All this arguing on about this and that... I simply want to know what coach Greg Williams has said/saying about it. If he says there was a bounty system then there was as far as I care. He has no reason to lye about there being one. And the NFL claimed Coach Williams and another (unnamed) defense coach have fessed up and said there was a bounty system.
Now just because the NFL claims it, doesn't make it true. But I think IF it is true then I'm over it and just punish them and lets get on with it (though I am disappointed 50% of the punished players aren't Saints, when the Saints did it)
If Williams claims there was no bounty system... well I think he's partly lying because some of his former players on other teams (Bills and Redskins) have come out and ether hinted or said there were bounty systems in place when he was there (and I don't see a reason for them to lie). And he coached for the Jags for a season, and their defense improved a good bit under him and then he was pushed out after the season and no real reason was ever given. So something was up... maybe not injuries but something more than just pay for performance.
Williams was known for saying the phase "Kill the head and the body will die" a good bit and Williams even kept a stat called "Kill the head"... PFT.com did some digging and figured out how Williams defined it.
The third definition comes from a source with knowledge of the manner in which Williams privately has explained the term, but in light of the sensitivity of the subject requested not to be identified. According to the source, Williams defines it to mean applying a helmet-to-helmet hit to a runner whose progress is in the process of otherwise being stopped.
PFT.com  wrote:
So "Kill the head" to Williams means helmet to helmet hits and he's promoting doing it and keeping track of it. (no word on if there is any money evolved or not, but still promoting helmet to helmet hits is bad).
And think about this... based on stories the Packers WR have a money program where if they drop a ball, they have to give the other WRs a gift card. And the Packers DB usually have something going as a weekly pot... put money in every time you mess up and guy who made the most positive plays at the end of the week gets the pot. So there is likely money going around a little bit with all stats kept.
Also I think politics/legal played a part in this... as former players have lawsuits about NFL safety, and someone in congress was talking about getting involved by investigating into the NFL (which the NFL hates), it's putting a lot of pressure on them.
And the reason why I think Peyton and Hargrove suspension are so long really is because Goodell thinks (or knows) they lied to him. Look at Bill Belichick (or is it Belicheat?) with the Spygate... pretty much a slap on the wrist (or less) and NFL helps with the cover up.