Assistant coach urged Saints to injure 49ers
The night before New Orleans played at San Francisco in an NFL divisional playoff game in January, Saints defensive co-ordinator Gregg Williams gathered his players for a pep talk.
In a 12-minute, obscenitylaced diatribe, Williams instructed them to injure specific 49ers, urging them to aim for the head of quarterback Alex Smith and the surgically repaired knee of Michael Crabtree, saying the star receiver “becomes human when you (expletive) take out that outside” ligament. Of the 49ers’ Pro Bowl running back, Williams said: “We’ve got to do everything in the world to make sure we kill Frank Gore’s head. We want him running sideways. We want his head sideways.”
The NFL has imposed sanctions on the Saints, including an indefinite suspension of Williams, now with St. Louis. The audiotape, released Thursday by documentary filmmaker Sean Pamphilon, graphically illustrates the coach’s cavalier attitude toward intentionally injuring opponents.
Saints head coach Sean Payton, GM Mickey Loomis and linebackers coach Joe Vitt appealed their suspensions Thursday to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.