FanPost

Jeff Duncan = Worst Excuse for a Saints Beat Writer Ever

Six years of sitting in on Sean Payton press conferences and trying to get juicy nuggets of information to write about from a head coach who is anything but forthcoming has apparently left Times-Picayune Saints beat writer Jeff Duncan full of resentment towards our now exiled coach. He begins his latest "Saints fans are stupid if they blame Goodell" editorial with this paragraph:

"It's our universe." Anyone who's dealt with the New Orleans Saints in the Sean Payton era has heard the phrase more than once. It's a favorite of Saints executives, who often directed it to the uninitiated or unwitting who dared question their authority.

How can you cover a team you so obviously hate, Jeff?

I get it, Jeff. Payton and everyone else in the Saints organization brought this onto themselves. By their own admission, they aren't totally innocent and they were stupid for not nipping this in the bud at a time when former NFL players are suing the league over lingering health problems. They essentially offered themselves up to be made examples out of for the rest of the league. I get it. My main issues with what happened yesterday, however, are as follows, bullet style:

  • The punishment doesn't fit the crime as this was a "pay for performance" system and not exclusively a "bounty" program as you and the media constantly portray it.
  • Players from other teams have publicly confessed to doing the same things for years, yet they will not be punished.
  • There's more than just Payton's arrogance motivating Roger Goodell here. This has reeked of hidden agendas and inter-organizational politics from the beginning. The national media has, true to form, walked hand in hand with Goodell on this from the start by emphasizing the term "bounty" where ever possible and totally ignoring the other information on this "pay for performance" system. NFL Network, a day before Goodell dropped the bomb on the Saints, showed a very effective propaganda piece to further manipulate public opinion and ready the world to accept Goodell's ruling as the only course of action he could have taken.
  • This is personal for Goodell and he exercised his wrath in large part to satisfy his massive ego. Maybe he was lied to by Payton. You know what? I don't care. It's not the first time a head coach has lied to a commissioner and it won't be the last.
  • Players who were actually there like Darren Sharper, Scott Fujita, Bobby McCray, and Jabari Greer have publicly acknowledged the "pay for performance" system and vehemently denied the alleged "bounty" program yet they are either largely ignored or automatically labeled as liars while Goodell's word is never questioned. Did you miss the Starcaps controversy, Jeff? Roger S. Goodell cannot be trusted.

Jeff, it's clear that you have much higher ambitions than simply serving as the major beat writer to the Saints in the New Orleans area. You obviously idolize Peter King and desperately want to be like him. It's great to have ambitions like that and I truly hope this happens for you in the near future. Pat Yasinkas over at ESPN is getting pretty old. Have you seen those little ESPN videos he sometimes does that look like he's being interviewed from his bathroom? What is he about 80 years old now? Since you've proven yourself to be such an unbiased reporter, maybe ESPN will hire you to replace him. Good luck, Jeff. I can't wait to see you go, because your tendency to always walk the Goodell and Peter King line without question has become unbearable.

You've often prided yourself by proclaiming to not have any pro-Saints sentiment. That's fine and I can understand how Sean Payton could annoy you and other members of the local media, but there's more to this story than just what Roger Goodell says and you refuse to acknowledge that, so stop with the articles trying to convince Saints fans they're out of line for feeling outrage towards Goodell. You embarrass yourself and the Times-Picayune when you do that. We have a right to be angry and no amount of pretentious editorials from you, your idol Peter King, or any other media pontificator are going to convince us otherwise.

Please Sports illustrated, ESPN, and any other national sports publication, hire Jeff so we can get him the hell out of New Orleans.

This FanPost was written by a reader and member of Canal Street Chronicles. It does not necessarily reflect the views of CSC and its staff or editors.

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