PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Detroit Lions coach Jim Schwartz admits to rewarding players for on-the-field performances when he coached the Tennessee Titans.

However, Schwartz said the goal was never to injure opposing players, like New Orleans Saint's bounty system.

Tony Dungy, Indianapolis' former coach, recently said he believed the Tennessee Titans had a bounty system in place for Peyton Manning when Schwartz was the defensive coordinator. Schwartz would not address Dungy's accusations, but said there was never a system in place designed to hurt opposing players during the NFL Owners Meetings on Tuesday.

"You give out game balls, don't you?" Schwartz said. "Schools give out stickers for making a good play or doing something like that. We gave out baseball bats for making a big hit, the big hit of the game. It was beautiful, painted it up. It looked nice. After a while, you need two baseball bats ... we went to a boxing glove. It was just a big hit.

"But by no design with what happened here (owners meetings) or anything else. I vividly remember having one that we were debating on a Monday who the big hit was, and we couldn't give it out because he was penalized on it. And as coaches we were saying that was the best hit of the game, but geez, it cost us 15 yards. That's not what we're looking for."

Schwartz did not say if he currently has a reward system with the Lions, but believes there is nothing wrong with playing physical.

"You're trying to be as tough as you can on defense," Schwartz said. "You're trying to hit guys as hard as you can, but you're also not trying to get penalties, and you're not doing anything to encourage penalties. But that was more game tokens and T-shirts. I mean, how many special teams coaches have given out T-shirts for the same type stuff"

"There's a big difference between that and cash bonuses and then bounties and things like that. To put people out of the game, that's never been our experience, and like I said, I think more people focus more on the exception rather than the rule in the NFL."