Yesterday afternoon, Donte Whitner was one of three members of the 49ers to speak with the media at the daily press conference. Whitner addressed a variety of issues before being asked about the bounty stuff. Given his big hit knocking Pierre Thomas out of the game, there was a certain amount of irony following Gregg Williams big speech the night before. In his comments, Whitner said that good defenses don't need bounties and threats, and the 49ers defense was able to do their business without talking about it.
It should surprise nobody that we have a twitter response from a New Orleans Saints player. I present linebacker Scott Shanle.
Donte Whitner: Good defenses don’t need bounties po.st/2W5aWl guy needs to shut his mouth (cont) tl.gd/ik4n81
— Scott Shanle (@scottshanle) July 31, 2012
Shanle was fifth on the team in tackles last year and third the year the team won the Super Bowl. He does make the correct point that the Saints did win a Super Bowl. It's an overreaction given that the media asked Whitner about the bounty stuff. I suppose he could have given some cliched answer to brush it aside and move on, but where's the fun in that?
While the 49ers have generally said the right things about the bounty stuff and Williams speech the night before, and not made a deal out of it, I have to think this could develop into quite the storyline when the 49ers head down to New Orleans in Week 12. I'm curious to see how FOX bills the game. They want to promote the game, but I have to think they don't want to go out of their way to antagonize the NFL on a touchy issue.