The skeleton at the feast

I don’t know if it will be bad or good for the Saints. I would hate for the season to be lost over this stupidity.

While I agree that we don’t know when the Federal Appeals Court will call this back into the forefront I do think that because the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stymied the Williamses suspension till the State court rules and that trial is not set till March 8. So I think we are safe this year…fingers crossed of course.

that was argued heavily in the late Summer on this site: Would we rather get the suspensions over with, or take our chances later on down the road. I guess it’s really not up to anybody here, but I for one wish our two guys had served their suspensions in September, if it turns out to be something the Saints deal with in December, or January. That wasn’t a popular notion in August, but I bet it will be if it does come up next month, as you (kinda)predict.

On the bright side, I think the Saints are better equipped to deal with that possibility than the Vikings are. The serious concern will be depth, but I think Hargrove and McCray would be very serviceable starters at the ends for a month. Pressley and Ayodele are the DT’s now, for better or worse(I know Hargrove got the start, but I think Pressley will see more action in first/second down situations down the stretch). Then there’s still Sed. If he comes back in around the same time, I really wouldn’t be very concerned at all. Smith has had some great games lately, but Grant has just been a big body since the Jets game. I think McCray would probably more than make up for the loss if he got real time in the rotation.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the courts never get a chance to rule on this. I figure one of two things are going to happen.

1) congress sticks its idiot nose in and makes an even bigger mess of an already screwed up situation
2) the CBA negotiations end up including something that resolves this case and others like it — not necessarily in our favor mind you, but still at least resolves it.

records in the NFC. If something happens and it impacts our march to hopefully get homefield advantage (or Minnesota’s) then it would really be horrific especially since these infractions happened in training camp in 2008 and also how it had such an impact ruining the end of Deuce’s career. Let them decide in March when teams can plan for the next season, not down the stretch.

The federal appeals court upheld the temporary injunction by the Minnesota state court. So, that injunction is in place until the case in state court is settled, which is guaranteed to be after the end of this season (and post-season). The only appeal left for the league to challenge that would be to the US Supreme Court, which probably wouldn’t hear the case anyway.

Also, any congressional action to close this loophole would not likely be retroactive. I personally think legislation for this is highly unlikely, because unless Congress were to carve out an exception just for the NFL, it would affect all union contracts under federal jurisdiction (think UAW, AFL-CIO, SEIU, etc.).

unless they miss playoff games and i don’t think it’d happen. plus, everyone’s saying it won’t happen till next year. Smith is back to his old self while grant still seems to be lagging in the production part although i do believe that he’s giving his best.