SmashMouth

The thought that crossed my mind as the New York Giants nearly short-circuited the MetLife Stadium scoreboard Sunday was Sean Payton would have never allowed this.

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees (9) is pressured by New York Giants defensive end Justin Tuck (91) at Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ., Sunday December 9, 2012.





No way Payton sits back and accepts a beating like this. No way he allows the program he built and the loyal fans it represents to suffer such an embarrassment. Not after getting punked at home by the 49ers, then getting flogged on the road by the Falcons.

No, the Saints' exiled head coach would have gnawed through his Juicy Fruit and spit it into someone's face before letting his team transform into the weekly punching bag it has become this season. At some point, he'd have gotten mad as hell and not taken it anymore.

But unfortunately for the Saints, Payton isn't around. And as hard as assistant head coach Joe Vitt and his staff try, there's nothing they can do to replace the fire and brimstone intensity he delivered on game days.


"When you're losing the way that were losing, you're a fragile football team," Vitt said after the Giants' 52-27 rout. "We've got a lot of guys who are used to winning and doing things the right way around here. But, unfortunately, we don't have enough of them. All of a sudden something goes bad and it's, 'Oh, here we go again,' instead of just setting your jaw and drawing a line in the sand and having some mental toughness to get it done."

How bad was it?

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