Gregg Williams went "rogue" during stint with New Orleans Saints - NFL News
New Orleans Saints assistant head coach, Joe Vitt, met with National Football League (NFL) commissioner, Roger Goodell, to appeal his suspension notice on Thursday.
Vitt who had earlier been handed a six-game suspension by the league was accompanied by his lawyer David Cornwell to the hearings and talked to the media later about the proceedings and the Saints bounty scandal.
Cornwell told the assembled media that ex-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams had become a “rogue coach” and said the recently released audio recording was just one of a number of examples that the coach had gone way out of line.
He also said that both head coach, Sean Payton and general manager, Mickey Loomis had earlier warned Williams that the NFL is investigating bounty allegations but the defensive coordinator ignored all such warnings.
Cornwell released a statement after the hearings.
“Coach Joe Vitt and I met today with Commissioner Goodell, Jeff Pash, Adolpho Birch, and NFL security for about an hour and a half.”
Adding further he said.
“Coach Vitt wanted to meet face to face with the Commissioner to take full responsibility for certain matters while taking the opportunity to make clear that despite inflammatory language and irresponsible conduct, New Orleans Saints' coaches did not coach
and Saints' players did not play to injure their opponents. We thought the discussion was productive and informative—so, we achieved our objective."
The Saints were found guilty of running an illegal bounty programme paying players cash to injure targeted opponents.
Both Payton and Loomis knew about the programme but did nothing concrete to stop it and also lied to league investigators over the system’s existence during earlier investigations.
The NFL after gathering irrefutable evidence came down hard on the franchise fining it with $ 500,000 while also taking away second round draft picks for two seasons.
Head coach, Sean Payton received a one year suspension while Loomis was suspended for eight games by the league.
Both appealed their sentences on Thursday but did not communicate with the media.
Commissioner Roger Goodell is expected to announce the punishments quickly with some sources even suggesting that a decision might be reached by Friday.
Goodell is also expected to soon decide on how to proceed with punishments for the 22 to 27 players involved in the scheme as he continues to debate with the NFL Players Association.
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