NFL
Second line for Payton’s Saints in New Orleans
After 16 years with the New Orleans Saints, the architect of one of the most explosive offenses in NFL history, Sean Payton, walks away on his terms
The New Orleans Saints organization was informed on Tuesday that head coach Sean Payton was stepping down. His 16 year run has been the longest and most successful run by a coach in franchise history. His final 30-9 win over the Atlanta Falcons marked his 161st victory as Saints head coach, 68 more than Jim Mora, the Saints second-winningest coach.
The 58-year old Payton is rumored to be a top candidate for a lucrative on-screen position with one of the major broadcasting networks.
Before the Saints hired Sean Payton they had very little football history and even less pride. From their inception, it took 20 years for the Saints to record their first winning season and 34 years to win their first playoff game.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Payton inherited a 3-13 team. His first “home” games were played in New Jersey, Baton Rouge and San Antonio. But he changed the franchise trajectory in his first months on the job by signing free-agent quarterback Drew Brees in perhaps the greatest move in the history of NFL free agency. That first team went 10-6, advancing to the NFC championship game. Three years later, New Orleans celebrated a Super Bowl title.
The win in Super Bowl XLIV represented the best of Payton in many ways, but none more perfectly encapsulates his brash genius than the "Ambush" onside kick to start the second half. The Saints, trailing 10-6 at that point, went on to win 31-17.
From 2017-20, Payton’s Saints teams won more games (49) than any other team in the NFL, yet only brutal misery being their reward. A last-second missed tackle; an overtime loss in the NFC title game after an egregious officiating blunder; an overtime loss in which they did not touch the ball in the extra period; a loss to the eventual champion Buccaneers in Drew Brees’ final game.
As a coach, Payton will be remembered as a fierce competitor and a master motivator who could not only find the right buttons but instinctively knew just how hard to push them. Chiefly, however, he will be remembered as one of the great football minds of his time, an offensive maestro whose teams flew at the cutting edge of innovation.
The 2011 Saints offense were Sean Payton’s chef d'oeuvre. They played at light speed, making all of their peers look pedestrian. They racked up an NFL record 7474 yards of total offense and Brees had the season of his career. Under Payton, New Orleans ranked No. 1 in total offense six times. Payton’s Saints account for five of the 30 most prolific offenses in NFL history.
Among those who coached at least 200 NFL games, his .631 win percentage ranks eighth all-time, tied with Packers legend Curly Lambeau.
New Orleans now find themselves in a quandary that is entirely unfamiliar to them. Their hunt for a new head coach carries something that has never before existed in the Big Easy. High expectations.