Sean Payton - smart coach
 

I think I'm starting to figure out how Coach thinks. He talks about "one game at a time", but honestly, I believe he plans 2-3 and maybe even more games ahead.

Case in point: Pierre Thomas - 6 touches the WHOLE game. Why? Is he saving him for the Falcons, or maybe even the playoffs? We sure could've used him in the Ravens game. Chris Ivory - could he have played? Probably. We could've used him too.

Sure, Payton wanted to win that game, and yes, he would have loved to have HFA and win the division, blah, blah. But more importantly, I think he just wants to get us into the playoffs as healthy as possible. and that's when we'll make our run.

So really, I don't care that we lost to the Ravens (maybe we'll get to beat them in the SB), I don't care if the Falclowns win the division and have HFA. I think our team is good enough and our coaching staff is smart enough to get us into the SB as a wildcard team. And to Payton, that's all that matters.

I understand where your coming from, I can see the logic in Payton maybe thinking he needs all his pieces for the game against an NFC team that will be vital for us to win.
If it that was intentional then it is a real smart plan seen as the Baltimore game didn't really effect our playoff standings.
However one thing that was disturbing was the absence of the Run D, theres no smoke and mirrors by the coaching staff there, they were just flat out bad!
Lets go MONDAY NIGHT!!!

Payton and the Team said that their gameplan was good enough to win. I think he meant offensivly. The Defense Laid a Huge Egg and I don't think Ivory or PT would have changed the outcome. You can Gameplan all you want but when you don't tackle or force any turnovers it doesn't matter.

I was thinking the same thing. It's a very logical decision if all you have to do is win one more NFC game and your in the playoffs. If Atlanta was going to lose another game it would have happened by now so hold back the arsenal until you absolutely need that firepower. In military verbage it's called economy of force. We will find out this weekend if that's the case. I'd like to see more two TE formations and get PT and Reggie in more one on one situations.

smart enough to win a superbowl :)

I trust him. He is the Coach of the defending SB champs. We also have the ability to go 12-4 the season following the SB win. Hey, if we go 11-5 and into the PO's...you ain't going to hear me *****in.

If he held guys back his balls are bigger than the moon. That's right. He'd have MOON BALLS. I wouldn't be surprised to find out he thinks exactly this way to tell the truth.

He's already won it with Home Field Advantage. Maybe now he thinks he needs to do it via the road? Who knows?

Not buying it. Not for one second.

"You play to win the game!"
-Herm Edwards

You folllow Herm Edwards and I'll follow Coach Payton

Not following Herm Edwards, but not buying that BS about thinking 2-3 games ahead.