OT: Vilma walks on out Bounty-Gate hearing

[MoLewisrocks]

If those days are over Goodell will have achieved his goal. I think the bad news will be more along the lines of what is going on now, more annoying news than anything. The lawyers will make a killing, including eventually in bankrupcy court in some defendents cases if they choose to keep fighting a losing cause. But the legal wrangling while different than what happened in our situation will be over sooner than later. A few lower courts may be talked into entering the fray, but the higher courts ultimately won't this because it's collectively bargained employment related. If the Saints manage to go 16-0 in the face of it then their conduct will likely become a battle cry of non Saints fans. Same as what happened with NE. Only I don't think that's going to happen.

I don't think we will see any victim suits. And this wasn't widespread. Pay for play among players only was. No one else ever took it to this level with coaches and players openly contributing (or even pledging) large $$$ amounts for injuring opponents.

Pay for play is equivalent to what we got caught doing. It morphing into a bounty program is equivalent to if we actually had taped that superbowl walkthrough among others...or been found to be using tape a halftime which Clayton claimed at the time some teams were actually attempting to. We didn't take our offense to the next level. The Saints did.

 

[Frezo]

It wouldn't surprise me if Favre gets his nose wet in all of this even if it's just to be interviewed as a victim. He loves the limelight. He can stir the ashes about a comeback then too.

 

[Funktopus]

My understanding is that "bounty" means pay for injury however any pay for performance is technically a violation of the rules. The Saints were in the wrong no matter what so the punishments are valid but after how the NFL and media portrayed spygate, making it about the signal stealing (legal) and not the camera position (illegal) I'm wondering how much the "bounty" aspect as far as attempts to injure is being overplayed as opposed to the pay for performance without malicious intent.

Thanks for the clarification. Are the players disputing the pay for performance aspect of this? Do they feel they have been punished for pay for injury when the real rule broken is salary cap circumvention?

 

[PatsSox363804]

Thanks for the clarification. Are the players disputing the pay for performance aspect of this? Do they feel they have been punished for pay for injury when the real rule broken is salary cap circumvention?

Judging from their comments they are saying there was no pay for injury program but there was a pay for big plays program. At that point it's up to the person viewing the evidence how much of what Williams et all was saying was metaphor and how much was actually meant to be taken as "hurt the opponent." Williams and Payton not fighting it is a good reason to believe that the NFL is correct but then again the players going so hard after Goodell leaves me questioning it to a degree. I mean you'd have to be really stupid to keep defending yourself if the league has a smoking gun.

 

[TyronePoole]

I don't know about the rest of them, but the narrative that's been proposed in regards to Scott Fujita runs totally contrary to everything I've ever seen of him and his character inside and outside of the NFL. I am very skeptical that the NFL has a strong case against him.

They may not be entitled to "due process" in regards to the CBA but that doesn't make it right; we have due process in our legal system for a reason. Without it you have ht potential for one guy like Goodell to hold a kangaroo court solely for the purposes of mitigating future lawsuits, and then only making certain evidence available.

Of course the evidence presented is "compelling." If prosecutors were able to present only the information that they wanted to to make their case and bury all the rest it would be compelling every time. If our justice system worked that way there wouldn't be a single not guilty defendant.

Evidence against Fujita shows that bounty case is all about semantics | ProFootballTalk

Lost in the debate regarding whether Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma offered a $10,000 bounty on Brett Favre prior to the 2009 NFC title game and whether former Saints defensive end Anthony Hargrove said, “Bobby, give me my money” after it appeared Favre had been knocked out of the 2009 NFC title game is the fact that former Saints linebacker Scott Fujita faces no specific allegation that he contributed to the alleged bounty on Favre — or to any specific bounty on any specific player.

Instead, the bounty case against Fujita consists of two claims: that he contributed money for the pool that paid players for sacks and forced fumbles (which necessarily isn’t and can’t be a “bounty”), and that he contributed $2,000 to the “general” pay-for-performance pool prior to the 2009 NFC title game.

(The latter comes from the same notes that the NFL regarded as sufficiently unreliable to result in Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt even being asked about whether he contributed $5,000 to the alleged bounty on Favre. But those same notes nevertheless have fueled Fujita’s punishment.)...


It’s not that the Saints were trying to injure players. It’s that the Saints were offering extra money for big, clean, legal hits that advanced the pre-existing objective of victory through attrition, a concept that has been part of the game since the game was invented.

This inconsistency first surfaced when comparing the huge gap between Gregg Williams’ cartoonish remarks the night before the January 2012 playoff game against the 49ers and the absence of any extracurricular hits or stomps or knee-whackings or conduct other than big, clean, legal hits. (Of course, most of the big, clean, legal hits applied in that game were applied to members of the Saints.) But the distinction between talk and action largely has been lost in the stream of flawed evidence leaked and/or published by the league.

So instead of debating whether it’s fair and just to dub as a “bounty” program money paid to a player for doing the job he already is paid to do, much of the debate has centered the accuracy and credibility of the league’s interpretation of items like: the Anthony Hargrove declaration; the Mike Ornstein email of September 2011; the bounty ledger that was summarized for Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports; the specific proof that Jonathan Vilma offered a $10,000 bounty on Brett Favre; and the question of whether sideline video from the 2009 NFC title game actually proves that Hargrove said, “Bobby, give me my money.”

Maybe that’s precisely what the league has wanted. Maybe the league hopes to avoid a full-blown debate on what’s really going on here. Players were paid extra money for doing the jobs they already were paid to do. Absent proof linking the pooled cash to dirty or illegal hits aimed at inflicting injury, the Saints did nothing between the white lines that any other team ever sets out to do. Instead, some members of the Saints simply got a little extra money for doing what they already were supposed to do.

 

[Joker]

nice sledgehammer.....doubt it gets through to more concrete rocks

 

[pherein]

Judging from their comments they are saying there was no pay for injury program but there was a pay for big plays program. At that point it's up to the person viewing the evidence how much of what Williams et all was saying was metaphor and how much was actually meant to be taken as "hurt the opponent." Williams and Payton not fighting it is a good reason to believe that the NFL is correct but then again the players going so hard after Goodell leaves me questioning it to a degree. I mean you'd have to be really stupid to keep defending yourself if the league has a smoking gun.

Yeah, no one is disputing a pay for performance program, that I know of. The Saints are absolutely in violation of that, and 100% of our fans understand that. We needed to be punished for that alone. Its the other stuff that bothers us.
Though we heard Payton and Williams were ordered by the NFL not to talk about it.
We just have a problem with the evidence and how the NFL is fabricating some of it. Might just be A LOT of honest mistakes and quotes, but its becoming hard to believe them with so many mistakes. 50,000 pages of evidence are now 200 pages,
and falling. Most of what they have can be explained.
Like you I really don't see the rational of our coaches and players fighting so hard for no reason. Im not convinced there wasn't a bounty program in NO, but also not convinced their was,lol.
Only thing I am convinced of at this time is that the NFL, NFLPU, and Goddell has really dorked this thing up.


SaintsWin: Analysis & Opinion
SaintsWin: Analysis & Opinion: Examining the Flaws of BountyGate's Evidence

Grading all of the Saints bounty evidence
Grading all of the Saints bounty evidence - CBSSports.com

Should Goodell cut bounty penalties?
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8080482/nfl-goodell-reduce-bounty-penalties

It might be better for the NFL and the Saints to come to some compromise, and reduce fines at this point.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Yeah, no one is disputing a pay for performance program, that I know of. The Saints are absolutely in violation of that, and 100% of our fans understand that. We needed to be punished for that alone. Its the other stuff that bothers us.
Though we heard Payton and Williams were ordered by the NFL not to talk about it.
We just have a problem with the evidence and how the NFL is fabricating some of it. Might just be A LOT of honest mistakes and quotes, but its becoming hard to believe them with so many mistakes. 50,000 pages of evidence are now 200 pages,
and falling. Most of what they have can be explained.
Like you I really don't see the rational of our coaches and players fighting so hard for no reason. Im not convinced there wasn't a bounty program in NO, but also not convinced their was,lol.
Only thing I am convinced of at this time is that the NFL, NFLPU, and Goddell has really dorked this thing up.


SaintsWin: Analysis & Opinion
SaintsWin: Analysis & Opinion: Examining the Flaws of BountyGate's Evidence

Grading all of the Saints bounty evidence
Grading all of the Saints bounty evidence - CBSSports.com

Should Goodell cut bounty penalties?
NFL - Should Goodell reduce bounty penalties - ESPN

It might be better for the NFL and the Saints to come to some compromise, and reduce fines at this point.

Based on the the actual game experience did:

Saints defenders actually ever engage in obvious dirty play?

Were any Saints players disciplined in any way for failure to engage in any dirty play?

If the answer is no, then all "bounty" "evidence" is for naught.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

Yeah, no one is disputing a pay for performance program, that I know of. The Saints are absolutely in violation of that, and 100% of our fans understand that. We needed to be punished for that alone. Its the other stuff that bothers us.
Though we heard Payton and Williams were ordered by the NFL not to talk about it.
We just have a problem with the evidence and how the NFL is fabricating some of it. Might just be A LOT of honest mistakes and quotes, but its becoming hard to believe them with so many mistakes. 50,000 pages of evidence are now 200 pages,
and falling. Most of what they have can be explained.
Like you I really don't see the rational of our coaches and players fighting so hard for no reason. Im not convinced there wasn't a bounty program in NO, but also not convinced their was,lol.
Only thing I am convinced of at this time is that the NFL, NFLPU, and Goddell has really dorked this thing up.


SaintsWin: Analysis & Opinion
SaintsWin: Analysis & Opinion: Examining the Flaws of BountyGate's Evidence

Grading all of the Saints bounty evidence
Grading all of the Saints bounty evidence - CBSSports.com

Should Goodell cut bounty penalties?
NFL - Should Goodell reduce bounty penalties - ESPN

It might be better for the NFL and the Saints to come to some compromise, and reduce fines at this point.

Ain't mob mentality fun!

BTW you forgot a few *s in there...

 

[Snapper]

Though we heard Payton and Williams were ordered by the NFL not to talk about it.

I think this is consistent with how the commissioner handled Spygate. I know some people were angry the Patriots didn't try to fight the charges (not to mention the misinformation) harder, but I think they too were ordered not to talk about it, under penalty of further punishment.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Based on the the actual game experience did:

Saints defenders actually ever engage in obvious dirty play?

Were any Saints players disciplined in any way for failure to engage in any dirty play?

If the answer is no, then all "bounty" "evidence" is for naught.

Only if you don't grasp what they are being disciplined for. Ever hear of anyone being punished for conspiracy to commit a crime or violation? Don't have to prove they did it, just that they conspired to. And there is plenty of evidence of that. And plays didn't have to be dirty either. Just attempting to cause the level of injury that would lead to a cart off, legally or otherwise or whether it did or didn't, while simultaneously participating in any way (contributing to or collecting from) in the pool that rewarded play in excess of contractual payment, and you're guilty. The funds were pooled, so the intent to participate in any bounty dimention of the program defense won't fly, either.

 

[TyronePoole]

Only if you don't grasp what they are being disciplined for. Ever hear of anyone being punished for conspiracy to commit a crime or violation? Don't have to prove they did it, just that they conspired to. And there is plenty of evidence of that. And plays didn't have to be dirty either. Just attempting to cause the level of injury that would lead to a cart off, legally or otherwise or whether it did or didn't, while simultaneously participating in any way (contributing to or collecting from) in the pool that rewarded play in excess of contractual payment, and you're guilty. The funds were pooled, so the intent to participate in any bounty dimention of the program defense won't fly, either.

Per the League's release on the subject and the justification for various degrees of punishment amongst the players, that is not what they are being punished for.

http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_20530549/nfl-statement-text-saints-bounty-penalties

Four players -- Scott Fujita, Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith, and Jonathan Vilma -- were notified today that they have been suspended without pay for conduct detrimental to the NFL as a result of their leadership roles in the New Orleans Saints' pay-for-performance/bounty program that endangered player safety over three seasons from 2009-2011. Participation by players in any such program is prohibited by the NFL constitution and bylaws, the standard NFL player contract, and the collective bargaining agreement.
The specific discipline was determined by Commissioner Roger Goodell after a thorough review of extensive evidence corroborated by multiple independent sources. Under Article 46 of the collective bargaining agreement and the standard NFL player contract, a player is subject to discipline by the commissioner for conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the NFL. The discipline imposed today for such detrimental conduct is as follows:

-- Scott Fujita (now with the Cleveland Browns) is suspended without pay for the first three games of the 2012 regular season. The record established that Fujita, a linebacker, pledged a significant amount of money to the prohibited pay-for-performance/bounty pool during the 2009 NFL playoffs when he played for the Saints. The pool to which he pledged paid large cash rewards for "cart-offs" and "knockouts," plays during which an opposing player was injured.

-- Defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove (now with the Green Bay Packers) is suspended without pay for the first eight games of the 2012 regular season. Hargrove actively participated in the program while a member of the Saints. Hargrove submitted a signed declaration to the league that established not only the existence of the program at the Saints, but also that he knew about and participated in it. The evidence showed that Hargrove told at least one player on another team that Vikings quarterback Brett Favre was a target of a large bounty during the NFC championship game in January of 2010. Hargrove also actively obstructed the league's 2010 investigation into the program by being untruthful to investigators.

-- Will Smith of the Saints is suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2012 regular season. Smith, a defensive end, assisted Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams in establishing and funding the program during a period in which he was a captain and leader of the defensive unit. Multiple independent sources also confirmed that Smith pledged significant sums to the program pool for "cart-offs" and "knockouts" of opposing players.

-- Linebacker Jonathan Vilma of the Saints is suspended without pay for the 2012 NFL season, effective immediately per league policy for season-long suspensions. The investigation concluded that while a captain of the defensive unit Vilma assisted coach Williams in establishing and funding the program. Multiple independent sources also confirmed that Vilma offered a specific bounty -- $10,000 in cash -- to any player who knocked Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner out of the 2009 divisional playoff game and later pledged the same amount to anyone who knocked Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre out of the 2009 NFC championship game the following week (played on January 24, 2010). Vilma is eligible to be reinstated after the Super Bowl in 2013...


Commissioner Goodell concluded, as he did with the Saints' non-player employees, that it was appropriate to focus on those individuals who had a higher degree of responsibility and whose conduct warranted special attention. While a significant number of players participated in the pay-for-performance program, whether by contributing funds to the pool or collecting cash rewards, the players disciplined participated at a different and more significant level, Commissioner Goodell noted.

 

[TyronePoole]

Goodell obviously picked the wrong guy to try to screw with in Fujita, probably the smartest and most principled player in the NFL.


Fujita to Goodell at appeal hearing: “What the hell are you doing, Roger?” | ProFootballTalk

“I know exactly what [happened] and what didn’t,” Fujita said. ”The problem with this whole thing is that it’s just an unfortunate situation where you have a defensive coordinator [Gregg Williams] who I like a lot, but said a lot of really vulgar, inappropriate, outlandish things. You couple that with some guys who occasionally throw in some money for big plays — which I have admitted to doing — and it becomes a perfect storm, and also it comes at a time politically when I think the league was looking for something like this.

“So, it’s unfortunate. It’s unfortunate that a lot of players have been dragged into it when the reality is it’s just a kind of loose, joking around, performance-type system of motivation coupled with some really, really inappropriate language that I’m sensitive to, but again, it is just language.”

Fujita apparently wants the NFL to focus on what the program was, and to clarify what it wasn’t.

“People said I was stupid for confessing to paying for big plays. I didn’t think of that as a big deal,” Fujita said. ”Is it against the rules? Technically, yeah, it’s against the rules, but that’s the way it was done when I was a young player and I’m not ashamed of that. If that’s what I’m going down for, let’s call it for what it is. The problem is that the league has billed this thing as being this super-organized pay-to-injure scheme, which it never was.

“Now, it turns out when the evidence is getting released that there is actually very little to nothing on anything pay-to-injure related, especially as it pertains to me. So, again, if it’s pay-for-performance, let’s call it what it is, and if I have to take my medicine for that, I’ll do that, and we’ll move on, but that’s not what the league has billed this as.”

Fujita explained that the issue is about more than the money he’ll lose during a three-game suspension.

“Another thing I have a hard time with is that a lot of people just say, ‘You only have a couple games [suspension]. Just be glad with what you got. Stop complaining and move on.’ It’s more than just a couple games,” Fujita said. ”My reputation is a lot more valuable to me than three game checks. So for someone to say ‘just take your medicine and move on,’ my response is no. If you’re accused of something you didn’t do, and they were going to not only ruin your reputation, but also take a lot of money away from you, you would not just lie down. So it’s troubling. It’s been hard for me. It’s been a stress at home. I’m lucky to have such a supportive family with young kids who don’t understand any of this kind of stuff so that brightens my day, but it has been very hard for me.”

The good news is that the discussion of the actual or perceived flaws in the NFL’s investigation could be prompting the league to focus on precisely why the players are being disciplined — for contributing to and participating in a pay-for-performance system that created an incentive to inflict injury on opponents (regardless of whether they actually did) and not for deliberately attempting to inflict injury in exchange for cash.

The bad news is that it’s too late to put the bounty toothpaste back in the tube. The Saints were painted as a marauding gang of Gilloolys in March; calling it what it really was in June will do nothing to change the perception that has been cemented into the public’s collective consciousness.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Apparently like Fujita, you Tyrone have a comprehension problem. That sometimes happens to guys who suffer from smartest guy in the room syndrome. Just ask Bill how that worked out for him. As Bedard tweeted in a series of comments last night before beginning his summer vacation...

Greg A. Bedard‏@GregABedard

Media focused on pay-to-injure. That wasn't the meat of most of the NFL's suspensions. Never was. That was my point.

11hGreg A. Bedard‏@GregABedard

I'm not getting into an argument with Saints fans tonight. It's pointless.

11hGreg A. Bedard‏@GregABedard

@SeanycahillSPRT You don't need blood to violate the rule. It clearly states that.

11hGreg A. Bedard‏@GregABedard

@CalvinHairstyle Look, I have big prob with the NFL's case vs some of the players that will be laid out Sunday.

11hGreg A. Bedard‏@GregABedard

@CalvinHairstyle The Saints refused to have that conversation, on advice of counsel

11hGreg A. Bedard‏@GregABedard

@JeffDuncanTP If Packers lied and the NFL found any shred of evidence it involved coaches & hint of injury, they would have gotten it too

11hGreg A. Bedard‏@GregABedard

@JeffDuncanTP I mean, they investigated the Packers players for giving each Best Buy cards.

11hGreg A. Bedard‏@GregABedard

@JeffDuncanTP I know you guys feel the same way. Been trying to tell people that ANY bounty scheme is serious to NFL, add in lying, cartoffs

11hGreg A. Bedard‏@GregABedard

@CalvinHairstyle Cart-offs, whacks, Favre, Warner...what do you call those?

11hGreg A. Bedard‏@GregABedard

@CalvinHairstyle Yeah, I've read that quote. That's an accurate quote.

12hGreg A. Bedard‏@GregABedard

Now, the NFL didn't stand in the way of the media saying it was cleaning up the game, but maybe the finger should be pointed at the media

12hGreg A. Bedard‏@GregABedard

....but the media, some more than others, interpreted it that way and latched onto those details.

12hGreg A. Bedard‏@GregABedard

If you go back and read the NFL's press releases on the bounty scandal, they weren't over-the-top about pay-to-injure...

 

[pherein]

Based on the the actual game experience did:

Saints defenders actually ever engage in obvious dirty play?

Were any Saints players disciplined in any way for failure to engage in any dirty play?

If the answer is no, then all "bounty" "evidence" is for naught.

No, and no. No evidence, so far, of anyone being payed for injuring anyone, or a paper trail. Saints are a mid level penalized team. Players received money for the pay for performance, I think. I am just projecting that because their is not evidence of that either, but the coaches admitted one was in place.

What intrigues me the most is that the NFL with its millions for brilliant lawyers, can display evidence that is so contrary to reality, found to be untrue or misrepresented, and denied at almost every level by the people that they say admitted it, or are witnesses. GW is probably their only witness left, that the NFL says admitted a bounty program. But he has already denied he said their was a bounty program threw a 3rd party. Just not in person yet.

Writes Triplett: “[A]ccording to a source close to [former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg] Williams, the NFL has also misrepresented what Williams said in interviews with the league. According to the source, Williams never admitted a ‘bounty program’ was in place and that the league ‘rephrased his statements to satisfy its needs.’ The source also said Williams never identified any players for their involvement in a pay-for-performance or bounty program.”

Those are strong, stunning allegations. Given the mounting attacks on the quality of the league’s evidence, the time has come for the NFL to disclose it. All. Publicly. Every piece and shred of it.

Its hard to figure out Goodells motives here, when their team of lawyers can get so many things wrong. I guess its possible they are just incompetent.

 

[pherein]

I think this is consistent with how the commissioner handled Spygate. I know some people were angry the Patriots didn't try to fight the charges (not to mention the misinformation) harder, but I think they too were ordered not to talk about it, under penalty of further punishment.

Really, thats interesting. Vitt is suppose to be part of that coaches gag order. Not sure why he's talking now, it can only hurt his career.

 

[Funktopus]

Apparently like Fujita, you Tyrone have a comprehension problem. That sometimes happens to guys who suffer from smartest guy in the room syndrome. Just ask Bill how that worked out for him. As Bedard tweeted in a series of comments last night before beginning his summer vacation...

So, if I understand this correctly, the suspensions given to hargrove, fujita, vilma and smith are for participating in a pay-for-performance activity not pay-to-injure?

 

[MoLewisrocks]

No, and no. No evidence, so far, of anyone being payed for injuring anyone, or a paper trail. Saints are a mid level penalized team. Players received money for the pay for performance. Bonuses, but no one was ever injured. Im not really understanding why $1000-$10,000 is and incentive to a NFL defensive player to hurt someone either. I mean the fine from the NFL will be $25,000 and up. You would need a pot of a least $25,000- $50,000 for me to get involved, and a promise that the team would cover any fines.

What intrigues me the most is that the NFL with its millions for brilliant lawyers, can display evidence that is so contrary to reality, found to be untrue or misrepresented, and denied at almost every level by the people that they say admitted it, or are witnesses. GW is probably their only witness left, that the NFL says admitted a bounty program. But he has already denied he said their was a bounty program threw a 3rd party. Just not in person yet.



Its hard to figure out Goodells motives here, when their team of lawyers can get so many things wrong. I guess its possible they are just incompetent.

There doesn't have to be evidence of anyone being paid for injuring someone or even anyone injured. You just don't get it. And LOL at what it would take you to participate in a bounty program. Would those assurances need to be in writing...:bricks:

There is plenty of evidence the bounty aspect of the pay for play existed. The way it works is similar to the way it works in civil matters as opposed to criminal matters. Preponderance of evidence as opposed to beyond a reasonable doubt. Meanwhile guys like yourself and Tyrone seem to be arguing for jury nullification...

So far Goodell's legal team has carried the day, fwiw. In fact as usual the only winners in all of this are the lawyers, including Florio - who is driving his own sites ratings by championing as many overwrought tin foil theories as he can. Media frames these debates, and in this case and in this twitter age, they have done their damndest to make it the kind of soap opera drama that grabs and spins audiences through an entire off season. Kind of like what they did throughout the lockout...which at the end of the day turned out just about the way rational observers always predicted it would.

And Kraft and Belichick weren't gagged, just accountable and smart enough to know that winning wars is more important than flailing around fighting unwinnable individual battles.

 

[pherein]

So, if I understand this correctly, the suspensions given to hargrove, fujita, vilma and smith are for participating in a pay-for-performance activity not pay-to-injure?

Both, is the best answer. They were rightly suspended for participating in a pay-for-performance program. They are also accused, as are all the coaches, of having a organized Pay-to-injure program. Lying to the NFL.
The severity of the suspensions, and some fines are for their participation to willingly lie, and participate in a organized bounty program, from the top down, to injure other players.
Goodell was very clear on this, at the time

"Beyond the clear and continuing violations of league rules, and lying to investigators, the bounty program is squarely contrary to the league's most important initiatives — enhancing player health and safety and protecting the integrity of the game," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "Let me be clear. There is no place in the NFL for deliberately seeking to injure another player, let alone offering a reward for doing so. Any form of bounty is incompatible with our commitment to create a culture of sportsmanship, fairness, and safety."

 

[Funktopus]

Both, is the best answer. They were rightly suspended for participating in a pay-for-performance program. They are also accused, as are all the coaches, of having having a organized Pay-to-injure program. Lying to the NFL.
The severity of the suspensions, and some fines are for their participation to willingly lie, and participate in a organized bounty program, from the top down, to injure other players.
Goodell was very clear on this, at the time

thanks Pherein. What was the logic behind giving different suspension lengths? For example, is there a portion of Vilma's suspension that can be attributed to pay-for-performance and a portion for pay-to-injure?