Thoughts on Payton Ban and Tebowing in the Big Apple

The Super Bowl may have finished nearly two months ago but the drama of the NFL hasn't let up with the league still making news in the spring off-season.

To the not-so-good news for Saints fans including myself, with the announcement that Sean Payton has been banned for a year from coaching, suspended without his $7.5 million dollar per year pay. Payton along with former Saints defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams were found guilty for the crush-for-cash bounty system in place at the Saints for the last 3 seasons. The Saints also lose two second round draft picks. At this stage, the Saints players won't be charged and the franchise won't lose its world title won in 2009.

Still the penalties imposed by Roger Goddell have certainly been massive, draconian in my opinion. It is clear the commissioner wants to use the Saints as an example and a lesson to all that crush-for-cash bounties will not be tolerated in the league - and probably in all other pro sports in the USA. Perhaps, Goddell thought the league wasn't hard enough on Bill Belichick over spygate in 2007 that he decided that he needed to show who was boss with this latest NFL scandal.

One wonders what this will do for the Saints in the new season. The NFL is unique in that the head coach doesn't necessarily do everything with the defensive, offensive and special teams coaches equally important. And in my opinion, the quarterback is probably the most important person at the team and as long as Drew Brees is still a Saint and the personnel are very much in place with improvements set to come from the free agency and draft, I think they should be up there as contenders and could be stronger playing for their embattled coach.

To some better news, with Peyton Manning now the Denver Broncos franchise quarterback, Tim Tebow has been traded to the New York Jets - around the same time that Mark Sanchez was confirmed as the starting quarterback at the Jets. It leaves the Jets with a highly intriguing quarterbacking duo for next season.

Tebow will probably initially be used in the red zones, an area Sanchez and the Jets struggled big time last season. But if Sanchez can't quite silence the doubters from the season gone by, Tebow might sneak his way  into the starting quarterback role. It is also said that Tebow might have been brought in to unify what was essentially a fragmented dressing room at the green end of Meadowlands last season.

Finally, spare a thought for Hines Ward, whose retirement was overshadowed by the other big pieces of news today. Ward became a free agent on free agency date and decided to hang his boots after a highly successful career at the Pittsburgh Steelers, including 2 Super Bowl rings. Hines is an inspiration to all budding Asian-American athletes and will be missed.