Yahoo Sports reported on the existence of an expletive-laced recording in which Gregg Williams, the Saints’ former defensive coordinator, exhorted his team to inflict physical damage on specific players in a playoff game against the San Francisco 49ers in January.
Williams, who has been barred from the league indefinitely, repeatedly spoke of hitting the opponents’ heads.
Williams pointed to his chin while telling his players to hit 49ers quarterback Alex Smith “right there,” saying: “Remember me. I got the first one. I got the first one. Go get it,” while rubbing his fingers together to indicate there would be cash paid for the hit.
He also said: “Every single one of you, before you get off the pile, affect the head. Early, affect the head. Continue, touch and hit the head.”
About 49ers running back Frank Gore, Williams said: “We’ve got to do everything in the world to make sure we kill Frank Gore’s head. We want him running sideways. We want his head sideways.”
Later, Williams talked about hits he wanted put on Kyle Williams, mentioning his history of concussions, and receiver Michael Crabtree, urging them to “take out” his knee ligament.
Williams did not appeal his suspension, although the revelation of the tape — which the N.F.L. may not have known about until a documentary filmmaker, Sean Pamphilon, released it — does not help his chances of reinstatement after the 2012 season. The St. Louis Rams hired Williams after he left the Saints.
Pamphilon was working on a project about Steve Gleason, a former Saints player who has A.L.S., commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The recording also called to mind comments by two Giants players after the N.F.C. championship game, in which they noted that they knew Kyle Williams had sustained earlier concussions and they wanted to hit him because of it. That suggested that Giants players were at least briefed before the game on the injury history of their opponents.
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