Oh the humanity!
Life is over as we know it!
The Mayans were right, 2012 is the end of days!
Reading the hyperbolic reaction to the Saints bounty-gate you would think that Gregg Williams wasn’t paying his players to hit other players in a game but was paying them to strap dirty bombs to their chests and take to the subways of New York City (the only city that really matters, if we are being honest).
While I recognize that in a game increasingly becoming aware of the harmful long-term effects of massive hits, it isn’t the best idea to incent players to hit even harder, I have a harder time getting too riled up.
On my way to the top of Mount Pious, I keep slipping on the oozing stream of hypocrisy trickling down the path.
To succeed in football is to succeed in disconnecting the part of your brain concerned with pain and feelings from the rest of your body. To succeed also means getting paid obscene amounts of money to inflict pain (because let’s face it, every tackle hurts in a game where a field goal celebration can end a career). So, to be shocked that someone would offer more money to inflict more pain is the definition of either hypocrisy or a blatant disregard for common sense.
There are plenty of people out there worried about WHAT THIS MEANS and there are plenty of others (mostly former players) to downplay as ‘the way the game is played’ but I am curious about simpler question.
Does it work?
The answer is no.
Look at Captain Bligggggh’sresume. A defensive coordinator or head coach since 1997 (15 seasons), he has a defense ranked in the top five in yards surrendered 4 times; in the top ten 6 times. His team has only been in the top ten in takeaways 3 times. His teams finished 28th or worse 7 times in takeaways.
If bounties don’t keep the other team from racking up yards or turning the ball over what exactly are they accomplishing?
Well, they are accomplishing one thing: incenting your defense to play recklessly. Going for a big hit is a good way to miss a tackle. More missed tackles mean more yards for the other team. Players that play under control and wrap up are always going to be more effective than head hunting.
In deploying the genius that will soon get him suspended for much of next season (if he has a job), Gregg may have actually been hurting his own defense and team.
The old cliché is that men who are not endowed with much ‘under the hood’ buy the fastest sports car they can afford as compensation.
Maybe, Gregg’s stupid, reckless hard-hitting bounty scheme was the sports car he used to compensate for his micro-phallus of defensive knowledge.
