Former Atlanta Falcons player John Abraham accuses Tampa Bay Buccaneers of involvement in Bountygate 2.0

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons witnessed the New Orleans Saints’ “Bountygate” situation in 2009. Three years later, Falcons defensive end John Abraham saw the same thing happen again.

During a recent appearance on “The Water Boyz Show,” Abraham accused another NFC South opponent — the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — of a story separate from Bountygate, the scandal in which the Saints were found guilty of intentionally targeting opposing players to injure them.

“(Bucs offensive lineman Donald Penn) told me, ‘Hey man, watch out here. The coaches told us to hurt y’all,’” Abraham said, via JoeBucsFan.com. “I told him, ‘Stop playing.’ He said, ‘No, they told us to hurt y’all. So we’re going to do more. After the whistle, we’re going to do everything we can to try to hurt y’all.’”

Penn denied the report, but Abraham, who was injured in the season finale against Tampa Bay after colliding with a teammate, stood by his comments.

Abraham was a five-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro. He played for the Falcons from 2006 to 2012, recording 68.5 sacks, 79 tackles for loss and 155 quarterback hits. He finished his 15-year professional career with 133.5 sacks, which ranks 13th in NFL history.

In 2012, the Falcons won the NFC South after going 13-3, but lost the NFC Championship to the San Francisco 49ers. The Buccaneers, on the other hand, went 7-9.

In the Week 17 game that gave rise to Abraham’s accusations, Atlanta suffered a 22-17 loss. Abraham started both of the Falcons’ playoff games after taking a bye week in the wild-card round.