Beat Writer: Saints Got 'Exactly What They Deserved'
(WSCR) After covering the New Orleans Saints for more than 23 years, Brian Allee-Walsh of SportsNola.com knows a thing or two about the organization.
One day after the NFL suspended Saints head coach Sean Payton for one year for his role in the Saints' bounty program, Alle-Walsh sounded off.
"What goes around comes around," Allee-Walsh told The Mully and Hanley Show. "The arrogance, the thought that, 'This is my world and welcome to it' has come to catch (Payton.) When they brought (former defensive coordinator) Gregg Williams in, they got exactly what they wanted -- they won a Super Bowl, but they knew what they were getting. ... Payton knows everything that went on in this thing. He gave his blessing to it by turning his shoulder. They got exactly what they deserved.
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"I think what I learned was the depth that Payton went to cover up the whole thing. In fact, he lied to the commissioner when confronted. Obviously, you don't do that. I think a lot of the penalties are a result of him not being forthright when confronted with the information and facts of the investigation."
The Saints organization will also lose its second round pick in 2012 and '13 and pay $500,000. Williams, who is believed the be the central figure behind the bounty program, is suspended indefinitely.
"(NFL commissioner Roger Goodell) was going to make a statement and make sure that something like this ... will never happen again. He certainly did that. It's a dark day down here. There are so many questions that need to be answered. It's certainly still an unsetting situation."
The relationship between Payton and Allee-Walsh has been rather tumultuous. Midway through the 2009 season, Alle-Walsh left the New Orleans Times-Picayune for the SportsNola.com. It was at this time Payton had Allee-Walsh banned from the Saints facilities for four months.
"I asked a couple of probing questions that (Payton) didn't like," Allee-Walsh said. "Because he could, he banned me from the facilities, from any kind of news conference, for four months. The only way I was able to continue covering the team through the playoffs was through Roger Goodell and the NFL league office."
