Check out this piece from WGAL.com. Carlos Rogers, who played for Gregg Williams in Washington, had some very, very interesting things to say:

San Francisco 49ers cornerback Carlos Rogers came to the defense of former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, calling the entire bounty scandal overblown.

Rogers played under Williams for four seasons with the Washington Redskins and said the idea of a bounty system was not the idea of the embattled coach.

"It wasn't a bounty system. I'm close to Gregg, and I'm not trying to be biased," Rogers said. "He's one of the coaches I admire and would always love to play for," Rogers said. "But, it wasn't a bounty system."

Williams has been suspended indefinitely following a three-year NFL investigation that revealed players with the Saints were offered specific amounts for knockout or cart-off hits.

The heat on Williams intensified when a documentary filmmaker released an audio tape in which a person the filmmaker identified as Williams delivered a fiery, profanity-laced speech urging his club to injure 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, running back Frank Gore and wideouts Michael Crabtree and Kyle Williams prior to a playoff game in January.

Rogers said some of Williams' remarks were typical of what players hear on a weekly basis in the locker room, pointing to San Francisco's playoff game against the New York Giants as an example.

"We're sitting here saying, 'We need to take (Giants quarterback) Eli (Manning) out.' That's how we were going to win this game, that's the person that was going to help New York win the game," Rogers said. "You don't think our linemen, linebackers were really trying to hit him? Not trying to hurt him as far as end his career.

"If you really want to hurt him, you'd take a player who normally never plays, and say, 'If you get a shot on the quarterback, take his knees out.' Because all they're going to do is fine him, and you pay his fine for him. If you really want to take somebody out, you can take him out. You'd tell somebody to take his knees out and really end their career and take them out."

Rogers said players have been the ones responsible for offering cash to take a player out of the game, stressing it was done legally.

"Not intentionally — if you think about it, when you play football, you knock someone out, hit them legally, you get some money," Rogers said. "If you hit him wrong, and you get $1,500? You're getting fined by the league $15,000. So what risk do you want to take? Getting this $1,500 in this defensive room and getting fined $15,000? You're losing money."

Saints coach Sean Payton was suspended for the entire season by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. General manager Mickey Loomis was suspended eight games and assistant coach Joe Vitt was banned six games.

All three had their appeals heard by Goodell on Thursday

Thanks for checking out my review of the Panthers 34-29 loss to the Chicago Bears. Cam Newton played well in the loss to Chicago but once again the defense could not overcome injuries and inexperience.

Matt Forte the Bears running back had a career day with 205 yards rushing in the win over the Panthers. Quarterback Jay Cutler was held in check but Forte had a field day against the Carolina defense. Brian Urlacher and Brandon Merriweather had eight and six tackles respectively for the Bears. As I feared Devin Hester had a big punt return, a 69 yarder for a touchdown.

Cam Newton had one interception and one fumble (he recovered) while completing 27 of 46 for 374 yards and a touchdown pass to Greg Olsen. Cam Newton continues to improve and the Panthers running game looked much better against the Bears.

DeAngelo Williams quieted critics with 10 carries for 82 yards including a 26 yarder. Jonathan Stewart had eight carries for 52 yards and Newton added 35 yards on seven carries with two touchdowns.

Steve Smith had another great game with eight catches for 181 yards while Olsen had five for 50 yards and the touchdown. Brandon LaFell has four catches for 42 yards for the Panthers against the Bears.

Dan Connor and Omar Gaither led the Panthers with six and five tackles respectively while Charles “Big Money” Johnson had one tackle and one sack. The defense looked good against the pass but the inexperienced defensive tackles hurt their run defense.

The Panthers offense once again struggled with penalties that hurt them in their opponent’s territory. What impressed me even in a Carolina loss to Chicago was that the team has been close in every game in 2011.

This team wants to win but I feel they need to learn how to do that in all these close games. Cam Newton is driven to win games and in turn that helps fire up his teammates. When the Panthers get a little more experience in their new systems they will start to win these games.