Former New Orleans Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams testified that he tried to shut down the team's bounty system when the NFL began investigating but was overruled by assistant head coach Joe Vitt, according to transcripts from appeals hearings obtained by The Associated Press.

According to the transcripts, Williams said Vitt, who also was the team's linebackers coach, responded to a suggestion that the pay-for-pain setup be abandoned with an obscenity-filled speech about how NFL commissioner Roger Goodell "wasn't going to ... tell us to ... stop doing what won us the Super Bowl. This has been going on in the ... National Football League forever, and it will go on here forever, when they run (me) out of there, it will still go on."

Vitt is serving as the Saints' interim coach during coach Sean Payton's season-long suspension as a result of the league's investigation. Williams was suspended indefinitely by Goodell. Others who testified included former defensive assistant Mike Cerullo, the initial whistleblower and considered a key NFL witness.

Partial transcripts of the hearings were also obtained by ESPN.

Williams and Vitt were among a number of witnesses whose testimony was heard by former commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who on Tuesday overturned four player suspensions in the case. Tagliabue was appointed by Goodell to handle the final round of appeals. The AP obtained transcripts of Tagliabue's closed-door hearings through a person with a role in the case.

Tagliabue said details of the hearings should not have been leaked per agreements by all parties involved.

"Mr. Tagliabue has reviewed the question regarding the release of the transcripts of the appeals hearings he conducted. He considers the transcripts to be confidential and not for public release," his attorney said in an email. "It should be noted that the transcripts contain certain information not relevant to the matters before him related to third parties who have no involvement at all in the issues here. The release of such information could be unnecessarily harmful to these third parties."

Also, the cover of each of the transcripts had a disclaimer that the information contained within wasn't for public distribution.

"BY AGREEMENT OF ALL PARTIES, both lawyer and non-lawyer, I understand that I cannot and will not share, distribute or discuss (except with my attorneys) in whole or in part the contents of the transcript that I receive," each transcript cover reads.

Goodell said Wednesday he "fundamentally disagrees" with Tagliabue's decision not to discipline players in the bounty scandal.

Speaking after an owners meeting in the Dallas area, Goodell said he respected his predecessor's decision to vacate a year-long suspension of linebacker Jonathan Vilma and shorter bans for three other current and former Saints players.

But Goodell said players deserved to be punished as much as New Orleans coaches and management. He said he held "everyone responsible."

Earlier Wednesday, Saints quarterback Drew Brees criticized Goodell for the way he handled the bounty case, claiming the commissioner was not concerned with a fair process.

Brees said Goodell has "little to no credibility" with NFL players. The six-time Pro Bowler also claimed the process has been "staged" since Tagliabue became involved.

Transcripts portray the former coaching colleagues, all part of the Saints' 2010 Super Bowl championship, as bitterly disagreeing with one another and occasionally contradicting how the NFL depicted the bounty system.

Vitt, Williams and Cerullo appeared separately before Tagliabue and were questioned by lawyers for the NFL and lawyers representing the players originally suspended by Goodell: Vilma, Will Smith, Scott Fujita and Anthony Hargrove.

Tagliabue's ruling found that "Saints' coaches and managers led a deliberate, unprecedented and effective effort to obstruct the NFL's investigation ..."

The transcripts, which could be entered as evidence in Vilma's pending defamation case against Goodell, include numerous testy, and sometimes humorous, exchanges between witnesses and attorneys -- and between Tagliabue and the attorneys.

Offering to take a lie-detector test, Vitt challenged versions given by Williams and Cerullo. Vitt vowed to sue Cerullo and described Williams as "narcissistic." He referred to both as disgruntled former employees who were fired, even though, publicly, the Saints said Williams' departure for St. Louis was by mutual agreement. Vitt depicted Cerullo as incompetent and said he missed work numerous times and offered bizarre, fabricated excuses for his absences.

Vitt was asked whether he oversaw Cerullo's attempts to destroy evidence related to bounties, which the NFL determined the Saints sanctioned from 2009-11, with thousands of dollars offered for hits that injured opponents and knocked them out of games.

"No. The answer is no," Vitt said. "Cerullo is an idiot."

Williams referred to the case as "somewhat of a witch hunt." He said he wants to coach in the NFL again, "took responsibility so that nobody else had to," and that Vilma has "been made a scapegoat."

Williams stood by his earlier sworn statement that Vilma pledged a $10,000 bounty on quarterback Brett Favre in the Saints' game against the Minnesota Vikings for the NFC championship. But Williams also said the performance pool he ran was aimed at team bonding, not bounties, and that he saw a difference between asking players to hit hard legally, which he said he did, and asking them to purposely injure an opponent, which he said no one in the organization condoned.