September 8, 2009 5:04 PM

Posted by ESPN.coms Kevin Seifert

You might have heard by now that the Williams Wall will stand Sunday in Cleveland. Although there has been no movement on the legal side of things, the NFL has decided not to enforce this week the four-game suspensions of Minnesota defensive tackles Kevin Williams and Pat Williams. That will remain the case even if, sometime over the next three days, the U.S. Court of Appeals disallows the players bid to move their lawsuit to Minnesota state court.

Im sure there are a number of reasons for this approach, including the unpredictable timing of the courts decision -- which is expected this week but not guaranteed. In addition, NFL players typically are paid their game check if theyre on active NFL roster by the end of business Tuesday. But NFL suspensions are unpaid, which is why we almost always know at the beginning of a practice week if a suspension is about to be enforced.

So heres an educated guess: If and when a ruling comes down that paves the way for the NFL to suspend both players, the league will enforce the penalties on the closest Tuesday in the future. That means the first game the players could possibly miss is the Vikings Sept. 20 game at Detroit.

It wont necessarily come to that, however. If the players are on the losing end of the appeals court ruling, they could take the case higher in the legal system and ultimately to the U.S. Supreme Court. All that would do is further complicate and delay, which I understand is the favored strategy of any attorney on hourly fees.

But lets take it one week at a time. This week, nothing will change.
NFC North, Williams Wall, Minnesota Vikings, Kevin Williams, Pat Williams

Vikings win, Saints lose StarCaps appeal
Posted by Mike Florio on September 11, 2009 11:22 AM ET
A ruling was expected before the start of the 2009 football season. As to the teams involved, the expectations were accurate.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has affirmed in all respects the decision of District Judge Paul Magnuson in the so-called StarCaps case. (Thanks to Sean Jensen of the St. Paul Pioneer press for pointing out to us that the decision has been posted on the Eighth Circuit's web site.)

The short answer to the obvious question of "What the hell does that mean?" is that Vikings defensive tackles Pat and Kevin Williams will not be suspended four games after testing positive in 2008 for a prescription diuretic that also is a banned substance, and that Saints defensive ends Charles Grant and Will Smith will be suspended for testing positive for the same substance, which secretly had been added to an over-the-counter weight-loss supplement known as StarCaps.

Both Grant and Smith will play this week against the Lions, since the decision came after Tuesday. The suspensions, barring something incredibly unforeseen, will start next week.

There has been talk that the league might allow the Saints to implement the suspensions consecutively, so that they aren't without both players for four games. Instead, they'd be missing one of them for eight games.

If Grant and Smith serve their suspensions concurrently, the delay will mean that, instead of missing the Lions game in Week One and being available to play against the Giants, the players will be on the field against Detroit but not able when the Giants come to town.

Also, they'd be suspended for the bye week, which lands a week before the Giants game.

"PFTalk" wrote:

Well, look on the bright side - now Vikings fans don't have the excuse that the Williams wall was out when we beat them.

"TheEngineer" wrote:

So they take a deep dig into the revenue shared money and have blown a gigantic hole in the drug policy.. I bet the Vikings aren't getting a Christmas card from the league office anytime soon. :lol: (j/k)

"pack93z" wrote: