The NFL is a brutal sport when the entire game is played clean. So when players purposely target opposing players with illegal hits, that’s when the sport can become deadly.
Despite the aggressive nature of the game, among players there’s a respected, professional brotherhood.
Defensive end Payton Turner of the New Orleans Saints violated that brotherhood when he saw injured Philadelphia Eagles star wide receiver DeVonta Smith lying on the ground after a vicious illegal hit and then spit on him.
Hit On DeVonta Smith Called A Cheap Shot By Teammate C.J. Gardner-Johnson
Philadelph Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson called the hit that injured receiver DeVonta Smith in Sunday’s game at the New Orleans Saints a “cheap shot” and accused his former team of “playing dirty.”
Smith left early in the fourth quarter with a concussion after a big collision with Saints defenders as he was stopped on a 5-yard reception at the Philadelphia 35-yard-line.
He crashed into multiple Saints defenders before New Orleans defensive tackle Khristian Boyd hit from behind and high, a forceful blow to the head, which led to Smith’s helmet flying off.
It appeared to be deliberate and Smith collapsed on the field and lay motionless, immediately sending a shock wave over his teammates and fans watching.
New Orleans Saints Payton Turner Spits On Devonta Smith
The perpetrators of the vicious hit showed no remorse. As Turner got up, he saw Smith was motionless and proceeded to spit right on him, which elevated the entire situation from unsportsmanlike contact to a possible investigation needed to be opened into “Bountygate” 2024.
“Man, that’s the dirtiest s— I ever saw in football, bro,” Gardner-Johnson said following the Eagles’ narrow 15-12 win. “Y’all obviously saw forward progression was stopped. For them to take a cheap shot on one of our key players, it goes to show what type of team that is. They’re front-runners.”
This was Gardner-Johnson’s first time playing against the Saints since they traded him to the Eagles in August 2022, and his emotions were clearly running high.
The game was very physical and the Saints were attempting to win by submission.
The Philadelphia Eagles lost two of their players to concussions. Another receiver, Lane Johnson, went down with a concussion in the first half of the game.
Bountygate 2024?
Are the Saints giving out money for player decapitations again like they did back in the day under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams?
Back when Drew Brees and Sean Payton were lighting up the NFL and contending for Super Bowls, “Bountygate” became one of the defining moments of that era.
The NFL discovered that the Saints were running a cash-for-hits program run by former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams from 2009 to 2011. An investigation found that three of the players (Jonathan Vilma, Will Smith and Scott Fujita) engaged in conduct detrimental to the league.
The NFL suspended head coach Sean Payton, who now coaches the Denver Broncos, without pay for next season and indefinitely banned defensive coordinator Williams.
Former commissioner Paul Tagliabue was appointed by commissioner Roger Goodell to oversee the appeal. He overturned the suspensions of four current and former New Orleans Saints players in the case, but still found that three of the players engaged in conduct detrimental to the league.
He said they participated in a performance pool that rewarded key plays — including bone-jarring hits — that could merit fines. But he stressed that the team “has been contaminated by the coaches and others in the Saints’ organization.”
Now, of course, we aren’t saying the hit on Smith was the direct result of a bounty situation in the Saints’ locker room. But it is at least historically notable that this franchise has been involved in such a thing in the past and the hit on Smith and the subsequent hideous act of being spit on makes you wonder if there was something more personal involved with that play.
Related: Tom Brady Lets The Saints Know They Ain’t Ready Yet
A play that became an example of the worst part of football, with a sure fine or even suspension coming down the pike.
