Check out this piece from WGAL.com. Carlos Rogers, who played for Gregg Williams in Washington, had some very, very interesting things to say:

San Francisco 49ers cornerback Carlos Rogers came to the defense of former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, calling the entire bounty scandal overblown.

Rogers played under Williams for four seasons with the Washington Redskins and said the idea of a bounty system was not the idea of the embattled coach.

"It wasn't a bounty system. I'm close to Gregg, and I'm not trying to be biased," Rogers said. "He's one of the coaches I admire and would always love to play for," Rogers said. "But, it wasn't a bounty system."

Williams has been suspended indefinitely following a three-year NFL investigation that revealed players with the Saints were offered specific amounts for knockout or cart-off hits.

The heat on Williams intensified when a documentary filmmaker released an audio tape in which a person the filmmaker identified as Williams delivered a fiery, profanity-laced speech urging his club to injure 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, running back Frank Gore and wideouts Michael Crabtree and Kyle Williams prior to a playoff game in January.

Rogers said some of Williams' remarks were typical of what players hear on a weekly basis in the locker room, pointing to San Francisco's playoff game against the New York Giants as an example.

"We're sitting here saying, 'We need to take (Giants quarterback) Eli (Manning) out.' That's how we were going to win this game, that's the person that was going to help New York win the game," Rogers said. "You don't think our linemen, linebackers were really trying to hit him? Not trying to hurt him as far as end his career.

"If you really want to hurt him, you'd take a player who normally never plays, and say, 'If you get a shot on the quarterback, take his knees out.' Because all they're going to do is fine him, and you pay his fine for him. If you really want to take somebody out, you can take him out. You'd tell somebody to take his knees out and really end their career and take them out."

Rogers said players have been the ones responsible for offering cash to take a player out of the game, stressing it was done legally.

"Not intentionally — if you think about it, when you play football, you knock someone out, hit them legally, you get some money," Rogers said. "If you hit him wrong, and you get $1,500? You're getting fined by the league $15,000. So what risk do you want to take? Getting this $1,500 in this defensive room and getting fined $15,000? You're losing money."

Saints coach Sean Payton was suspended for the entire season by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. General manager Mickey Loomis was suspended eight games and assistant coach Joe Vitt was banned six games.

All three had their appeals heard by Goodell on Thursday

24 to 3….18 blitzes in the first half….Brees below stellar….Daniels looking good….Ingram, Morgan, King….stats, schmats, we don’t care about that…or do we?

It’s the preseason after all.  We have gone 4-0 and 0-4.  In the end, no one cares.  Nobody counts how many sacks you had in the preseason - nobody looks at those numbers.  Preseason statistics, wins and losses, and good calls, bad calls, missed calls, don’t win superbowls.  This has been my mantra for years. The preseason is a time to bask in the glow of the boys of fall.   Seeing our squad go toe to toe to with some other riff raff – it reminds us that fall is around the corner and the long, bleak offseason has come to a close. 

But this year preseason does have greater purpose.  It is more than a thinning of the roster and down to the wire decisions about whose career continues or begins, and whose stalls or ends.  This year’s preseason is more about developing cohesion.  In years past, teams have endured mini-camps, endless team meetings, team workouts, and rigorous preparation.  The lockout prevented the team from coming together in their normal offseason capacity.  While individuals and segments of the team have been rehearsing their lines, they are only now having their dress rehearsals just weeks before curtain call.  As Sean Payton aptly stated in his quote on neworleanssaints.com “We’re not a team yet.  We’re a roster”.

I, for one, put my faith in a Payton/Brees/Williams/Vilma system.  If anyone can pull a squad together in such short order it’s these guys.  They lead, we follow.  In Payton and Brees we trust.

....an' dat's dat! 

“Cha-Ching Moment”: Could rookie Joe Morgan from Walsh University be our next Michael Lewis?  That’s something we could all raise our beet to.