Saints Nation: Paul Tagliabue Rules to Vacate Saints' Player Suspensions Entirely

Written by Andrew Juge on .

The Bounty Gate saga may be nearing it's end after all. Paul Tagliabue has vacated the suspensions of Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith, Anthony Hargrove and Scott Fujita in their entirety. Wow. I figured Vilma may get the last 3 games as punishment, and the others might have some reductions, but this I did not anticipate. Of course, having their suspensions vacated is a far cry from vindication, as Tagliabue was quick to support that there was enough evidence to suspend numerous players but that the evidence and testimony were tainted by the coaches and Saints' organization. Presumably that was emphasized in an effort to slam the door shut on any premature return from suspension of Sean Payton or Gregg Williams. In the end, actions speak louder than words as far as I'm concerned. He may have accusatory tone, but he backed down from the NFLPA with this ruling. The players are thus vindicated whether he gives his ruling with a caveat statement or not.

Does having Vilma and Smith really make that big of a difference for the Saints on the field? Not really. But off the field this is a big win for them. They can resume their careers having not served any suspension time. Congrats to them! Hopefully putting this all behind us long before the 2013 season is now in the cards.

3 comments
JamesMorse
JamesMorse

...We can only hope that Payton returns. In my eyes, that's the only way to put the 'Bounty' bullshit in the rear-view mirror. 

MarijnPessers
MarijnPessers

The best thing I like about this, he said: "The ginger leprechaun is wrong, whatever went on in his stupid brain was idiocy at best" .. not literally, but in reality.. yeah he did.

gosaintsgo
gosaintsgo like.author.displayName 1 Like

i hope you pointed this out to your so called friend and giants fan, pals poopcrap or whatever their name is. he and his goodell loving unethical haters obviously didn't know what they were talking about. i hope you punch pals pudcap in the face next time you see him.

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