The bounty scandal swirling around the New Orleans Saints doesn't directly involve Baltimore Ravens safety Bernard Pollard, but he isn't shy about expressing his opinion on the matter -- or taking a shot at NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
"From what I see, we're going to be running around with helmets and flags on, and I guess in about seven years," Pollard told KILT-AM in Houston this week, via SportsRadioInterviews.com. "So like I said, it's getting out of hand. I don't know what (Goodell's) trying to prove, I don't know what the NFL office is trying to prove. Guys are getting hit all the time. We get hit. This is a freaking violent sport. We get hit."
When asked if he condones the idea of bounties in football, Pollard continued: "... I don't care if you do a bounty or not, because me -- the way I'm playing -- I'm going to hit you straight in the mouth. And if you have a concussion by me hitting you in the mouth ... you know what? I don't mean to. I'm not meaning to hurt you, but this is my game. It's my life or your life. It's my family or yours."
Pollard -- who remains a notorious character in New England for his 2008 hit that ended Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's season -- was especially critical of the one-year suspension that Goodell dropped on Saints coach Sean Payton. Pollard indicated the penalties handed down won't change a thing about the violent nature of the sport.
"This is a game, this is a violent game," Pollard said. "You can't take this away. You suspend a man for a whole year? You suspend a man for a whole year, and now you're looking for players to suspend? This is outrageous. You've got to be kidding me. He said he was going to take a dollar (during) the lockout, I guarantee you he didn't take a dollar that year. I guarantee you he got every bit of that (inaudible) mill."
