Sean Payton’s guts and button-pushing have saved Saints

Sean Payton, at 55 years old, one Super Bowl victory on the résumé and, perhaps, a second merely a few weeks away, does not have a coaching tree. Yet his roots are sturdy and strong in New Orleans, where, on Sunday, his Saints face the Rams in an NFC Championship game in which the much younger, less-decorated head coach on the other sideline has already seen his coaching facsimiles sprinkle throughout the league.

What wunderkind Sean McVay, all of 32, will learn this weekend is it is not easy to tangle with Payton and leave the field as the game’s boldest and best decision-maker. Payton is not the new kid on the block, and he has endured his highs and lows in a colorful 13 years at the helm of a club that is more than the right arm and cunning of Drew Brees and the cacophony of noise and intimidation that is the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

The Saints are also a product of Payton’s passion for taking a shot at the unexpected and the unconventional. Without an assist from their fearless head coach, the Saints might never have climbed out of an early 14-0 hole to turn a dreary start into a rousing 20-14 victory over the Eagles in an NFC divisional playoff game where the home team needed every edge Payton could muster.

“We’re not playing to lose a football game,” said third-string quarterback Taysom Hill, a key cog in Payton’s wizardry. “We’re playing to win. And we’ll take chances when the odds are in our favor, and that’s what we did.”

Yes, that is what they did. The Saints entered the playoffs at 13-3 and coasted to the No. 1 seed in the NFC, but they needed every bit of cajoling and button-pushing Payton could muster to stave off a frenzied bolt out of the gate by the Eagles.

Payton, with the Saints under duress, had to manufacture a spark to get his sagging team back in the game and he did, not once, but twice, in a desperate second quarter. Down by 14 after getting shredded for touchdowns on the first two Eagles possessions and watching the usually indomitable Brees throw an interception on his first pass and nearly throw another on his second attempt, the Saints were in danger of wasting the home-field advantage they worked so hard all season to attain.

Early in the second quarter, Payton, on fourth-and-1 from his own 30-yard line, gave the go-ahead for a fake punt — the sort of gamble that brands a coach a hero or a fool. Hill took off and gained 4 yards to make his head coach look like a Mensa member. The cavernous building finally came to life. On the next play, Brees hit Michael Thomas for 42 yards and soon after, the Saints had their first touchdown.

“Each one of those is kind of calculated. … We needed to shift momentum and we were able to, fortunately in taking advantage of it,” Payton said.

“That’s a gutsy call for sure, but, you know, that’s coach Payton,” Hill said.

“We were looking for something,” Thomas said. “We couldn’t quite get a jump on them, and then we got that play, and I think that was the spark.”

Payton was not finished affecting the flow with his verve. Trailing 14-10 late in the third quarter, Payton, on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line, had no interest in putting points on the board via a chip-shot field goal. His panache was rewarded when Brees found Keith Kirkwood, a rookie from Temple by way of Neptune, N.J., for the touchdown and the winning points.

“It was significant to get that seven,” Payton said.

see also

Sean Payton gives Saints a look at their possible Super Bowl haul

Consider the New Orleans Saints motivated. Coach Sean Payton amped…

There comes a time when a head coach must get his head out of the laminated play sheets in front of his face, process the information streaming through his headset and go with his gut. Few do this more often and with greater aplomb than Payton. This is a guy who stunned the watching world in Super Bowl XLIV, stamping himself as unconventional and just a bit dangerous when, trailing the Colts 10-6, he called for an onside kick to start the second half. Insanity turned to inspiration as the Saints recovered the ball on a play called “Ambush” and went on to win, 31-17, capturing the first and only Super Bowl triumph in franchise history.

It was the first onside kick ever attempted before the fourth quarter of a Super Bowl.

“It’s that play-to-win mentality, it’s that aggressive mentality,” Brees said. “I’ve been with Sean long enough to say he’s always like that. It’s not if, but when.”

The next opportunity for “when” is Sunday. The Rams have been forewarned.