Bountygate Sanctions: Appeal Could Delay Payton's Suspension

Brett Martel of the Associated Press is reporting that Sean Payton may be allowed to continue coaching the Saints throughout the appeal process.

Here's the lead from Martel's latest story from the Owners' Meeting (which Mrs. Hans spotted on our att.yahoo.com email login page):

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell might allow Sean Payton to coach the Saints while he appeals his season-long suspension for his role in the team's bounties program.

"I said in a letter they have to appeal by April 2, I believe," Goodell said Monday at the owners meetings in Palm Beach, Fla. "If he decides to appeal, I probably will allow him to continue and I would expedite the hearing and I would expedite my decision.

There's a little more after the jump...

Today featured many press conferences and media appearances at the Spring Meeting of the NFL Owners, so there's a lot of info to sift through, and Mr. Martel chose to lead with this item about the possibility of Payton coaching through the appeal.

More from Goodell:

"We did meet twice and went through the information. If he has something else for me to consider, I will."

Payton's agent, Donald Yee, said "no decisions have been made about an appeal" by his client.

My wife got pretty excited about this prospect of him continuing on for a bit longer than we expected, and maybe I did, too.

And do we even dare to hope that maybe something will be revealed that will change everything? Maybe the first part of handing down all that tough punishment was all bluster and they'll bargain him down to only an 8-game suspension that doesn't start until after preseason?

What do you think about all this?