Question for the Forum
 

What if instead of Jim Mora the Saints had Sean Payton, with the same Saints players, division opponents, players, rules, etc?

IMO the Saints would have dominated the division instead of the 40-whiners!

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But we would have missed out on his infamous rants.

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Someone of Payton's personality, demeanor vs Benson...

With Jim Finks building the team?!?

Problem was still Tom Benson wouldn't have spent the money on a quarterback...

You've still got lot of loose variables still to address...

But the biggest difference between Mora and Payton...

Mora played not to lose...

Payton played to win the game...

Re: Question for the Forum
 

Mora never had an offense. Maybe Payton would have fixed that but I don't know...

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Mora had an effective offense; Mora didn't trust his offense.

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Hebert was certainly not on the level of Brees, but I believe that the Saints could have won a Super Bowl with him.

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At the time I wasn't all that crazy about Mora, but I honestly believe the results would have been the same had Payton been coaching the team. The 49ers were several notches better than the Saints. There was something big missing from those Saints teams, which could explain how they could do so well in the regular season to only tank in the playoffs. It's really difficult to say what was missing, it would be easy to point the finger at Hebert, but cannot really say for sure if Hebert was a liability or was it the conservative style of offense that was being used. With that said, Hebert really did suck during playoff games.

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The real question is what could Payton have done with Archie.

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That was the sports crime of the century...

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"They're better than we are; we're not good enough. We shouldn't be thinking about beating these 49ers; we shouldn't be talking about it, 'cause the Saints ain't good enough. And you guys shouldn't write about us being a playoff team and all that bullstuff—that's malarkey. We ain't good enough to beat those guys and it was proven out there today. It's that simple. We're not good enough yet. We've got a long way to go; we've got a lot of work to do; we're close, and close don't mean ****. And you can put that on TV for me. I'm tired of coming close, and we're gonna work our asses off until we ain't close anymore, and it may take some time; we're gonna get it done; we aren't in there—we aren't good enough. They're better than us—black and white, simple, fact!

"Could've, would've, should've" is the difference in what I'm talking about! The good teams don't come in and say "Could've." They get it done! All right? It's that simple! I'm tired of saying "Could've, should've, would've." That's why we ain't good enough yet! 'Cause we're saying "Could've" and they ain't!

I'm pissed off right now. You bet your ass I am. I'm sick of coulda, woulda, shoulda, coming close, if only."

Montana to Rice--touchdown, again.

Re: Question for the Forum
 

A coach like Peyton would never go to a team like NO during that era. He could have had the Raiders job before NO and turned it down. The Saints also let a lot of great players go during that time and the feeling was more than mutual. Nobody wanted to play for them.

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Saints back then w Payton wouldve dominated.... IF the defense stayed the same. We lost so many games by close calls because of our offense, which btw was Carl Smith's fault more than Mora's. We had enough talent on offense to win those games that we lost. What was missing was the guts, bravado and playcallinxg from the sidelines.

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In those Mora year's it always seemed like the highly touted D flubbed it up in the big games.

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Great Defense but the offense was average.

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It was Hebert, the mighty choker!

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I think particular matchups/certain games could have had different outcomes, with different coaching, which would have made a difference....for example, the Vikings in the playoffs in '87 were really not that good of a team; a win there by the Saints could have resulted in a deeper playoff run that year and changed the landscape of the era....but it's asking a lot to have Payton dominate the '49ers at that time....a really tall order.

But one thing I have always enjoyed about Payton, is that he appreciated from Day ONE, that the road to success for the Saints depended on dominating the Falcons in their division....that beating or owning the Falcons is the key to the season, the lynch pin on which all the other success of the Saints team is built. If he had come in to the job in the Mora era, he might have studied the '49ers and found a way to be competitive with them, in terms of building the team.

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A sick Payton is a much better coach than Mora was on his best day. Also, the FO was handled in an entirely different way.

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Then it would be What Coulda What Woulda What Shoulda! Here's a better "What If" What if Katrina hadn't happened? would it still be The New Orleans Saints and would the winning team still be hurting tomorrow? Discuss it among'st your selves! We'll be right back!

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What did Roger Craig/Steve Young say about the Saints? Something to the effect that if we had any sort of offense we would have won more than one SB with that defense. '89 - '91 Saints D + '09 - '11 Saints O would have been amazing to watch.