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Following up on the ongoing story. ... New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and head coach Sean Payton issued a statement through the team on Tuesday, their first public statements since the NFL released the findings of its investigation into a "pay for performance" system instituted by the team and former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, who now holds that same position in St. Louis.

The NFL's report said the Saints maintained a bounty pool of up to $50,000 the last three seasons. Payoffs were made for inflicting game-ending injuries on targeted players, including quarterbacks Brett Favre and Kurt Warner. "Knockouts," in which a player was knocked out of the game, were worth $1,500 and "cart-offs," in which players had to be helped off the field, were worth $1,000. Payments doubled or tripled for the playoffs.

Loomis and Payton acknowledged the violations disclosed by the league's investigation and jointly took "full responsibility."

"This has brought undue hardship on [Saints owner] Mr. [Tom] Benson, who had nothing to do with this activity. He has been nothing but supportive and for that we both apologize to him.

"These are serious violations and we understand the negative impact it has had on our game. Both of us have made it clear within our organization that this will never happen again, and make that same promise to the NFL and most importantly to all of our fans."

The statement from Loomis and Peyton comes four days after the NFL first released its findings this past Friday.

Worth noting: A team official told the Associated Press on Monday that Benson was "110 percent" behind his coach and GM.

Williams met with league security Monday in New York to discuss the investigation, a meeting NFL.com's Steve Wyche reported was not held at NFL headquarters and did not include commissioner Roger Goodell.

Rams general manager Les Snead told Profootballtalk.com's PFT Live on Tuesday that the team would decline comment until the league released their final ruling.

Williams called his role in the program a "terrible mistake" when he issued a public apology late last week.

No punishments have been handed out, but they could include suspension, fines and loss of draft picks.

SI.com's Peter King expects major sanctions against the Saints as an organization as well as against Payton and Loomis. King believes Payton could be suspended for multiple games.

Williams obviously faces the most significant punishment. King suggests there could be cause to sit Williams for the entire season.

There could also be repercussions for the 22 to 27 defensive players on the Saints who were found to be involved in the program to varying degrees.

Stay tuned. We clearly haven't heard the last of this story.