Sean Payton’s usual way to motivate New Orleans Saints confirmed by WR Michael Thomas 

Sean Payton has won a Super Bowl and knows what it takes to win. He also knows what the team and it’s players take win. In the days before his Denver Broncos take on the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, stories are surfacing of his motivation tactics back when he was still coach of the New Orleans Saints, and they have been confirmed by one of his old players.

Payton’s past triumph

Sean Payton spent two stints in the New Orleans as the Saints coach. In his 15 total years he was named Coach of the Year once, and won a Super Bowl with the Saints. He took a franchise that had just two winning seasons in the decade before he arrived and made them a constant contender in the NFC.

He joined the Saints in the same year that Drew Brees came to New Orleans and the offensive minded coach and the future Hall of Fame QB turned things around immediately in the Big Easy. In their first year, produced a 10-6 season and went to the playoffs after the team went 3-13 the year before.

Three years later they were lifting the first Lombardi Trophy in Saints franchise history. Payton, would use that Super Bowl run and the experience he gained from it as a motivating factor for his teams in the future.

Three games from glory

In 2018 the Saints won the one seed in the NFC, and Payton knew they had a shot at another Super Bowl. Before they played their first playoff game, a Divisional Round game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Payton brought in the 2009 Lombardi Trophy the Saints won and a wad of cash locked in a glass cylinder, and told his players “Y’all want this? Win 3 fucking games.”

The story was verified by former Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas who played under Payton from 2016 to 2021. The Saints ended up losing to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship, but now he is back in the Super Bowl hunt with another one seed in the Denver Broncos.

They are three wins away from the Super Bowl, and start their chase this Saturday against the Buffalo Bills from Mile High Stadium. Surely Payton will have some motivational tactics up his sleeve, but I doubt the Saints have leant him their Lombardi Trophy to get his player jacked up for the first playoff game in Denver since 2015.

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