September 1, 2011; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams during the first quarter of a preseason game against the Tennessee Titans at the Louisiana Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

I wanted to address this issue last night, but the server was down and I was unable to get anything posted. By now pretty much everyone has heard about the New Orleans Saints “bounty” saga, and everyone knows that new Rams defensive coordinator is at the center of this entire scandal. First of all, I know I’m probably going to take some heat for my position on this, so let me preface my opinion by saying that I in no way condone intentionally injuring another human being in any walk of life, especially in football. To target another man’s health and livelihood is never the right answer.

With that being said, I have to say that I’m not going to hammer Williams for this whole deal. First of all, there’s no way the Saints and Williams are the only ones in the league who have this kind of “pay for play” policy within the organization. It seems to me that this is a situation where everyone is doing it, but someone always has to take the fall. The Saints are that team in this instance. Also, I want to give Williams credit for releasing a statement through the Rams right away when the news broke taking responsibility for his actions and apologizing. It doesn’t clear him of wrongdoing or anything, but he manned up and owned his role in the situation instead of hiding behind someone else.

Now, on to the real reason I don’t want to kill Williams over this. The Rams have been a notoriously “soft” team over the last several years, and I think that reputation is deserved. I’m not going to put all the blame on former coach Steve Spagnuolo, but his four pillars didn’t exactly allow for the team to bring in many guys who have that nasty streak in them. I like that we have a defensive coordinator who is serious about his unit being tough and being feared by the opposition. Did he take it too far with the “bounty” and “killshot” bonuses? You bet he did. But this also proves that he demands a certain level of play from his players. I want the Rams’ defense to be a unit that makes other teams scared to come play. I want quarterbacks on other teams to be intimidated because they know they are going to get hit hard and hit often when they play the Rams. I want receivers to be afraid to come across the middle when they play the Rams. Williams might have gone about this thing the wrong way, but at least we know we have a coach who is going to bring an edge to this group that hasn’t been there recently. If Hall of Famers Brett Favre and Kurt Warner, two guys who had bounties put on their heads, don’t have a hug problem with this, then I don’t think I do either.

The Combine Report will be back in the coming days, as we still have the entire defensive side of the ball to look at. Make sure you check back for the updates.

There wasn’t much of a chance that Marc Bulger would be the starting quarterback for the Rams next season, but now we can be absolutely sure, as the team announced the release of the veteran QB earlier this afternoon. Bulger had worn out his welcome in St. Louis over the past few seasons, and both sides need to move forward after the struggles over the last few seasons. I have never had anything against the guy personally, and I think it seems very likely that he goes someplace else this season and has a  nice year, but it was fairly obvious that he was done in St. Louis. It seems a bit interesting to me that the team made the move today, but it appears as if the Rams were keeping Bulger on the roster in case they could work a trade for the top pick. With the McNabb-to-Washington trade yesterday, it looks like the Rams are committed to picking number one and to taking Sam Bradford. Once again, every move that is being made within the organization right now points to Bradford being the guy, but the team better be absolutely sure that they can get him signed in a reasonable amount of time. If Bradford ends up holding out, we could be in even worse shape next season than we were this year. Any insurance that the team had by keeping Bulger is now gone, so it’s up to the front office to get the deal done.

For any Bulger fans still out there, you may be wondering where he will end up next season. I haven’t heard any destinations mentioned yet, but here is something to think about. Arizona doesn’t seem overly confident that Matt Leinart is the answer there, and Derek Anderson isn’t a great quarterback either. Bulger would be an excellent fit in that offense much like Kurt Warner was over the last few seasons. I’m not saying the Cards are interested, but in my opinion it would be an excellent fit and it would be somewhat poetic if he followed in Kurt’s footsteps yet again. Speaking of Kurt, I am watching the Arizona D-Backs game on TV right now, and Kurt is doing an interview in the booth. He threw out the first pitch today, and he looks to be enjoying retirement very much. The pitch was a ball, by the way. I guess even the heavenly Kurt Warner is a little less that perfect every once in a while.

The 49ers have a “legitimate shot” to land veteran free-agent quarterback Kurt Warner, who led the Arizona Cardinals to the Super Bowl this season, a league source said. A second source with knowledge of the situation said there have been no serious contract discussions.

No visit has been scheduled that would bring together 49ers representatives and Warner. One source said the 49ers might get together with Warner in the next day or two. If the discussions heat up, the 49ers could send a group of three, including Mike Singletary and general Scot McCloughan, to Arizona to visit with Warner, the source said.