Saints assistant head coach Joe Vitt have finished their meetings with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell concerning the appeal of his six-game suspension for his role in the Saints’ bounty program.
David Cornwell, Vitt’s lawyer, sent an email to PFT after the 90-minute session came to an end.
“Coach Joe Vitt and I met today with Commissioner Goodell, Jeff Pash, Adolpho Birch, and NFL security for about an hour and a half. Coach Vitt wanted to meet face to face with the Commissioner to take full responsibility for certain matters while taking the opportunity to make clear that despite inflammatory language and irresponsible conduct, New Orleans Saints’ coaches did not coach and Saints’ players did not play to injure their opponents. We thought the discussion was productive and informative -- so, we achieved our objective.”
With the release of the tape from before the Saints’ playoff game against the 49ers, there’s little question about what inflammatory language and irresponsible conduct Cornwell is referring to in his email. In response to a question from Steve Wyche of NFL.com about the audio recording after leaving the session, Cornwell said it was one of many examples of Williams going rogue and referred to Williams as a “rogue coach.”
That gives you a good idea of the argument Vitt -- and, likely, head coach Sean Payton and general manager Mickey Loomis as well -- made in front of Goodell on Thursday. The question is whether or not that argument will sway Goodell away from the suspensions he handed down last month. The existence of that tape may bring a negative answer.