Brett Favre wasn’t “pissed” when Gregg Williams’ illegal “bounty” program was exposed by the NFL, but he’s pleased the bill has come due for the Saints.
The league’s two-year investigation yielded a direct connection to Favre by way of Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who allegedly offered $ ten,000 to any player who could knock the quarterback — then with the Vikings — out of the NFC Championship Game in January 2010.
“Now the truth comes out. That’s great. But that’s football,” Favre told Sports Illustrated while planting soybeans at his farm in Mississippi. “The only point that truly pisses me off about the complete issue is we lost the game. That’s the point about that day that nevertheless bothers me. And that’s the way it goes. If they wanted me to testify in court about this, they’d be calling the wrong guy.”
Favre took a nasty beating in the 31-28 overtime loss, and the NFL’s findings aid clarify why.
“It’s football. I don’t assume something much less of those guys,” Favre mentioned. “I would have loved to play with Vilma. Hell of a player. I’ve got a lot of respect for Gregg Williams. He’s a fantastic coach. I’m not going to make a massive deal about it.
“In all honesty, there’s a bounty of some kind on you on each play,” Favre continued. “Now, in that game there were some plays that, I don’t want to say were odd, but I’d throw the ball and whack, on each play. Hand it off, whack. Over and more than. Some were so blatant. I hand the ball to Percy Harvin early and got drilled correct in the chin. They flagged that 1 at least.”
Favre is referring to a hit early in the game in which New Orleans defensive lineman Bobby McCray popped the quarterback in the chin. The play drew a 15-yard unnecessary-roughness penalty and an eventual fine. Favre also was subjected to a pile-driving tackle by defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove (an additional 15-yard foul and fine) and a brutal high-low takedown by McCray and defensive tackle Remi Ayodele (which drew, practically inexplicably, no flag).
Favre believed he broke his ankle on the high-low play. “I felt a lot of crunching in there,” he said.
“I’ve always been close friends with (former Saints security) Darren Sharper, and he came in a couple times and popped me challenging,” Favre told King about his former Packers teammate. “I keep in mind saying, ‘What THE hell you performing, Sharp?’ I felt there ought to have been a lot more calls against the Saints. I believed some of their guys must have been fined much more.”
If it’s any consolation to Favre, the Saints undoubtedly will get those fines now. And that could be just the start of it.
(About:) This write-up was distributed by Syndicated Sports news wire and aggregation service, For more NFL news see: Favre happy ‘the truth comes out’ on Saints’ practices.
