In this Jan. 7, 2012, photo, New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton yells from the sideline during the first half of an NFL wild card playoff football game against the Detroit Lions in New Orleans. The NFL has suspended Payton for the 2012 season, and former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is banned from the league indefinitely because of the team's bounty program that targeted opposing players. Also Wednesday, March 21, 2012, Goodell suspended Saints general manager Mickey Loomis for the first eight regular-season games of 2012, and assistant coach Joe Vitt has to sit out the first six games. (AP Photo/The Shreveport Times, Jim Hudelson) MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT SHREVEPORTTIMES.COM; NO SALES
In this Jan. 7, 2012, photo, New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton yells from the sideline during the first half of an NFL wild card playoff football game against the Detroit Lions in New Orleans. The NFL has suspended Payton for the 2012 season, and former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is banned from the league indefinitely because of the team's bounty program that targeted opposing players. Also Wednesday, March 21, 2012, Goodell suspended Saints general manager Mickey Loomis for the first eight regular-season games of 2012, and assistant coach Joe Vitt has to sit out the first six games. (AP Photo/The Shreveport Times, Jim Hudelson) MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT SHREVEPORTTIMES.COM; NO SALES
METAIRIE, La. (AP) ? Sean Payton apologized Friday for the bounty scandal under which Saints players were offered payouts for big hits on opponents, saying he takes "full responsibility" for the system that operated for three years under his watch.
"I share and fully support the league's concerns and goals on player safety," the Saints coach said in a written statement released by the team. "It is, and should be paramount.
"Respecting our great game and the NFL shield is extremely important to me," Payton added, referring to the league's famous logo.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday suspended Payton for the 2012 season, effective April 1, one of several unprecedented penalties he issued against the club and its officials.
Payton said that, as head coach, he should take full responsibility for a program which the NFL says offered improper cash bonuses for blows that either knocked targeted star players out of the game or left them needing help off the field.
The NFL has said Payton initially lied to NFL investigators about the program, at first denying its existence, and also instructed his defensive assistants to lie. The league also slapped an eight-game suspension on general manager Mickey Loomis and a six-game suspension on assistant head coach Joe Vitt, who also coaches linebackers.
Former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who left the Saints after last season to join the St. Louis Rams, ran the bounty program and has been suspended indefinitely.
In his statement, Payton said the Saints "will implement all necessary protections and protocols, and I will be more vigilant going forward."
Payton, however, won't begin exercising that vigilance until after New Orleans hosts the Super Bowl next February, when his suspension officially ends.
The coach also thanked team owner Tom Benson, his players and Saints fans "for their overwhelming support."
Some Saints players have already been in touch with Payton to let him know they are behind him, and starting right tackle Zach Strief said on Friday players "owe it" to their embattled coach to come closer together, live up to the standards he set during the past six seasons and do everything they can to win in his honor while he is away.
"This season is going to take on an us-versus-the-world mentality," Strief said. "The perception at this point is not positive with us. We've worked very hard, I know as players, to gain respect, not only as a good team but as a good group of guys. That perception will go completely out the window now, and I think that'll be kind of a rallying cry for us. It will give us a chance to kind of come together closer than we've ever been and say, 'Look, nobody wants us to even win anymore, and we're going to win for each other, and for coach Payton and Mickey and the guys that essentially took this fall.'"
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