Long Read - Fujita role in Bountygate

[danwismar]

Very long, but a compelling read by the author/filmmaker who recorded the Gregg Williams locker room speech that led to the Saints bounty scandal.

http://seanpamphilon.com/2012/05/31/whe ... oesnt-die/

One surprise to me was how much more involved Drew Brees was with the whole decision on whether or not to release the audio of the tape...

...and Fujita's denial of any involvement is exposed to be pretty much a blatant lie.

[Love child of shawn kemp]

Interesting article. That film maker is a paranoid MF'er though. Like he seriously thought the NFL was going to send a hit man to kill him or something?

[idoctribefan]

forgive me if I misinterpreted the author's rambling but this is what I gather as his opinion of what happened:

Pamphilon acknowledges that there was money paid out for big plays. Isn't sure that these big plays include big hits, but he surmises that big hits are included based on the players chanting "give it back!" to place it back in the pool. But he refuses to believe that Fujita and Vilma are two of the people who contributed to this pool because they "seem like nice guys". Who does he think is paying into this pool, the locker room attendants? "Dougie, get us some clean towels and throw another Franklin into the pool for Sunday's game!"



(Vilma, I believe, is mentioned in the TruDat blog post that is linked in the essay that Dan linked to. Don't believe Vilma is mentioned in the originally linked essay)

[jb]

...and Fujita's denial of any involvement is exposed to be pretty much a blatant lie.

Good. Lifetime suspension. Stat.

[mistero]

Yeah, he's the epitome of mediocre play. No big loss. Will the NFLPA let us just waive him outright? You know, to make a moral stand against this badness.

[rk]

...and Fujita's denial of any involvement is exposed to be pretty much a blatant lie.

Good. Lifetime suspension. Stat.

I did not think he denied any involvement in side-payouts. I believe he denied any involvement in bounties.

I believe people are being confused about the separation between the two issues. Fujita always references the 'Bounty Pool' while the NFL press release called it the performance/bounty pool. I do not think Fujita would be arguing if this was only about the side payouts for plays. He is arguing against the idea that he was involved in a bounty/hit on other players.

He's pulling a Clinton™ when he parses it to this level but I can understand both the confusion between reporters/nfl/fujita and the the subsequent confusion for anyone following along.

Also Fujita was good 2 years ago so I don't get the angst people have against him. He was hurt last year and the defense was still better when he was available.

[peeker643]

Also Fujita was good 2 years ago so I don't get the angst people have against him. He was hurt last year and the defense was still better when he was available.

This is all I care about as these guys and their lives are disposable to me. That's probably harsh but whatever... They probably don't care if I'm in my seat or if if someone else is in it as long as it's paid for.

Anyway, Fujita is a product of the players around him. In many ways he's a pygmy amongst midgets. I think he looks serviceable because so mnay before him and around him were not.

There is value to his 'leadership' abilities but it pales in comparison of guys that can actually impact the football game in favor of the Browns. In that regard I think Fujita is mediocre at best when you compare him to guys who play his position on other NFL teams.

In other words, if he's paying, fine. If he's not, fine. Someone else will.

[Hikohadon]

Also Fujita was good 2 years ago so I don't get the angst people have against him. He was hurt last year and the defense was still better when he was available.

This is all I care about as these guys and their lives are disposable to me. That's probably harsh but whatever... They probably don't care if I'm in my seat or if if someone else is in it as long as it's paid for.

Anyway, Fujita is a product of the players around him. In many ways he's a pygmy amongst midgets. I think he looks serviceable because so mnay before him and around him were not.

There is value to his 'leadership' abilities but it pales in comparison of guys that can actually impact the football game in favor of the Browns. In that regard I think Fujita is mediocre at best when you compare him to guys who play his position on other NFL teams.

In other words, if he's paying, fine. If he's not, fine. Someone else will.

Bingo.

I couldn't care less about Scott Fujita outside of how his presence/absence affects the team. I don't care if he's lying or if he paid for bounties or if he's an unjustly persecuted innocent - none of that makes one iota of difference to me.

He WAS good 2 years ago, but he's getting to the age where he's gotta be hitting a wall, which we saw last year (even though some of that could be attributed to injury).

In other words, his absence from the field for 3 games probably will have minimal effect on the team overall, so this story is useless to me.

Curse the Dead Season and its proliferation of non-stories.

[jb]

...and Fujita's denial of any involvement is exposed to be pretty much a blatant lie.

Good. Lifetime suspension. Stat.

I believe people are being confused about the separation between the two issues.

I am confused by nothing except that a) he's washed up and sucks, and b) he's slow as hell and sucks. I don't care about 2 years ago in Mangina's system that valued his talents at about his max age to contribute before an age slide. I saw what I saw in the 4 - 3 before he was hurt and it wasn't pretty. At all.

Gocong wasn't that bad at SSOLB. At WSOLB he's Frank Stams. Get me some speed at WSOLB and keep Gocong overthe TE.


Playing Fajita hurts us at 2 positions.

he did it all and worse. LIfetime ban!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pete Rose!!!!!!!!!!

[pup]

Remember that time, in the NFL game, where the blocking TE caught a 90 yard touchdown and Scott Fujita couldn't run him down?

[jwmann2]

The NFL has seen how player losses to injury hurts their overall ticket sales, ratings and revenue stream. How much money did the Colts lose this in profit this past year with Manning out? They couldn't even function as a franchise.

The Bounties were almost always put on QBs, the leaders of the team, so the NFL had to make an example of those taking part in this. Injuring players is indirectly messing with the NFL's money.
I think Vilma was the biggest culprit, not Fujita.

[mattvan1]

The NFL has seen how player losses to injury hurts their overall ticket sales, ratings and revenue stream. How much money did the Colts lose this in profit this past year with Manning out? They couldn't even function as a franchise.

The Bounties were almost always put on QBs, the leaders of the team, so the NFL had to make an example of those taking part in this. Injuring players is indirectly messing with the NFL's money.
I think Vilma was the biggest culprit, not Fujita.

Welcome. But I'll politely disagree. The NFL is far more worried about current and future lawsuits, to the tune of being sued with 3,000 plantiffs named in 86 different cases, BTW, Manning originally got hurt against the Skins in 2010 on a legal hit. Injuries are part of the game. Getting sued by former players for billions of $$$$$$ is not.

[leadpipe]

Also Fujita was good 2 years ago so I don't get the angst people have against him. He was hurt last year and the defense was still better when he was available.

This is all I care about as these guys and their lives are disposable to me. That's probably harsh but whatever... They probably don't care if I'm in my seat or if if someone else is in it as long as it's paid for.

Anyway, Fujita is a product of the players around him. In many ways he's a pygmy amongst midgets. I think he looks serviceable because so mnay before him and around him were not.

There is value to his 'leadership' abilities but it pales in comparison of guys that can actually impact the football game in favor of the Browns. In that regard I think Fujita is mediocre at best when you compare him to guys who play his position on other NFL teams.

In other words, if he's paying, fine. If he's not, fine. Someone else will.

Scott Fujita is the Tomlin of the Browns. You know, how after watching Fausto Carmona and Ubaldo Jiminez throw balls all over the place, putting one on the verge of gouging thier eyes out, all of the sudden Tomlin looks pretty good cause he appears to throw a professional game.

When the reality is, at this point, if you can't easily replace those guys you're in big, big trouble.

Someone remind me, missing Scott Fujita for three games is a problem how?

If you've got an answer to the above question than you knowingly, or unknowingly see the Browns as a four win team - which is kinda the point.

[jb]

I predict he never starts again unless there are injuries.

JMJ is gonna grab the WSOLB spot by the nards, Long Duc Cong is the natural SSOLB.

[SoulDawg74]

I predict he never starts again unless there are injuries.

JMJ is gonna grab the WSOLB spot by the nards, Long Duc Cong is the natural SSOLB.

SDS:

That misfit from the island of lost toys did grab that spot like a natural , after looking every bit the fish out of water playing MLB and WSOLB.

Cross my fingers on JMJ but see him pushing Jaskson to WSOLB where he belongs and hopefully adding that thump in the middle , Jacksons willing but to light in the behind , and he can't even think about bringing it , although he does make the tackles and is usually in great position , its too often the stop is on the wrong side of the line.


SoulDawg

[jb]

I predict he never starts again unless there are injuries.

JMJ is gonna grab the WSOLB spot by the nards, Long Duc Cong is the natural SSOLB.

SDS:

That misfit from the island of lost toys did grab that spot like a natural , after looking every bit the fish out of water playing MLB and WSOLB.

Cross my fingers on JMJ but see him pushing Jaskson to WSOLB where he belongs and hopefully adding that thump in the middle , Jacksons willing but to light in the behind , and he can't even think about bringing it , although he does make the tackles and is usually in great position , its too often the stop is on the wrong side of the line.


SoulDawg

They aren't pushing aside a vet MLB who is the most eteeemed locker room leader on the D to WSOLB for a raw rook. Ain't happenin'.

[pod2dawg]

JMJ does have the girth and bad attitude ( so do I but I run a 5.0) for MLB, BUT he ain't moving Q'uell over unless Q'uell wants to move over.