Re: Confidence in Payton
 

I think he feels bad for it, but he has a pattern of not learning. We almost lost the Philly playoff game on the same play at the same time in the 4th.

Payton's passing fetish is costing the team wins.

Re: Confidence in Payton
 

I couldn't begin to know if the players are starting to lose confidence in him. I know I have. It seems to me that we're running the exact same stuff in the same situations as last year - sort of the football equivalent of the one-trick-pony. Last year, it was taking people by surprise. This year they've had a year of tape to study and they're blowing those same old tired plays up - not very surprising really since Payton cannot seem to do anything else. Payton never seems to make adjustments.

Despite the fact that I can't "know" how the players are feeling, I can see signs that the team is coming apart. People are making a big deal out of how Brees was yelling at Reggie during the last game. Fact is, Brees has been yelling at his receivers for a month now. The players still talk like they're holding it together but what I've been seeing lately seems to show evidence of some breaking down in the unity.