When the word got out that a ‘bountygate’ tape of Gregg Williams surfaced, I fully expected media outrage. Williams has already admitted guilt, so that was never in question. But having experienced pregame locker room etiquette, I fully expected to hear profanity and tough talk that would make Rex Ryan proud. But would the media judge Williams on the content of the speech or the profane delivery. The answer was a surprise.
Listening to the tape myself, my initial reaction was people were taking it out of proportion. “Kill the head and the body will die,” Williams stated. Although the premise is contrary to what many boxing trainers teach, it seemed like a figurative comment from the outset. If you can get a team’s leaders out of the game mentally, their teammates will surely follow. Cut and dry, right?
Later, I barely raised a brow slightly after Williams stated “We’re gonna dominate the line of scrimmage and we’re gonna kill the [expletive] head.’
Again, it’s easy how to see how this could be misinterpreted. It was all one big misunderstanding. I thought maybe I’d just pick up the phone, dial good ol’ NFL commish Roger Goodell and sort out the whole thing. Cooler heads would prevail and 20 years from now we’d all have a good laugh.
But the very next line stopped me in my tracks. “Every single one of you, before you get off the pile, affect the head. Early. Affect the head. Continue, touch and hit the head.”
Wait. What?
Yes, the audio clearly catches Williams instructing his defense to take cheap shots at a opposing players’ heads. Considering how strongly the league is working towards concussion safety, I was taken aback by the coaches brazen defiance. Later on, he suggests his players “take out” Michael Crabtree’s outside ACL. Wow.
So imagine my surprise when I turned on one of the local sports talk stations and heard the talking heads defending the coach. They claimed it was typical coachspeak and should not have been taken in a literal sense. They claim it was just the normal tough talk to rally his defense up. One person even suggested that since none of the injuries came to fruition, the coach should not have been punished.
Nonsense.
I get the notion of telling a football player to “hurt someone”, as it’s a physical sport and by delivering a painful hit, you can discourage an opponent and increase your chances of winning. But the intent to discourage is vastly different from the intent to injure. With Williams specifically choosing body parts to target (especially the head, which is off limits in the league) and inferring that he’d personally cover one of the bounties, it’s clear that he coached with a complete lack of respect of rules and player safety. And in the real world, if you plan to kill or harm someone and fail, you will still get a cozy cot in prison if the truth is discovered.
Of course, the release clip(s) was only a snippet of evidence the NFL examined in determining Williams’, and other involved personnel, punishment. So who knows what other heinous orders he told his players to carry out during his career.
Many questions arise after hearing the small sample of evidence for myself. Can Williams be a successful coach under the rules? Can he motivate a defense to be mean and nasty without crossing the line? Will top players around the league respect him enough to play for him knowing the he must snitch his way back into Goodell’s good graces?
The Rams will have a year to decide whether to retain the coach (if Goodell reinstates him) as defensive coordinator. But the more evidence of this kind that makes its way to the public, the less likely Williams’ chances become. And if he’s lucky enough to stroll the sidelines in the NFL again, something tells me he’ll see plenty of toss sweeps headed his way towards the sidelines.
To hear the audio, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhnn9kbqQUA (parental discretion is advised)
