Say it ain’t so! Sorry, can’t do that.  A recording of Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams seems to contain the proof that the New Orleans Saints did indeed have a program aimed at purposely injuring key offensive opponents.  The evidence comes directly from Williams mouth from filmmaker Sean Pamphilon capturing tape for a documentary on football.

Pamphilon got access to film the Saints with help from retired special teams standout Steve Gleason. The filmmaker was there to capture Gleason’s struggle with ALS. He played for the Saints from 2000 to 2007. His connections to the team led to the approval of Pamphilon to film the Saints behind-the-scenes.

Alarming comments by Gregg Williams led to Pamphilon releasing the tape to Yahoo sports. The filmmaker captured Williams telling his players to “put a lick” on 49ers wide receiver Kyle Williams to see if he was suffering lingering effects from a concussion. Pamphilon made the recording of Williams’ speech during a meeting before the Saints lost to San Francisco in a divisional playoff last January, the final game Williams coached.

In Pamphilon’s recording, Williams also tells his players to set their sights on running back Frank Gore, quarterback Alex Smith and receiver Michael Crabtree.

”We need to decide on how many times we can beat Frank Gore’s head,” he says.

Williams also implores his charges to ”lay out” Smith and later adds, ”We need to decide whether Crabtree wants to be a (expletive) prima donna or he wants to be a tough guy. He becomes human when we … take out that outside ACL.”

Pamphilon also described Williams pointing to his chin when he said, ”We hit (expletive) Smith right there.”

Pamphilon said Williams then rubbed his fingers together as one might do when doling out cash, saying, ”I got the first one,” which Pamphilon understood to mean the defensive coordinator had placed a cash bounty on Smith.

The NFL has said Williams’ bounty system offered off-the-books cash payments of $1,000 or more for hits that either knocked targeted opponents out of games or left them needing help off the field. The Saints have been punished heavily for allowing such a program to continue for three seasons, from 2009 when they Super Bowl through 2011.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Saints head coach Sean Payton for the entire 2012 season, while handing down additional suspensions of eight games to general manager Mickey Loomis and six games to assistant head coach Joe Vitt, who also coaches linebackers. The Saints, meanwhile, were fined $500,000 and docked second-round draft picks this year and next.

The recording was released hours before Payton, Loomis and Vitt went to NFL headquarters in New York for an appeal hearing regarding their unprecedented punishments.

It’s unknown if the filmmaker shared the recording with the NFL prior to the public release.  One thing is for sure, the release of the recording will affect everyone in this story, including Sean Pamphilon.

Why does it seem that NFL wide receivers are always getting into trouble?  The latest example can be highlighted by the actions of former Detroit Lions wide receiver Charles Rogers.

The 30 year old Rogers has been arraigned in Michigan on five misdemeanors from 2 unrelated incidents. He appeared Thursday before Saginaw County District Judge A.T. Frank and pleaded not guilty to the charges. Frank released Rogers on a $7,500 personal recognizance bond.

Charles Rogers was charged with making a malicious phone call and conspiring to commit that crime March 5 and March 6 in Saginaw County’s Bridgeport Township.  In the second unrelated incident, he was also charged with marijuana possession, possessing an open container of alcohol in a motor vehicle and operating a motor vehicle on a suspended or revoked license Dec. 2 in Saginaw.

Rogers told The Saginaw News he had no comment on the charges.

Rogers was the No. 2 overall pick in the 2003 NFL draft out of Michigan State.

He played in the NFL for 2 years, both with the Detroit Lions. In his brief NFL career, Rogers caught 36 passes for 400 yards and scored four touchdowns. His longest reception was for 35 yards. He played a total of 14 NFL games, 5 in 2003 (3 TDs) and 9 in 2005 (1 TD).

If NFL commissioner Roger Goodell expected the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) to support his “Bountygate” punishment to players, he better think twice.

League officials met with representatives of the NLPA to discuss possible penalties to be metered out to New Orleans Saints defensive players who are said to have taken part in the bounty program.

Instead of offering their support for the commissioner’s plan, the union has asked the NFL to provide it with all the information from the league’s investigation that revealed that roughly two dozen defensive players (between 22 and 27) were part of the Saints’ pay-for-pain bounty pool. The pool awarded thousands of dollars in cash bonuses from 2009-11 for vicious hits that knocked targeted opponents out of games.

According to the NFL, one example of the Saints bounty program involves linebacker Joathan Vilma, who supposedly offered $10,000 to any New Orleans player who sidelined Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre during the 2010 NFC championship game.

“Our team will meet with the NFL today, ask hard questions and will expect to see all documents and direct evidence of a pay-to-injure scheme,” DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association, told the website Pro Player Insiders on Monday. “That is what a fair process dictates. I will get a full briefing by our team and after that the next step will be to consult with players about what was learned. Only then will we confer with the NFL. ”

According to the NFL commissioner, the league has given the NFLPA two confidential reports on the investigation.

“I think we all need to move forward,” he said. “We’ve been open about what we’ve been able to find. We released it publicly.”

Now the commissioner and league officials will wait for a recommendation from the NFLPA.

The league should be expect that the NFLPA will do everything possible to protect their union members in this case; not only to protect their own but to prevent their members from possible criminal charges that could result if the players admit to participating in the bounty program.

Don’t expect a quick resolution. Expect the NFLPA to continue protecting their own in Bountygate.