New Orleans Saints assistant coach Joe Vitt rejects allegations of offering $ 5,000 bounty for hit on QB Brett Favre
When National Football League (NFL) commissioner, Roger Goodell, heard appeals from current and former New Orleans Saints players against the suspensions handed to them on Monday, he also released a huge amount of evidence to the players and the media that
they had collected in relation to the now infamous bounty scandal.
One aspect of the evidence released by the league said that New Orleans Saints assistant coach and current interim head coach, Joe Vitt had offered $ 5,000 of his own money to a pool of $ 35,000 for injuring former Minnesota Vikings quarterback, Brett Favre.
This took place during the National Football Conference (NFC) Championship game between the Saints and Vikings in 2010.
On Wednesday, though Vitt dismissed the allegations in a statement and said that he had contacted Goodell and said that he was ready to take a lie-detector test.
Vitt said in his statement that the allegation that he offered $ 5,000 for a hit on Favre to be completely untrue and said that he is ready to provide Goodell a sworn affidavit in addition to being ready to take the lie-detector test.
"In recent information released by the National Football League to the NFLPA and later to the media, there is an allegation made against me that is completely untrue and I cannot let it go unchallenged,"
Adding further he said.
"I did not pledge any money for any type of incentive program whatsoever pertaining to the 2010 NFC Championship Game.”
“Today I had a conversation with Commissioner Goodell and I stated to him that I would sign a sworn affidavit to this effect or I would make myself available to take a lie detector test to rectify this matter."
NFL spokesman, Greg Aiello according to ESPN did not wish to speak about the conversation and said that Goodell considered it a private conversation between the two.
Vitt already faces a six-game suspension at the start of the 2012-13 season, however, that suspension is not related to the above allegation.
Goodell suspended Vitt along with Saints general manager, Mickey Loomis and head coach, Sean Payton, for not stopping the bounty programme when it was first being implemented.
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