I suspect if they had come clean when the league first began investigating, it probably would have been handled internally with some slaps on the wrists (fines), as I think the league would have preferred to keep this quiet. I think the Saints sealed their fate by thumbing their nose at the league office, generally, and the Commish, specifically. You can't have a coordinated, deliberate bounty program going for 3 years, lie about it to the Commish's face, then continue doing it. It was inevitable that Goodell's head would explode when this all came out.
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