The facts, however, conclusively undermine this characterization. For example, in a game
between the Saints and the New York Giants in 2009, a Saints player earned a reward for a cartoff
of Giants running back Brandon Jacobs, who left the game with a shoulder injury. After a
2010 game against the Carolina Panthers, the Saints defensive unit was commended for forcing
“3 CART-OFFS! 1 already placed on I.R.!” In that game, three Carolina players were seriously
injured: running backs Jonathan Stewart and Tyrell Sutton, who were literally carted off the
field with a head/neck and ankle injury, respectively, and quarterback Matt Moore, who was later
placed on injured reserve, unable to return for the remainder of the season, with a torn labrum.
These all satisfied Coach Williams’ definition of cart-offs: “big hits that resulted in an opposing
player leaving the game due to the hit (for example, having the “wind knocked out of him” or
being shaken up or injured in some other way)….” He added that “rewarding cart-offs and
knockouts…could encourage players to injure opposing players [and] I now understand that
someone could be seriously injured as a result….”
In addition, sworn declarations of Coach Williams and Mr. Cerullo confirm that a
specific bounty was placed on Brett Favre prior to the NFC Championship game after the 2009
season, as Coach Childress believed to be the case. Mr. Vilma has denied this, but I have decided
that the record as a whole confirms that he made such a pledge. I cannot see why either Coach
Williams or Mr. Cerullo would independently attest to the pledge having been made if it were
not made. In addition, in denying that he made the pledge, Mr. Vilma told me that nothing
unusual took place at the pre-game meeting the night before the NFC Championship game. That
position is inconsistent with the statements of Coach Vitt, who told me that the defensive
meeting the night before the NFC Championship game against Minnesota “got out of hand” and
that a lot of pledges were made by players during that meeting. It is also inconsistent with Mr.
Fujita having told me that many players pledged money for big plays at that meeting.
Additionally, video of the Vikings’ game shows an exchange in which Coach Vitt (mistakenly)
advises the defensive unit that Brett Favre was out of the game due to a broken leg; the Saints
players, including Mr. Hargrove, react immediately to this news, and a voice is heard saying,
“Give me my money.”
There is also no question that when our office initially investigated this matter in
response to Coach Childress’s complaint, players and coaches with the Saints undertook a
deliberate effort to conceal the program. Coach Vitt acknowledged that when he was
interviewed in early 2010, he “fabricated the truth” in denying the bounty program. This continued for three seasons, which allowed this dangerous program needlessly to continue into
the 2011 season.