Joe Vitt was critical of the NFL’s handling of the Saints’ alleged bounty system. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

The Bountygate scandal that dominated the Saints’ 2012 season went beyond alleged offers of cash rewards for hits and injuries to opposing players, according to assistant head coach Joe Vitt.

In December testimony obtained by the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Vitt alleged that former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams once promised to reward players if they knocked down or took out opposing coaches on plays near the sideline.

Vitt told an appeals hearing headed by former NFL Commisioner Paul Tagliabue that he made sure players understood that such behavior was unacceptable. He also testified that everyone understood that Williams’ “schtick” and “false bravado” were such exaggerations of reality that players rarely took him seriously.

“If our players went out and performed what came out of Gregg Williams’ mouth, and it went from his lips to their ears, and then it went to the performance, we would have people in jail right now, ma’am,” Vitt told NFL attorney Mary Jo White at the time. “We would have people in jail right now.”

The Saints finished 7-9 in the wake of NFL punishments that included head coach Sean Payton’s season-long suspension, and Williams being suspended indefinitely. Vitt was suspended six games and was the team’s interim head coach in Payton’s absence. Payton has since been reinstated and has extended his Saints contract.

Williams is said to be seeking reinstatement by the league and reportedly is being considered for the Titans’ defensive coordinator opening.

During testimony, Vitt also described former Saints assistant — and key NFL witness — Mike Cerullo as a “liar” and an “idiot.” He also suggested that NFL investigators lied about the number of Saints players and coaches who offered information and testimony about the team’s alleged bounty program.

The St. Louis Rams have fired linebackers coach Blake Williams, son of suspended defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, Yahoo! Sports’ Michael Silver is reporting. Blake has been telling other coaches that Gregg Williams will also be “gone,” according to Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer, although Gregg has yet to be reinstated.

Blake Williams, 27, served as the team’s de facto defensive coordinator in his father’s absence, including taking over play-calling responsibilities on game days. He previously coached under his father in Washington, Jacksonville and New Orleans.

Blake’s “brusque, tactless style” played a role in his firing, according to Silver.

According to a high-placed Rams source, linebackers coach Blake Williams has been fired, Y! Sports has learned…—
Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) January 02, 2013

Blake Williams, according to the source, was fired in part because of a brusque, tactless style in dealing with colleagues and players…—
Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) January 02, 2013

Gregg Williams, the central figure in the Saints’ bounty program, remains under indefinite suspension. According to Silver, head coach Jeff Fisher has not yet decided on what to do after Gregg is reinstated.

Fisher and Williams have a close relationship that dates back to their days on the Houston Oilers coaching staff together in the 1990s.

Gregg Williams, suspended indefinitely for his role in the Saints' pay-for-injure/performance scandal, has not yet been reinstated…—
Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) January 02, 2013

…thus Rams coach Jeff Fisher has not communicated with Gregg Williams and has not yet decided what will happen after his reinstatement…—
Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) January 02, 2013

In Fisher’s first year at the helm, the Rams improved from 2-14 last season to 7-8-1 this season. Their defense in particular made significant improvements, allowing 21.8 points per game compared to 25.4 in 2011 and recording a league-high 52.0 sacks.

The NFL found no evidence of bounties when conducting investigations of the Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins, The Washington Post reports.

Those two teams were suspended defensive coordinator Gregg Williams’ previous stops before he was put in charge of the New Orleans Saints defense.

“The league has investigated the matter but has not found evidence to corroborate the accusations, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the NFL has made no formal announcement about the status of the probe.  The league “followed up” but found “no evidence of the type of program that existed at the Saints,” the person said. “Unlike the Saints case, there was no independent, multiple corroboration of statements made in the media.”

Williams was the defensive coordinator in Washington from 2004-2007 and the head coach in Buffalo from 2001-2003.

Suspended former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams says he will coach again. (Matthew Sharpe/Getty Images)

Former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is currently serving an indefinite suspension from the National Football League because of his role in the bounty scandal. But that’s not stopping him from thinking about getting back into coaching.

Williams showed up at this annual charity golf tournament in Excelsior Springs, Mo. on Friday and declined comment when asked about the bounty scandal, according to ESPN.com.   He said the golf tournament was “all about the kids.”

“I will coach again,” Williams said when he was asked about his future.

Williams, 53, has been an NFL coach since 1990 with previous stops in Tennessee, Buffalo, Washington and Jacksonville. He was hired as the St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator in February before being suspended by the NFL.

49ers running back Frank Gore said he has no issues with Jonathan Vilma or Gregg Williams and the bounty scandal. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore says he has no problem with former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams mentioning him in the now infamous audiotape before the 49ers-Saints playoff matchup in January. In fact, he thinks it is a sign of respect. Williams’ part in the bounty episode got him suspended indefinitely by the NFL.

“We’ve got to do everything in the world to make sure we kill Frank Gore’s head,” Williams said on the tape. “We want him running sideways. We want his head sideways.”

“When you hear another team call your name, that means respect,” Gore said to the Sacramento Bee. “That’s a lot of respect, and you’re doing something right for your team. So it don’t bother me at all.”

Gore said he also didn’t have an issue with former high school and college teammate Jonathan Vilma. Vilma was suspended for the entire 2012 season for his role in the bounty scandal.

Gore had 1,211 rushing yards and eight touchdowns last season and had 13 carries for 89 yards and seven receptions for 38 yards in the 49ers’ 36-32 win over the Saints.

St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, suspended indefinitely by the NFL for his role in a bounty program, is seeking reinstatement, according to NFL.com.

According to league sources, Williams’ advisors have contacted high-ranking NFL officials to determine what steps the suspended coach should take in order to apply for reinstatement.

Williams, as the Saints’ defensive coordinator, was suspended for his leading role in a system that  offered monetary rewards to Saints’ defensive players who hit to injure opponents, forcing them out of games.

Williams apologized for his role in the bounty program after the suspension and expressed his willingness to do whatever he can to be reinstated as an NFL coach.  The NFL had previously worked with Michael Vick to be reinstated when he was suspended for his role in a dog-fighting ring.

Legendary NFL quarterback Fran Tarkenton took to ESPN Radio in Chicago to discuss the New Orleans Saints bounty system, and he stated that he believed ex-Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams should be “prosecuted”, according to Sports Radio Interviews.

“Gregg Williams should never be able to be in the NFL again. He has done this at Tennessee, he did it in Buffalo, he did it with the Washington Redskins, he’s done it here. I got a YouTube video of when Peyton Manning’s neck got hurt the first time because he had a bounty on him by Gregg Williams where someone hit him low and another guy hit him around the head and twisted his neck. It was unbelievable. That’s where it started. That would trickle throughout the league. That would trickle down to college, down to high school football. The American public should be outraged at this, and I know Roger Goodell is outraged because if this spreads, this sport is dead.

…

“He should be banned, forever. He ought to be convicted. He ought to go to prison. This is criminal behavior. I think the lawsuits that will come out of this will absolutely be staggering because if you’re Brett Favre, if you’re Kurt Warner, if you’re the tight end up there in San Francisco, Vernon Davis, if you’re Crabtree, if you’re Frank Gore, don’t you think their lawyers are talking to them today saying “we got a lawsuit here?’”

Tarkenton went on to say that he did not believe that the league is being “sissified”, as others have suggested.

A decision from the NFL on the New Orleans Saints bounty appeals could come as soon as today, according to NFL.com.

Commissioner Roger Goodell met with New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, head coach Sean Payton, and assistant coach Joe Vitt for several hours last week in the league’s offices in New York. The three were suspended for their part in a bounty system set up by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams which financially rewarded players for injuring opponents.

Gregg Williams, who was banned indefinitely, did not appeal his suspension.

Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 season, Loomis was awarded an eight-game suspension, and Vitt was penalized with a six-game suspension. The three are looking for shortened suspensions, however it is unknown if Goodell will be willing to show any leniency considering the outrage in which this story has caused on a national level.

Sean Pamphilon, a documentary filmmaker, released a statement Saturday saying the he and former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason “have a production agreement that I have followed”, according to the Associated Press. Pamphilon released a recording earlier this week where former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams can be heard telling his players to inflict intentional harm on specific opponents.

For his part, Gleason said Friday that the recording should not have been released.

“I can’t understand why Steve would think it’s in his best interest to prevent me from releasing the truth about Gregg Williams,” Pamphilon wrote. “I feel as strongly today as I have from the beginning that the audio speaks for itself and that the public had a right to hear it.”

Williams has been suspended indefinitely by the NFL.

Former NFL wide receiver and current ESPN analyst Chris Carter said Friday that suspended Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams shouldn’t be able to return to coaching, according to Pro Football Talk.

“I believe that Gregg Williams, he shouldn’t be able to coach football any more, and the reason why is because we have given him our best athletes,” Carter said, via ESPN spokesman Bill Hofheimer. “We have given him the best athletes to coach in the NFL for the last 16 years and he has taught them the worst tactics that you can teach a football player. So, I believe the only penalty that would suffice for this type of crime: he shouldn’t be able to coach any more. It is a privilege for us to be able to play football, and a privilege to play in the NFL, and he has taken the last 15, 16 years of his career, and he has decided to do that with it. I believe that Roger Goodell, his penalty should be: he shouldn’t be able to coach in the NFL any more.”

Williams is currently suspended indefinitely for his role in the New Orleans Saints’ bounty program.

A new voice spoke up today in the debate raging over Gregg Williams and the bounty system he instituted as defensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints: Ken Williams, the general manager of baseball’s Chicago White Sox, whose son Kyle Williams was a Saints target with the San Francisco 49ers.

“As you have seen, Kyle Williams is a man’s man and has shown himself more than capable of answering on his own behalf,” Ken Williams said in a statement, according to the Chicago Tribune. “He has definite feelings on the subject but has chosen to remain committed to providing all his answers to any questions on the field next season. Knowing this young man’s intestinal fortitude, I doubt anyone will get him to waver from his position.”

In a pregame speech that was caught on tape by documentary filmmaker Sean Pamphilon, Gregg Williams can be heard asking the Saints’ players to “put a lick” on Kyle Williams to see if he had lingering effects of a concussion.

Ken Williams was happy to add in his statement that medically, his son was progressing nicely.

“As a father first and foremost, I am glad to report Kyle’s concussion tests have been extremely positive,” Williams said. “We are grateful he is ready and anxious to get back to competition.”

Documentary film maker Sean Pamphilon released a statement today on a blog calling former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams arrogant and a coward.

“Essentially, Gregg Williams is not entirely unique,” Pamphilon writes. “He’s just the one who was arrogant enough to continue when he was told to stop and eventually, he got popped for it.”

“’We make no apologies for the way we play the game,’ Williams said in a tone which suggested that he actually had the balls to put on a uniform and do the very things he was ordering his players to do, much less be on the receiving end of the blows he was ordering up.I don’t have those balls.”

“You don’t have those balls.”

“And Gregg Williams most definitely does not have those balls.”

“It’s a cowards play to send someone off to do your malicious bidding. I’m sure many of his players would have told him this if they weren’t scared to lose their jobs or look like bitches in front of their teammates. Or if they weren’t 25 and couldn’t possibly have a fully developed perspective on life.”

Pamphilon made headlines today when he released an audio recording of Williams speaking to his team before a game against the San Francisco 49ers. In the speech, he encouraged his players to hurt specific players on the opposing offense.

Williams was suspended by the league last month for maintaining a bounty system in which he financially rewarded members of his defense for injuring opposing players.

San Francisco 49ers’ corner back, Carlos Rogers, who played for Gregg Williams in D.C., told KNBR San Francisco that Williams had a bounty system in place when he was the defensive coordinator for the Redskins, according to Profootballtalk.

“It went on to guys just suggesting stuff in a room,” Rogers said.  “If you knock this person out, let’s say a receiver, he comes across the middle.  Safety knocks him out, a legal hit, you get this amount of money.”

Roger also stated that he believes the term “bounty” is an overstatement and that even with the NFL’s effort to prevent situations like the New Orleans Saints, teams will still implement similar tactics and players will continue to give big hits due to the nature of pro-football.

“Will guys stop doing it in their [meeting] rooms?  I doubt it.”

While playing under Williams, Rogers played in 34 games and had 151 tackles, three forced fumbles and four interceptions.

Former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams offered cash to the player who struck San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith in the head during the 2011 NFC playoffs, according to USA Today.

According to the video released by filmmaker Sean Pamphilon, who was working on a documentary on a former special teamer with ALS, Williams was recorded as saying, “We hit [expletive] Smith right there” as Williams pointed under his chin.  Williams then rubbed his thumb against his index and middle fingers in reference to the potential fine, saying “I got the first one.  I got the first one.  Go get it. Go lay that [expletive].”

During the clip, Williams also mentioned to injure running back Frank Gore saying, “Kill the head, the body will die. We’ve do to do everything in the world to make sure we kill Frank Gore’s head.  We want him running sideways.  We want his head sideways.”

The video was released on Thursday morning, the same day Sean Payton and other suspended Saints officials were planning to appeal their bans to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

The NFL Player’s Association has warned players involved in the New Orleans Saints bounty investigation that they may face criminal charges, according to Yahoo! Sports.

For the players involved in the bounty scandal from 2009 to 2011, the NFLPA has suggested that they have a lawyer and union representative when they are interviewed by NFL investigators.

Many legal experts have maintained that prosecution is unlikely for on-field acts as it is very difficult to prove an injury was caused by a tackle for a bounty rather than a regular tackle.

The union is planning to meet with the league security staff in New York to review additional evidence.  NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has already banned saints head coach Sean Payton for a year and indefinitely suspended former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.  The only player named in the report thus far is Saints middle linebacker Jonathan Vilma.  No punishments have been issued to any players as of yet.

St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams will not appeal his indefinite suspension for his role in the New Orleans Saints’ bounty system when he was coaching there, according to Jason La Canfora of NFL.com.

As I just reported on NFL Network, after much deliberation, Gregg Williams will not appeal his suspension. More on NFL.com

—
Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) March 30, 2012

Rams owner Stan Kroenke said that he doesn’t think Williams’ suspension will hurt the team’s rebuilding process, and that it is new head coach Jeff Fisher’s call as to if Williams will return to the team when he is reinstated.

“Jeff Fisher is one of the sharpest defensive minds in professional football,” Kroenke said. “I think Jeff hired Gregg because he thought he was good at the job. Gregg is certainly remorseful. I think he is taking steps to openly show his remorse. But what we have to do is take care of the Rams, and we believe that Jeff is the right guy to do that. So I’m not worried about it.”

The NFL is continuing to investigate allegations that other teams Gregg Williams coached for, including the Washington Redskins, had bounty programs similar to the one that was instituted while he was with the New Orleans Saints, according to The Washington Post.

“We haven’t closed an investigation,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said, according to the Post. “We have not stopped investigating. If we get information, we follow up on it. . . . We have not met with people that we will meet with as soon as these meetings are over. So we will continue. We have not said that everybody has got a free pass here.”

Williams was suspended indefinitely by the league last week for organizing a bounty system in which he financially rewarded defensive players for injuring opponents. The league brought down wide-spread, harsh penalties across the Saints organization as a result. Sean Payton, the team’s head coach, was suspended the entire season. Mickey Loomis, the team’s general manager, was suspended eight games. The team itself was docked two draft picks and $500,000.

Williams served as the Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator in 2008, and as an assistant head coach to the Washington Redskins from 2004-2007. From 2001-2003 he served as the Buffalo Bills head coach.

Former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams issued a statement concerning the bounty scandal that led to head coach Sean Payton being suspended for the entire 2012 season.

The statement, in full:

I’d like to again apologize wholeheartedly to the NFL, Coach Fisher, the entire Rams organization and all football fans for my actions. Furthermore, I apologize to the players of the NFL for my involvement as it is not a true reflection of my values as a father or coach, nor is it reflective of the great respect I have for this game and its core principle of sportsmanship.

I accept full responsibility for my actions.

I highly value the 23 years that I’ve spent in the NFL. I will continue to cooperate fully with the league and its investigation and I will focus my energies on serving as an advocate for both player safety and sportsmanship. I will do everything possible to re-earn the respect of my colleagues, the NFL and its players in hopes of returning to coaching in the future.

St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is headed for a serious penalty after admitting to running a bounty program during his time with the New Orleans Saints, but maybe he’ll get some time off for good behavior. The Rams say that Williams is cooperating with the NFL’s investigation, according to the Associated Press.

“Coach Williams has shown contrition for his actions and continues to cooperate with the NFL in this investigation,” Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff said in a statement to the AP today. “Out of respect for the NFL’s ongoing process, we will refrain from commenting until the league has come to a final decision on all aspects of this matter.”

Williams is facing a possible suspension and fine after admitting that he ran a bounty pool of up to $50,000 with the Saints. Meanwhile, he’s keeping busy in his new role with the Rams, preparing for free agency next week, followed by pre- and post-draft minicamps.

George Stark, a former player under Joe Gibbs during his first stint as head coach of the Washington Redskins, said that Gibbs used to give out $100 bills to defenders who knocked down the opposing team’s quarterback, according to DC Sports Bog.

“Let’s be clear: the reason that the Hogs did that Hogs Night Out poster…was, in the meeting after the game, Joe Gibbs would come in, he’d have a fistful of $100 bills,” Starke said on ESPN 980, as transcribed by DC Sports Bog. “And if Dexter knocked the quarterback down three times, he would get three hundred-dollar bills. And Joe would pass the money out in the meeting, and we would have to duck.

“Dexter only played probably three plays a game, because he didn’t play the run, all he wanted to do was the rush the passer. So he’s getting three hundred-dollar bills. If Art Monk got two catches…there’s all kind of reasons that guy got these hundred-dollar bills. But offensive linemen, if they had a perfect game — that meant that John [Riggins] ran for 100 yards — he would get some money but we didn’t get anything. That was the whole Hogs Night Out thing. I said screw that, I went out and signed Jack Kent Cooke’s to the check. Everybody knows that story.”

During his second stint as the Redskins head coach, Gregg Williams served as Gibbs’ defensive coordinator. Williams is now being charged with establishing a bounty system while in New Orleans where he would financially reward players for injuring members of the opposing team.

Gibbs denied any knowledge of such a system run by Williams while he was the head coach of the Redskins. However Starke told ESPN 980, “That’s just too stupid. Of course he knew.”

The trouble is just beginning for Gregg Williams, the man in the middle of the New Orleans Saints’ bounty system scandal — the St. Louis Rams’ defensive coordinator is being called to New York City tomorrow to meet with NFL Security, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen:

NFL Security is recalling Gregg Williams to NYC for more Bounty-gate talk Monday.

—
Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) March 04, 2012

Williams was the Saints’ defensive coordinator for three seasons, between 2009 and ’11. He worked previously with the Washington Redskins (coordinator 2004 to ’07) and Buffalo Bills (head coach from ’01 to ’03), and the league is now investigating whether Williams had similar bounties in place on previous teams.

It’s still unknown at this point how harsh the penalties will be for Williams, but an answer to that question is expected in the next two to three weeks.

Former New Orleans Saints safety Darren Sharper said Friday that the allegations that players were paid by assistant coach Gregg Williams for injuring opponents is erroneous, according to an interview with NFL.com.

Sharper said that primarily the payments were made for big plays, and they were shared by players.

“I think this is something that, from when I got in the league in 1997, has happened thousands and thousands of times over,” Sharper said, according to the report. “It’s ridiculous that someone is trying to say that we made bounties on knocking guys out, when basically all it was is that when a guy gets an interception, then he might get paid. That’s something that guys do amongst themselves.”

Sharper didn’t deny that Williams was involved, but he stated that the payments were not bounties.

“No, positively no,” Sharper said. “With an exclamation point. It’s about making big plays in games.”

Reports released today indicated the assistant coach Gregg Williams paid players to injure opposing players while he was with the New Orleans Saints, and new reports have surfaced that say a similar system was in place when he coached the Washington Redskins, according to the Washington Post.

Three different players told the paper that Williams would hand out thousands of dollars for different types of hits, including “kill shots.”

“You got compensated more for a kill shot than you did other hits,” one former player told the paper.

One former player, Philip Daniels, said that Williams is taking the fall for atrocities he didn’t actually commit.

“I think it is wrong the way they’re trying to paint [Williams],” Daniels told the paper. “He never told us to go out there and break a guy’s neck or break a guy’s leg. It was all in the context of a good, hard football.”

He did add that more physical play was rewarded, and that “Sean Taylor made a lot.”

The Redskins were contacted but refused to comment, according to the report.

The bad news keeps coming for the New Orleans Saints — one day after losing their divisional playoff game to the San Francisco 49ers, it now appears that they’ll lose a prominent assistant coach, as well.

According to a report from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is expected to leave New Orleans and join new head coach Jeff Fisher in St. Louis.

This news doesn’t come as a huge surprise, since Williams and Fisher are already close friends. The two worked together in Houston and Tennessee, with Williams serving as an assistant and later defensive coordinator for the Oilers and Titans.

Schefter reports that the Saints are already on the market for a coach to replace Williams. Former Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo and Miami defensive coordinator Mike Nolan are both candidates, although both men may also be candidates for the Falcons’ opening.