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Former 'Skins aide: Gibbs unaware of 'bounty' system

If Gregg Williams operated a "pay for performance" system during his time as defensive coordinator of the Redskins, Joe Gibbs wasn't part of it, according to one former team assistant.

"I assure you, (Gibbs) had no idea of what was happening," former Redskins assistant Greg Blache told The Washington Post this week. "If he had, he would have put a stop to it."

Blache, now retired, coached the defensive line under Gibbs from 2004 to 2007 -- when Williams served as coordinator -- and reportedly cut off the bounty program when he took over as coordinator in 2008. Blache on Monday went out of his way to clear Gibbs, saying the Hall of Fame coach gave Williams great freedom to run the defense and was unaware of any bounty program.

"The only reason I'm talking at all is that I don't want to see a man like Joe Gibbs get pulled down into the muck of this because Joe Gibbs did not know," Blache said. "The whole situation, the way this is all coming out, is unfortunate.

"But to have anyone think Joe Gibbs knew, or to accuse Joe Gibbs to be part and parcel to it, is just totally wrong. People who know me know I don't put my name on a lot of things. But I know for a fact that he didn't know, so I'll put my name to this."

While Williams was busy meeting with NFL security Monday to discuss his role in the Saints' bounty program, his former teams -- the 'Skins, Titans and Bills -- found themselves further pulled into the circus. 

An assortment of current and former Redskins players have gone so far as to dismiss the existence of a bounty program, but Blache didn't do that -- he simply asked that his former boss be kept out of the mud.

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