Sedrick Ellis Still Gets a "Knockout" on Kolb

David Richard/US PRESSWIRE

Sunday night's Hall of Fame game, annually the first preseason game, provided Gregg Williams, Jonathan Vilma and others something to point towards when pleading their case for Roger Goodell's punishment being too strong.  As the guys at ProFootballTalk have pointed out, the league has punished the Saints for paying players for "doing their jobs."

PFT went on to ask whether the league not pointing out the emphasis on clean hits still being a problem because of the extra cash in play was hoping to avoid debate.  From my vantage point, that is extremely close to an admission of guilt.  The NFL knows they are locked in a battle and don't want to give any ground.  The water under the bridge routine has also been disintegrated with the number of lawsuits.

The problem I have is Goodell's responsibility to protect the integrity of the game has been misguided.  The New England Patriots are found giving themselves a clear advantage via "Spygate".  A case could be made that Gregg Williams was just completely distasteful.  I seriously doubt he said anything in his infamous recording that player's hear from each other during the actual game.  Yet, New Orleans received the harsher punishment for alleged bounties.

We will assume that bounties are no longer of the Saints' locker room.  The same hit Sedrick Ellis put on Arizona quarterback Kevin Kolb would have netted Ellis $1,500 under the Saints' supposed bounty program last year.  In a preseason game with no extra money on the line Ellis still makes the same play that was called into question by commissioner Goodell.  I will also point out Ellis who signed a five year, $33 million rookie deal and is expected to make $5.82 million this year doesn't exactly have much need for fifteen hundred bucks if it means a suspension.  So the hit would be applied legally.

For those wondering, according to Cardinal's coach Ken Whisenhunt, Kevin Kolb's injury is not considered to be serious.  "It's going to all depend on how sore he is," Whisenhunt said. "I don't anticipate it being a problem. Whenever you get one of those, it's hard to torque, so we'll see how he responds. There's a chance he'll practice this week."

The truth is football is a physical sport. Injuries are unavoidable.  The small problem is fans don't like hearing injuries being celebrated.  The big problem is the NFL is facing an unprecedented amount of lawsuits from concussions and other serious injuries.  Anything that can be used against the league to say players are enticed to injure, could cause the NFL big dollars.  That, isn't protecting the integrity of the game.  That is protecting a bank account.  Being a guy who is employed by thirty two billionaires, Roger Goodell has decided that is first his responsibility.