So much has happened in the football world in the last few days that I've hardly have had time to catch my breath. But let's see if we can break this down.
Starting with the Saints.
Punishment handed down by the NFL:
- Greg Williams suspended indefinitely.
- Sean Payton suspended for a year.
- Mickey Loomis (Saints GM) suspended for 8 games.
- Joe Vitt (assistant Head Coach of the Saints) suspended for 6 games.
- Fined $500,000.
- Lose second round picks for the next two years.
- Players' punishments not released yet.
These punishments are deserved for the bounties. Let's start with Greg Williams. He was the mastermind of this, the instigator, and the source. Without him this probably wouldn't have happened, or would have at least stopped when the league warned them. He needed to rightfully bear the brunt of this and clearly will. He's probably feeling it right now, but even Jeff Fisher said the punishment was deserved. Williams is probably kicking himself for this, but it's not like no one saw this coming. Besides, his suspension doesn't affect the Saints currently -- he had left them at the end of the season regardless.
Sean Payton's suspension is a concern for the Saints. Not only does the team not have Drew Brees under contract, but these punishments won't help him come back. Sean Payton is the mastermind behind the whole team, the revival, the championship. He and Brees are on the same page and are one of the great head coach tandums in the league. This will hurt the Saints more than anything else, even the fine and the other suspensions. If I'm the Saints, I'm hating this right now and am concerned about next years' season.
Mickey Loomis and Joe Vitt are minor players in this. Though Loomis is high level management, which makes it a bigger deal, they are both still bit players. Their suspensions are to emphasize that no one in any way involved with this (as far as upper level management and coaches) will go unpunished. No one is immune.
The money and the draft picks would hurt more if the Saints were a franchise in a bad place, like Jacksonville or Carolina. But they should bounce back from those and continue to thrive. The Saints are a team much like New England was after spygate -- they are a good team at the core and have an identity and a strong fan base. What makes them different from the Spygate New England team is the fact that they will lose their head coach. We'll see if they can have a good year next year without Sean Payton. And if he comes back to the Saints after that.
Now, to Peyton. Manning that is.
He signed with the Broncos, which I didn't think was the best choice (I was rooting for the 49ers), but I understand why he did it. A great young defense, John Elway over his shoulder and a team that made a playoff run with a bad (sorry) quarterback. There's a lot of hope in Denver and the coaching staff will give him plenty of room to be in charge of the offense. Their offense was structured around Tebow, though all that really amounts to is no structure at all. Peyton will bring that stability. As much as I hate to see him in orange, there are so many worse places he could have ended up. He'll hopefully do well in Denver and finally give that city what they haven't had since Elway. They deserve it and all the other teams in that division want to die. The Texans are jumping for joy. Tom Brady just wishes he could have gone out of the conference. Could you imagine a Peyton v. Brady Super Bowl?
Also, he didn't go to the Dolphins so he didn't have to play Brady twice a year. You can't tell me that wasn't part of it. Can you blame him?
Finally, to the ever continuing Tebow show.
Listen. He's not a great quarterback. He's an icon. But as far as actually being a great quarterback, he's far from that. He could learn a lot sitting behind Manning. A lot. If I'm Tim Tebow, I don't necessarily want to be traded quite yet. This would be an invaluable experience for him. His trade value would be very high if he sat behind Manning for a year.
Secondly, the Jets? Really? Really? You consented to go to the Jets? Though I'm pretty sure you had no choice in the matter. Mark Sanchez is about to run back off to California. He's tired of this. The last thing he wants is Tebow coming to his show. Not only do the fans already hate him, they would be shouting for Tebow right away. He's never had any real competition behind him, so this would be a change. Not sure he can handle the pressure, or that he wants it. So far he hasn't done a great job of performing under pressure.
But if you're Tebow, I can't see this being a good thing. The Jets are the biggest show in the NFL, and not in a good way. It's not the kind of atmosphere that you want to be around. After all that's been said about that locker room, it's hard to believe that Tebow would actively want to go there. However, rumor has it he picked them over the Jags, which I can understand. But he's not going to start -- he'll probably sit behind Sanchez. Why not just sit behind Peyton? It would be better, not worse, for him. Infinitely better. This trade makes little sense from either side to me -- unless the Jets think he can be a calming presence in their locker room. I could easily see the Jets dealing Tebow again.
