Jan 7, 2012; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams watches pregame warmups prior to the game against the Detroit Lions in the 2011 NFC Wild Card Playoff game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-US PRESSWIRE

I’ve listened to the whole “Bounty Gate” fiasco with a bit of a smirk on my face.   After all, football is a violent game, and its participants should expect some hard, violent hits.   After hearing this Gregg Williams audio clip where he encourages his defensive unit to essentially play as dirty as possible, I’m starting to think that something other than good, clean snot-knocking is going on when Williams is in charge.  Hearing this is all the more painful amid speculation that Phillip Daniels, one of Williams’ former players, might have been responsible for Peyton Manning’s neck injury.

It is understandable that people get concerned about injuries. No one with half a hear wants a person that they use to watch every Sunday to live a stunted life after they are done playing either due to injury complications or too many hits to the head. The nurturer in many of us want to take care of thee guys and hopefully keep many of them from having to suffer when their playing days are done.

Having played football since I was little, though college , and into a 3 1/2 week stint with the now defunct Portland Prowlers of the also defunct IPFL (Indoor Professional Football League). For the last 12-13 years (some of them are kind of blurry) I have been an active rugby player. The point is, I understand what the players go through and the care that hey need when they are done. My knees ache daily, my back sometimes twinges, and my hands have nerve damage in them (minor, but annoying at times).

I mention this because like the guys that are lucky enough to plat in the NFL it was my choice to play. Big difference of course was that these guys are getting paid big bucks to do what they do while I just go cheap beer. Anyway…

Changing the game to protect these guys while they are playing will be a mistake. It is a full contact game; let me repeat that- A FULL CONTACT GAME. Injuries are sadly the nature of the beast. To play to avoid injuries or to change the rules to protect certain players from injuries will only take away from the legitimacy of the contest.

Gregg Williams should be wanting to knock Peyton Manning out of the game (he probably watched Curtis Painter in action). Caldwell should be annoyed about the comments too. Like the hits that knock some of these guys out of the game, comments are part of the contest. So don’t sweat ’em folks. We all know that Dwight Freeney is going to put Brees into orbit anyway.