. The report also said the system was disabled in 2005, when the Superdome was heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Saints spokesman Greg Bensel called the report "1,000 percent false."

"We asked ESPN to provide us evidence to support their allegations and they refused," Bensel said. "The team and Mickey are seeking all legal recourse regarding these false allegations."Loomis explained his use of an earpiece and described his game-day setup in the Superdome booth in an emailed statement.
"I have a monitor in front of me in my booth that provides the league issued stats for the game," Loomis stated. "I have a small TV with the network broadcast and I have an earpiece to listen to the WWL-AM radio game broadcast. To think I am sitting in there listening and actually ... doing something with the offensive and defensive play calls of the opposing teams makes this story and the unnamed sources that provided the false information that much more less credible," Loomis' statement continued. "It just didn't happen."


Washington Redskins defensive coordinator Jim Haslett was the Saints' head coach from 2000 through 2005. In a comment the Saints forwarded to the AP by email, Haslett denied knowledge of any system that would have allowed for eavesdropping on opponents.
"At no time during my tenure as head coach with the New Orleans Saints did Mickey and I discuss monitoring opposing team coaches communication, nor did I have any knowledge of this," Haslett said. "To my knowledge this concept was never discussed or utilized."


If the Saints had installed a system allowing them to listen in on their opponents it would have violated NFL rules and also could have infringed on federal wire-tapping laws.
"We were not aware of it," league spokesman Greg Aiello said. "We have no knowledge of the allegations."
FBI spokeswoman Sheila Thorne said the agency's New Orleans office was aware of the situation, but wouldn't comment further.

U.S. Attorney Jim Letten in New Orleans also said his office had been told about "general allegations" involving the Saints and possible wiretapping, but he did not elaborate. Letten declined to discuss who made the allegations, and whether they involved Loomis or any other Saints officials.

For the Saints, the report in itself added to a slew of recent bad publicity, which began in early March when the NFL released a report describing a crunch-for-cash bounty system that provided improper cash bonuses to defensive players who delivered hits that hobbled targeted opponents.

Commissioner Roger Goodell has suspended head coach Sean Payton for the entire 2012 season in connection with the bounty probe. Loomis was suspended for the first half of the regular season and assistant head coach Joe Vitt was suspended six games.

The team also lost its second-round pick in this week's NFL draft and was fined $500,000. Goodell took away the Saints' second-round pick in 2013 as well, but has said he may lessen that punishment if he is satisfied with the club's cooperation in the ongoing investigation.

The NFL still has yet to hand down punishment to between 22 and 27 current and former Saints defensive players whom the league has said participated in the bounty program.

Until Next time,
You keep doing what you do, and I'll keep you up to date with everything sports.