Feb 6, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; NFL commissioner Roger Goodell during the Super Bowl most valuable player and winning head coach press conference at the Super Bowl XLVI media center at the J.W. Marriott. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-US PRESSWIRE

We still can’t get away from Bountygate, but I heard something today that actually surprised me. A couple different NFL people said Tuesday that they believe that a full-season suspension is a distinct possibility for Gregg Williams. I knew the NFL was serious about this thing, but I never thought a full year was a real possibility. I mean, there’s no doubt that Williams is going to get fined, probably heavily, and I thought there was a chance he might be gone for a few games. But a full season? Really?

I don’t want it to feel like I’m not taking this scandal seriously, but how can the league banish a guy for a year when most every team in the league does some form of the same thing? I don’t want to keep comparing this to Spygate because I think it’s apples and oranges, but since others have brought the comparison forth, I’ll use it. If you look at the punishment handed to Bill Belichick, it makes a year suspension even more ridiculous.

I want to emphasize that Williams has not been suspended yet and we don’t know what’s going to happen, and this is all just talk right now. But if he does get a year, it’s going to be a great injustice.

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 promise the Combine Report will be back soon to finish out the defensive side of the ball, but this Gregg Williams issue is really blowing up and it needs to be discussed. News came out Sunday that Williams has been summoned to meet with the NFL regarding his role in “BountyGate”. Apparently, members of the Washington Redskins and Buffalo Bills, both former employers of Williams, have also come out to say that they had a bounty system in place while Williams is there as well. The big question right off the bat is what’s going to happen to Williams? He’s going to face some form of punishment, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. He will get fined, probably heavily, and there seems to be a decent chance that he will have to serve some kind of suspension. The good news for the Rams is that they should be able to get by just fine if Williams does have to miss time. Jeff Fisher is an experienced defensive coach, as is assistant Dave McGinnis, so the organization will be able to make it through.

My position on the whole issue still hasn’t changed, and I think it was reinforced after reading some quotes from former players who were a part of this culture. Here is my favorite quote, from former Ram and Redskin Matt Bowen: “You do what he (Williams) wants: play tough, push the envelope and carry a swagger that every opponent sees on tape. When you lined up against us, you knew we were coming after you. It was our gig, our plan, our way to motivate, to extra-motivate.”

That’s exactly what I said last night as far as the Rams developing a swagger on defense that other teams can see. Former Redskin player Phillip Daniels had this to say about Williams: “I think it is wrong the way they’re trying to paint (Williams),” Daniels told the Post. “He never told us to go out there and break a guy’s neck or break a guy’s leg. It was all in the context of good, hard football.”

It seems to me that Daniels is right on when he talks about the way Williams is being portrayed here. It’s funny that most of the actual players in the NFL, whether they are guys who played in the system or guys who played against it, don’t seem to have a problem with it. This reward system happens everywhere, but unfortunately it looks like Williams is going to be the face of this scandal moving forward.

Let me say one other thing really quickly before I stop. Those people who are saying this is worse than the Spygate scandal are wrong. Physicality is part of the game of football, plain and simple. As a player on defense, your goal is to hit the other team as hard as possible every time they touch the ball. Should you intentionally try to take a guy out of the game? Obviously not. Should you endanger his healthy and livelihood purposely? No, you shouldn’t. Should you hit a guy hard when he has the ball to make him think twice about coming at you again? Yes. I’m not saying this bounty thing is ok, but the blatant cheating by the Patriots before the Super Bowl, the biggest single game in professional sports, to get a competitive advantage is far worse. The Pats changed the course of history by cheating the Rams. They launched a dynasty that was meant for St. Louis, and they did it by knowingly breaking the rules not only of the NFL, but rules that are common-sense in every aspect of life. Williams and the Saints were wrong, but Belichick and the Patriots were cheaters. I’d rather be wrong than a cheat any day of the week.

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.