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One of coach Sean Payton’s favorite expressions that he lifted from mentor Bill Parcells is, “You are what your record says you are.”

But the New Orleans Saints’ 8-8 mark probably deserves a half-dozen asterisks and a few chapters worth of footnotes to fully appreciate it. The Saints can make the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season Sunday if they beat the Atlanta Falcons and the Los Angeles Rams beat the San Francisco 49ers.

That would be a remarkable achievement, considering:

Future Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees retired in March.

The Saints had to gut their roster, shaving $111 million to fit under the NFL’s reduced salary cap, then could barely afford to add reinforcements in free agency.



The team had to evacuate for Hurricane Ida in August and spend the first month of the season living in Dallas, while playing their first “home game” in Jacksonville against the Green Bay Packers (which the Saints won 38-3).

Superstar receiver Michael Thomas and kicker Wil Lutz were among those who never played a down this season because of injuries. Then, after the Saints got off to an unlikely 5-2 start, quarterback Jameis Winston suffered a season-ending ACL tear in Week 8.

New Orleans has set an NFL record with 58 different starters used this season, according to ESPN Stats & Information, because of injuries, COVID-19 issues and suspensions. The offensive line was supposed to be the strength of the team, but All-Pro offensive tackles Terron Armstead and Ryan Ramczyk and Pro Bowl guard Andrus Peat have missed a combined 25 games. The Saints have used four different starting quarterbacks and 10 different starting O-line combinations. And that total of 58 offensive and defensive starters doesn’t even include the four kickers they’ve used.

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bobdog86

With everything that’s happened this year? If we somehow make into the post season, I’d say it’s probably his best work.

Thirty3

I would agree.

vpheughan

9 - 7 a winning season after what the Saints went through? A WIN!!

BakoSaint

9-8 is a great achievement for our coaches because they were crippled by years of poor salary cap management cuminating in a gutted roster that had no business winning 8 games. Covid may have cost us one game this year but it may have gained us one last year. Injuries were a factor but many injuries were a result of roster management decisions to restructure and extend unreliable injury prone players because it was cheaper in the short term than to think of the costs and reliability long term, and of the lack of depth caused by overpaying at certain positions and mortgaging the future to win in brees last few years. We have great enough coaches to go 9-8 with big holes in the roster. We need to bite the bullet and rebuild our cap to put together a roster that doesnt require great coaches to have a winning season, and then our great coaches might take us further. If 9-8 is the evidence that our roster is fine and our coaches are great, we will never do better than 9-8. I think Payton is improving but at the same time Loomis is mailing it in with 4 player drafts and a cap that seems like its half dead money or bad contracts that are too expensive to ever terminate.

Rugby Saint II

the deck was stacked against him. He should be coach of the year.