GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Green Bay Packers players no longer can offer teammates financial incentives for their on-field performance, but the NFL will not punish them for violating the league's "bounty rule."
"The club has handled the matter with the players and the incentive pool has been discontinued," league spokesman Greg Aiello said via e-mail Monday.
Packers coach Mike McCarthy said the players would not be punished by the team.
"We've already addressed it as a football team," McCarthy said. "It's a dead issue, in my view. There's been no fines. It's been resolved with the league, and we have moved on."
League officials began looking into a report last week that Packers defensive players offered incentives to teammates for achieving specific defensive goals.
League rules prohibit teams and players "from offering or accepting bonuses to a player for his or his team's performance against a particular team, a particular opposing player or players, or a particular group of an opposing team."
ESPN reported that Packers players offered to pay the team's defensive linemen $500 each if they were able to hold Minnesota running back Adrian Peterson to under 100 yards rushing two weeks ago. They offered another $500 for holding Carolina to under 60 yards rushing as a team the next week.
Packers defensive end Aaron Kampman said players were trying to put the issue behind them.
"I know all that stuff kind of happened last week, and we haven't heard anything," Kampman said. "It's pretty much all water under the dam."
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
