New Orleans Saints interim coach Joe Vitt fired back at length Thursday when asked about the accusations former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams made during the bounty hearings, Larry Holder of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. Williams reportedly testified that he tried to stop to the alleged bounty program while Vitt wanted to maintain the system.
Vitt mostly kept quiet Wednesday during his press conference when asked about former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue vacating the suspensions for Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma and defensive end Will Smith, along with former Saints defenders Anthony Hargrove and Scott Fujita.
But Vitt said he purposely kept quiet because the Saints knew "the Scuds were going to come" referring to the testimony being leaked. The Associated Press received a copy of the bounty hearings testimony and reported numerous instances from the hearings Wednesday night.
"It was like '60 Minutes,' the thing ticking, that we knew that this thing was going to come out," Vitt said. "And so here it comes. It's here, and it's a shame."
"Let me say this. No. 1, in my testimony, I was never asked that question whether or not I wanted to keep the bounty program going," Vitt said. "I was never asked that question. I was told that accusation was made, and I volunteered at the time in front of Commissioner Tagliabue to take a lie detector test that afternoon to deny that allegation.
"So if anybody is keeping a scorecard, let's take a look at this. I said back in March in my first interview with the press and the media that no point in time that our players ever crossed the white line with the intent of injuring, maiming or ending the career of another player. That never took place. I testified before a federal judge with my hand on the Bible. Now what's going to happen now is all participants of all these accusations are going to go to a federal court and going to go to a judge, and from top to bottom, she's going to hear testimony. And the penalty for perjury with her is going to be jail time. So let's stop. Let's stop.
"That's the scorecard right now. Our players have already been cleared by three bodies of work: Judge (Ginger) Berrigan, the three-panel judge and Commissioner Tagliabue. Myself, Sean (Payton) and Mickey (Loomis) didn't have that right. We didn't. Now til the day I die, and I think I'll be able to find six pallbearers, til the day I die I'm going to defend the intent of our football players. I'm going to defend the integrity of this organization and the high moral standards in which our owner holds us all to. And that's just the truth, that's just the truth. And with that, I think I've covered all bases." Source: The Redzone Attached Thumbnails
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December 14, 2012
