Late on Friday afternoon, Yahoo Sports reported that the NFL was in possession of a ledger documenting the New Orleans Saints pay for performance program, including player bounties. Since then, suspended New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma and his lawyer Peter Ginsberg spent the weekend countering the assertion that the ledger proves anything.
Jonathan Vilma And His Lawyer Respond To Reports Of Saints Bounty Ledger
Ginsberg released a statement pointing out the ledger did not identify players paid or any of the supposed targets. He also noted that in the 2009 contest against the Carolina Panthers, in which three payments were supposedly paid for injuries, "show that opposing defensive players, not offensive players, were the brunt of any physical plays." Ginsberg added that the payments made were for legal plays and "dirty or penalized" play resulted in fines.
Vilma is suing NFL commission Roger Goodell for defamation. The Saints linebacker, who was suspended for the entire season, maintains that he did not sponsor or participate in any kind of bounty program. Ginsberg reiterated that point in the statement.
The truth is that Jonathan Vilma gave no money, incentive or encouragement ever - not at any time in his eight-year career - to injure or knock out of any game any player with a dirty or unsportsmanlike hit. The facts are plain and simple. During the three seasons in question, Jonathan Vilma was one of the least penalized players not only on the Saints but in the NFL. There is not one instance in which Jonathan Vilma set out to injure a player or gave any incentive to another player to injure an opposing player.
While his lawyer handled the official response, Vilma took to Twitter to offer his own reaction to reports of the ledger.
why doesnt he "leak" one single document that has a bounty on a player and the amount??? That would shut me up
— Jonathan Vilma (@JonVilma51) June 3, 2012
The initial report cited a game against a 2009 game against the Bills resulted in thee payments for injuries. The source cited in Jason Cole's initial report then corrected that information to say that the game in question was actually the 2009 contest against the Panthers. Vilma made note of that correction citing a blog post at The Angry Who Dat which says that game does not match the details in the report.
Oh and the correction to the correction was wrong too! Are u serious??Ledger-gate? Let’s look at the Carolina game. j.mp/L8TK1I
— Jonathan Vilma (@JonVilma51) June 2, 2012
The back and forth over evidence in the bounty scandal is likely to get louder.
See More:
More in: Saints bounty suspensions vacated
