If you’ve been keeping up with the latest NFL chatter, you have surely heard about the NFL investigation and crackdown on the New Orleans Saints for violating league rules. It has been written about in the various news outlets about the “Bounty Rules” that the Saints had out on players of opposing teams.
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“Knockouts” were worth $1,500 and “cart-offs” $1,000, with payments doubled or tripled for the playoffs.
These revelations have caused some Detroit Lions fans on fan forums and Lions fan Facebook Groups to try and excuse the Lions for their lack of control in games.
The news of these “Bounty Rules” even has stirred up questions in some media members as to the true level of guilt to be assigned to the Lions for their actions, the talented Mlive writer Anwar Richardson posed the question “is it possible Lions players were just frustrated because the Saints – more like Devils – were playing dirty?”
Anwar’s article is an interesting read and the way many die-hard Lions fans have reacted is to be expected but let’s be real here for a second.
The Detroit Lions have absolutely no one to blame but themselves for giving away good chances to win against football teams that they match up very well with in the Green Bay Packers and New Orleans Saints.
It is true that what the New Orleans Saints have been caught for doing is wrong and truly dirty, but do you think for a second that this type of thing isn’t going on all over the NFL? Besides that, the Lions didn’t play against the Saints every week did they? Of course not, so let’s not look at everything through Honolulu Blue colored glasses. (It’s hard for me too!)
The truth is that whatever happened to the Detroit Lions has happened to every other NFL team as well and most of them reacted far better than the Lions did, the problem lies in the way that our young Lions handled themselves. Period.
After the back to back losses to the Packers and the Saints, Jim Schwartz readily admitted that the Lions are not being provoked anymore than usual for the NFL when he said….
“I wouldn’t say it’s any kind of provoking,” Schwartz said. “It’s stuff that happens within just about every single football game. There’s things that happen that you have to walk away from and these last two weeks we haven’t walked away from them. I don’t think it’s anything that anybody was particularly scheming to do or anything like that.”
And coach is absolutely right, the problem is Jim Schwartz has to put this to an end for good or the team will falter. These last two years the Detroit Lions have been one of the most penalized teams in the league. The Lions and the Raiders seem to go neck and neck in regard to penalties and lack of discipline.
The Lions were the 3rd most penalized team in 2011 after being the 2nd most penalized in 2010. Jim Schwartz is already many Lions fans favorite Lions coach ever, he definitely is my favorite but he has to “up his game” when it comes to curbing team penalties. Especially those that come before and after the whistle.
If this doesn’t get cleaned up, the Lions will fall short of the greatness that is within their reach. It’s really hard to run to a championship title with self-inflicted bullets in the foot.
So even though I’m glad to see the Saints get busted and I hope they get spanked good and plenty by the league(dummies shouldn’t have gotten caught, lol), let’s not give the Detroit Lions a free pass. They have to clean up this mess they have made for themselves and start playing clean football if they want to win big. Bounty or no Bounty.
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<div class="idc-message" id="idc-comment-msg-div-307565942"><a class="idc-close" title="Click to Close Message" href="javascript: IDC.ui.close_message(307565942)"><span>Close Message</span> Comment posted. <p class="idc-nomargin"><a class="idc-share-facebook" target="_new" href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u <a href="http://=http://lionsdetroit.com/2012/03/03/saints-bounty-rule-excuse-undisciplined-detroit-lions/#more-271#IDComment307565942&t=I” target=”_blank”>=http://lionsdetroit.com/2012/03/03/saints-bounty-rule-excuse-undisciplined-detroit-lions/#more-271#IDComment307565942&t=I just commented on Saints “Bounty Rule” Is No Excuse For Undisciplined Detroit Lions | Detroit Lions Fan Site" style="text-decoration: none;"><span class="idc-share-inner"><span>Share on Facebook</span></span> or <a href="javascript: IDC.ui.close_message(307565942)">Close MessageAlright! Alright! Alright! That is TRULY enough of your tripe! You must have fallen and fit your head then rolled around in some hallucinogenic drugs and managed to get a mouth full of lead paint. You have absolutely lost your mind!!! Let me first say that I could care less about bounties on players. Not because I don't think it is wrong, but simply because I believe nearly every team does something to this effect, though I am sure not NEARLY to this level of willful malice and disregard. That being said… How could you, with even the slimmest shred of journalistic or even fan integrity insinuate that this should not change the way we viewed the Lions play against the Saints specifically?!? If it is has been proven that the Saints targeted certain players (if you recall their defensive coordinator stated in a press conference that "6' 5" players" – Calvin Johnson – "end up being 5' 5" when they get dropped on their heads") how is it that you cannot seem to make a correlation that they also set out to antagonize (with endless cheap shots) our team which had already been labeled not only by fans BUT BY THE NFL (and its referees) to be a so-called "dirty team". The Saints own ROOKIE offensive guard, who mind you, had NEVER IN HIS LIFE faced off against Suh, spouted off before the game about how Suh was a good player but needed to cut out the after the whistle antics…. WHAT!!!!! And I'm supposed to let that slide because fans like YOU want to suggest that it isn't about what other people do, you're supposed to control yourself at all times. Truth be told, for the most part, I agree with that. HOWEVER, if we were to play any sport against each other and I punched you in the face EVERY SINGLE TIME people weren't looking, I wonder if you would have an adjusted opinion on keeping your cool no matter what. YES the Lions need to be a disciplined team! YES the Lions need to keep their composure! But for you to suggest that this revelation doesn't alter the way we viewed ALL (and YES I said ALL) the cheap and dirty plays that I PHYSICALLY watched the Saints commit then you are just as delusional as Gregg Williams who suggested that after running this disgusting program for literally the past 7-8 years that he was very sorry and wouldn't do it anymore. You say: "If this doesn’t get cleaned up, the Lions will fall short of the greatness that is within their reach." Well how about we clean up this nonsensical perception that even our own so-called fans have about our team that the Lion players just lash out unprovoked and unnecessarily at just any minor provocation. GARBAGE! If you don't think that we should have a different opinion about how the Lions played the Saints, ask Brett Farve, Kurt Warner or even Adrian Peterson (who unabashedly shouted to anyone who would listen that the Saints were dirty and would do anything to hurt other teams players). And by the way, what in the world was that quote from Schwartz supposed to prove?!? What did you want him to say? Did you want him to go on national TV and Press and say that he knows FOR A FACT that the Saints were cheap-shotting his team until they responded and that the NFL, the REFs and the retarded fans who seemed to only focus on the "hoodlum" "thug-ish" "dirty Lions" were letting them get away with it. Well let me be the first to thank you… Oh that's right Gregg Williams is already quite appreciative that you and apparently the rest of the sports world completely missed the point. (This story got 1-2 minutes on SportsCenter, Suh got (1) singular "AFTER" the whistle penalty and he end up with a 30 minute special on ESPN about him needing anger management. He might not need it, but after all this, I might.)