Good Peyton, Bad Payton

I'm sure that New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton would be indignant, if not outright furious, were it revealed that another NFL team had offered to pay its players bonuses for injuring his star quarterback Drew Brees during games. As a matter of fact, the Saints have been recently enjoyed something of a "good guy" image in the league, engendering a nationwide following. But recently the revelations (and admissions) that Payton and his assistant were handing out bonuses for injurious hits to players on other teams has brought this franchise down to gutter level, even surpassing the New England Patriots videotaping scandal a few years back for its vileness. How would you like to be a team in New Orleans' division and have to play them twice a year? Well, Sean Payton's reputation is shot, as far as I'm concerned...

Another "pay-ton", this one whose reputation remains sky-high, has just been cut from his career-long team: this week the Indianapolis Colts, anticipating a star quarterback drafting of Stanford's Andrew Luck, cut Peyton Manning, possibly the greatest quarterback in the game's history, to avoid paying out a contractually-imposed $28 million bonus. Manning suffered through three neck operations and difficult, long recoveries last year and it's uncertain how much longer he will be able to play professional football. If the price tag isn't too high, it would be cool to see him wearing a Miami Dolphins uniform next year...

Neck injuries can build up over time, so I wonder whether some of Peyton's neck problems came about from opposing players putting unnecessarily rough hits on him in order to collect "bounties". I do remember the Colts playing in the Super Bowl against the Saints a couple of years back. In my opinion, everyone in New Orleans management aware of their disgusting program who even just gave it tacit approval should be fired. Immediately.