Former New Orleans Saints DE Anthony Hargrove clarifies role in 2009 NFC Championship game - NFL News
Defensive end, Anthony Hargrove, has become widely recognised as one of the players involved in taking bounties during the New Orleans Saints run to the Super Bowl title in 2009.
The former Saints’ player and current free agent reportedly celebrated a crunching hit on the then Minnesota Vikings’ quarterback, Brett Favre, during the 2009 National Football Conference (NFC) Championship game.
Favre was injured and Hargrove reportedly celebrated on the bench as he said.
"Favre is out of the game! Favre is done! Favre is done!"
The allegations were made in a report by Sports Illustrated Magazine.
However, on Thursday, Hargrove released his own statement to clarify the statement while also acknowledging that the late tackle on Favre was a mistake.
“A lot of things look bad when we look back and realize how they sound. Trust me, I've said much, much worse. Heck, I probably say worse every day. But did I personally want Favre INJURED? Absolutely and categorically NO!”
The defensive end also said that the tackle was not motivated by any bounty money on Favre and that he received no payment for injuring Favre as alleged in the report.
“I can say with absolute certainty that neither the late hit nor the comment have anything whatsoever to do with the issue being so hotly discussed in the media.”
That will not keep Hargrove out of the National Football League’s (NFL) investigation into the Saints’ bounty programme which ran for a three-year period from 2009-11.
The Saints are alleged to have been running the illegal programme with a pool of $ 50,000 under the aegis of former defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams, who has since apologised for his role and in essence confirming the existence of such a programme.
Both head coach, Sean Payton, and general manager, Mickey Loomis, have also released statements apologising for their indifference to the programme and their role in keeping it running for such a long period.
The bounty programme has returned the spotlight on the Saints 2009 Super Bowl run and the NFC Championship game against Minnesota Vikings has come under intense scrutiny.
It was alleged in the NFL investigation that the bounties reached their peak during that game with linebacker, Jonathan Vilma, reportedly offering $ 10,000 to anyone who injured Favre.
The NFL players’ association will be conducting its own investigation into the matter and many more previously hidden aspects surrounding the case are expected to be made public in the coming days.
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