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NFL Hall of Fame Brett Favre He was once the target of a bounty hunting scheme by the New Orleans Saints and 15 years later he spoke about that experience in an X Friday thread.
In 2009, the Saints offered their players cash incentives for injuring certain players. Favre, quarterback of the Minnesota Vikings At that time, it was on that list.
The Vikings were considered the main obstacle in the NFC to the Saints reaching the Super Bowl that year.
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Brett Favre is helped off the field after being injured. (Jerry Holt/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
The Saints beat Favre and the Vikings in the NFC championship game that year, a 31-28 overtime thriller. Favre was never injured, but he took multiple hard hits and ended up throwing a costly interception in overtime.
Favre said he had “no ill will” toward the Saints over the scandal and wanted to play better in the game.
“I played with the mentality of being prepared for anything: big hits, injuries and players trying to take my head off. I never made excuses for the times I wasn’t successful and played within the rule set. In fact, losing made me want to work harder and fueled my drive to win next time,” Favre wrote.
“I have no ill will toward those involved in Bounty Gate. After we lost to the Saints, I rooted for Drew Brees and Sean Payton to win the Super Bowl. Looking back 15 years later, my opinion hasn’t changed. “Yes If I could take back some of those plays and do my part, maybe we would have been the ones celebrating a championship win in 2010.”
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre heads to the sideline after throwing a pass intercepted by Julius Peppers of the Chicago Bears at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on December 20, 2010. (Reuters/Eric Miller)
The Saints won the Super Bowl that year against the Indianapolis Colts.
But once the scandal was discovered, the Saints received some of the harshest sanctions in NFL history. Former head coach Sean Payton was suspended for one year without pay.
Defensive coordinator Greg Williams, identified as the mastermind of the plan, was suspended indefinitely but later reinstated. Former general manager Mickey Loomis was suspended for the first eight games of the 2012 season, and assistant coach Joe Vitt was suspended for the first six games of that year.
Former Saints players Scott Fujita, Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith and Jonathan Vilma were suspended for their duties.
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New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton reviews plays on the sideline. (AP Photo/Bill Feig)
The Saints also had to pay a $500,000 fine and forfeit their second-round picks in the 2012 and 2013 drafts.
The team’s bounty hunting scheme involved up to 27 players and at least one assistant coach, the league found in its investigation. Players even contributed to a cash pool.
Players were paid $1,500 for a “knockout,” when a targeted player could not return to the game, and $1,000 for a “cart-off,” when a player had to be taken off the field.
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