Kill Frank Gore’s head. Blow out Michael Crabtree’s knee. Hit Alex Smith’s chin. Clip Vernon Davis’ ankles. Put a lick on Kyle Williams’ recently concussed head.
Coordinator Gregg Williams bellowed those commands to his New Orleans Saints defense on the eve of a Jan. 14 playoff loss to the 49ers, according to stunning audio unveiled Thursday by a documentary filmmaker who had access to the Saints’ meeting at a hotel near SFO.
It is the first evidence identifying 49ers players as targets of the Saints’ illegal bounty program, which an NFL investigation exposed last month.
“We’ve got to do everything in the world to make sure we kill Frank Gore’s head,” Williams said on the audio that filmmaker Sean Pamphilon first released to Yahoo! Sports. “We want him running sideways. We want his head sideways.”
While some players turned commentators called the rhetoric commonplace, others were less circumspect.
“This is the most heinous, egregious thing in the history of this game,” former Raider defensive lineman Warren Sapp told this newspaper, adding that Williams’ actions were “an anomaly … one in 3 billion.”
Former 49ers coach Steve Mariucci said he almost drove into a reservoir upon hearing Williams’ words on the radio. “I was shocked,” he said on the NFL Network.
Williams has been suspended indefinitely by the league in the wake of its three-year investigation into the Saints’ tactics. Although he’s now the St. Louis Rams’ defensive coordinator, his suspension bars him from that role for at least this season.
On the same day Williams’ pregame speech went viral, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell heard appeals Thursday on the suspensions for Saints coach Sean Payton (season long), general manager Mickey Loomis (eight games) and assistant head coach Joe Vitt (six games). At the 49ers facility, several players offered tame responses Thursday, most invoking the league’s authoritarian role on the matter. Team CEO Jed York declined comment and the league did not issue a statement.
Kyle Williams said he was “not going to talk about it at all” as he left the 49ers facility. His father did, however. Chicago White Sox general manager Ken Williams, in part, told the Chicago Tribune: “Personally, suspension or not, it’s probably best I’m never in a room with Gregg Williams.”
Pamphilon, a documentary filmmaker following ex-Saints player Steve Gleason, posted audio of Williams’ 12-minute speech on his website.
“We need to find out in the first two series of the game, the little wide receiver, No. 10, about his concussion,” Gregg Williams said of Kyle Williams. “We need to (expletive) put a lick on him, move him to decide.”
On Crabtree, the 10th overall draft pick in 2009, Gregg Williams said: “We need to decide whether Crabtree wants to be a fake-ass prima donna or he wants to be a tough guy. We need to find that out, and he becomes human when you (expletive) take out that outside ACL.”
That quote prompted this remark from Hall of Fame wide receiver Michael Irvin on NFL Network: “Since you were a baby you’ve understood never take out a man’s knees and on this tape he’s talking about taking out an ACL. I almost threw up when I heard it.”
Sapp said he couldn’t believe someone on the defensive unit wouldn’t challenge their coach.
“Not for one second would I sit in a room and listen to someone say, ‘We’re going to take out someone’s ACL’ without standing up and saying, ‘What the hell are you talking about?'” he said. “The way you play defense isn’t about malice. It’s about putting you in fourth-and-more than you can handle.”
The Saints lost that divisional-round playoff game 36-32 at Candlestick following a back-and-forth flurry of four touchdowns in the final five minutes. Davis caught a 14-yard touchdown pass from Smith with nine seconds remaining for the winning points.
“Playing hard and hitting hard is one thing,” former Miami Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor tweeted. “Going after ACL’s and heads … not cool.”
Although the NFL revealed the Saints had bounties on four quarterbacks — Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers), Brett Favre (then-Minnesota Vikings), Kurt Warner (then-Arizona Cardinals) and Cam Newton (Carolina Panthers) — apparently Williams also put one on the 49ers’ Smith.
Pamphilon told Yahoo! Sports’ Mike Silver that when Williams brought up Alex Smith, he demanded his players hit Smith under his chin and Williams inferred he would cover any fines for that illegal hit. “I got the first one,” he said. “Go get it. Go lay that (expletive) out.”
The NFL claims it warned the Saints before the playoffs that an investigation had been re-opened into bounty allegations against them.
Two weeks ago, Smith declined to discuss the Saints’ bounty program, but added: “As a quarterback you feel like they’re all out to get to you.” The Saints will host the 49ers this coming season.
The aforementioned 49ers made it through their playoff matchup without serious injury, although Gore’s legs were wobbly after a hard tackle from behind on the final drive.
Wide receiver/return specialist Ted Ginn Jr. did leave with a lingering knee injury late in the third quarter, following incidental contact with a Saints player.
Ginn then missed the NFC Championship game against the New York Giants, and his replacement, Kyle Williams, mishandled two punt returns in the 20-17 defeat. Afterward, some Giants defenders revealed they wanted to test Williams’ effects from his Dec. 24 concussion.
“You don’t (expletive) apologize for how we’re going to play,” Gregg Williams said in his Jan. 13 speech.
Upon receiving his indefinite suspension March 21, Williams said in a statement: “I apologize to the players of the NFL for my involvement.”
Staff writer Steve Corkran contributed to this report. For more on the 49ers, see Cam Inman’s Hot Read blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/49ers.
