WhoDat!656

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith wasn't surprised at all when the New Orleans Saints' bounty program came to light this offseason. The longtime NFC South rival said he's "always known" Gregg Williams' defenses try to hurt opposing players.

"I actually had an altercation with a guy who told me firsthand," Smith said Tuesday on NFL.com's "Dave Dameshek Football Program," although he didn't name the Saints player. "I was going out of bounds, and the guy went for my ankle. I said, 'Hey, man, cut that out.' He's like, 'Well, we get fined if we don't go after your legs when you go out of bounds.' ... And actually this past year, this last game when we played them, I had a little conversation with Gregg Williams. ... He took responsibility, he was saying it wasn't right, but that's who he was."

We're past the point of being surprised by the Saints' activities at this point. Would it seem out of character for Williams to have his players pay small fines if they didn't play with an edge?

The Carolina-New Orleans rivalry was re-ignited last season by a scuffle following a Smith touchdown celebration (not to mention a late hit by Saints safety Roman Harper). We won't have to wait long to see if Smith's words further inflame the matchup: The Saints head to Carolina in Week 2 next season.

The Saints just have to hope they have enough non-suspended players to field a defense that day.

NFL.com news: Steve Smith: Saints player admitted he targeted me

"A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."

BGWhoDat

I call BS on this one. Seems he is a little hurt over Harpers cheap shot last year. Now he can get back at him. Smh.

RaginCajun83

Isn't it a little late for this punk to come out with this

LivnaLieTimay

This coming from a guy who had a bounty on his own teammate and wound up getting sued when he attacked fellow WR Anthony Bright in the film room. Smith is a punk, if you're going to say these things tell us who said it so they can defend themselves.

|Mitch|

I'm calling bull****! If it really happened, he would have been screaming it the day the story broke...

burningmetal

Extremely late. This little puke constantly runs his mouth during games, and I specifically remember him trash talking a lot in the game when Harper nailed him. If you keep begging for trouble, you're gonna get it. That has nothing to do with a bounty. You reap what you sew.

dizzle88

He also punched his CB teammate in Practice and got banned, that richard Marshall guy

73Saint

That statement was just loaded with intellect and credibility.

SloMotion

... and I know a guy who's sister dated an NFL player, who talked to another NFL player about some NFL player targeting an NFL player ... or something like that ... why can't I get on the Dave Dameshek Football Program for my two-minutes of fame?

This is what ticks me off most about all this stuff; there are people out there stupid enough to believe this crap and/or consider it as fact ... it's turned into the 'Jerry Springer Show' of football.

Seer1

First bounties, then daughter's being spanked (but still on the payroll), then bugs and now players being fined for not playing dirty? My, oh my and all from credible "sources" too!