Joe Vitt testified back in December regarding the Saints Bounty Scandal, but NOLA.com just recently obtained the transcript. There’s a ton in there: including wild praise for Jonathan Vilma, and some mean, mean words for Mike Cerullo and Gregg Williams. Highlights, after the jump.

A new filing in Jonathan Vilma’s defamation suit against Roger Goodell has an interesting nugget about Sean Peyton – that he needed police protection from former Saints assistant Mike Cerullo, who had reportedly sought revenge against the organization for his firing.

Here are your best sports tweets for Tuesday, September 25. Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See anything that should be on SportsGrid? Send it to tips@sportsgrid.com. Now, our morning words of wisdom.

Score one for the New Orleans Saints, and anyone who’s of the belief that Roger Goodell’s punishment of the players alleged to be involved in the Saints’ reported bounty scheme were draconian: those suspensions were overturned today. After the jump, why exactly that matters.

Roger Goodell and the NFL have banned Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma from playing football this season, but Vilma found a way to exact some revenge.

Via Fox News: “Suspended Saints player Jonathan Vilma left an appeals hearing with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after about an hour Monday, denying he had a role in New Orleans’ bounty program and saying the process is unfair.”

Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma is suing NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for defamation. The complaint was filed in Louisiana court, and alleges that Goodell “made public statements concerning Vilma which were false, defamatory and injurious … to Vilma’s professional and personal reputation.”

On Friday, we learned that the New Orleans Saints had a bounty program in place from the 2009-11 seasons, wherein defensive players would be rewarded for knocking opposing players out of games. It was rumored that the bounties were raised during the playoffs, and raised even further for specific players.

Late on Friday, we also learned that Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma put $10,000 on a table the week of the 2009 NFC Championship game — the Saints would play the Brett-Favre-led Vikings later that week — and said that the money would go to the player who successfully knocked Favre out of the game. Favre’s full reaction to that little nugget of info, after the jump.

The NFL just released a massive 50,000 page report on a bounty program the New Orleans Saints implemented from 2009 to 2011. The team is looking at suspensions, fines, and, worst of all, possible forfeitures of future draft picks. It all depends on how hard Roger Goodell wants to bring down the hammer. Stories like this one certainly won’t make the Commissioner take a more lenient stance.