TheOak

Lets step back and look at rewards for performance in football, a few comparisons and questions to make you think.

PeeWee, High School and college football dole out stickers for "good plays".
No biggie I am sure but it is still a reward system for a good tackle.

Whats a "good tackle"? Ill bet Bear Bryant and Vince Lombardi would say one which leaves the opponents teeth on the ground....

How would Al Davis define a good tackle? Some people are discussing "dirty hits".... Think again about Al Davis's Raiders..... Didnt the NFL praise him for his accomplishments after he passed?

Nearly 90% (except our Defense.... we know how they tackle) of all tackles at the pro level are made with 100% effort. How would $5k make someone tackle harder than 100%?

So what is the real problem here? Or is there one?

Too physical?
No one puts someone 6'7' 350 lbs on the line of scrimmage and says "do not hurt the quarterback. Fundamentally the NFL is built on crushing the opponent. They pay them for this.

Pay for performance?
See previous statement.... They get paid to crush the opponent.

Is it the issue that monetary gains can cause someone to go above and beyond 100%? This is the most interesting issue for me. While the media is trying to crucify the Saints and GW, aren't they the biggest culprits in all of this? What would motivate someone to try and knock the helmet off of an opponent more... $10k or making the highlight reel on all the sports channels? Make enough highlight reels and you'll sooner or later see an endorsement worth possibly millions. Maybe make the cover of a video game?

Wasn't the issue last summer GW and doling out meds? Seems every year since our Super Bowl we are getting slammed for some thing everyone else does.

Lets face reality. The New Orleans Saints have now become the "persona-non-grata" of the NFL. Because we did what everyone said we couldn't do.... Our QB is more productive than theirs.

Ill bet nearly 95% of all locker room pregame speeches ends with something along the lines of " now lets go out there and kick their azz". Should ALL coaches be fired or fined for promoting violence that could cause a player to get injured?