The Dude

I'm gonna wait until after the game to say bottoms up and then chase it with a lot of crow.

One thing worth mentioning that may make all the difference is that several players say Payton is a different person.
They said he knows who he is as a coach now. When he first got here he put together almost immediate success. He had his own plays and schemes that other coaches would try to emulate. He did his own thing. Sometime after the 2011 season he lost his edge.
He began to look around at other teams like Seattle and try to emulate their system with no regard for personnel and a lot of square peg round hole scenarios.

Sometimes you have to look inside yourself and find out if the path to success behind you, at the beginning and not ahead of you. It is easy to stray from who you are when you have success.

I look forward to some unpredictable play calling and overall balling this year.

"Where life had no value, death, sometimes, had its price. That is why the bounty killers appeared."

44Champs

I believe Payton lost his edge w all the distractions: bountygate, his divorce (i heard kenny chesney wasnt a good influence), the vicodin scandal ,etc. I think all these things also led his players to lose respect for him. Plus, it's not like he's a 60 something year old belichik or parcells, whose ages already add to the respect factor. But I think Payton has settled back down, is refocused not just on football but specifically on winning, and we're gonna see a different team this year.

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jnormand

I'm not gonna disagree. Although I don't think he"lost" his way. He's always been a great coach. Even in the down years. Very accountable. The difference this year is that he found his roots. His core so to speak. Coach P has always needed someone on the other side of the ball he feels confident in. That makes him more confident in his offensive play calling.

Just my two cents.

I'm excited for this year and I think the NFL is in for a big surprise.

The Dude

I can buy that. Although he did chose to have Veterans cut and try a defense we had no personnel for last year. I think he needed to Take over Defensive Coordinator duties when they weren't working at all as a good coach should. Our best years are when he gave a coordinator total control. All I know is I'm happy!

SmashMouth

Let's see.....

halloween 65

Finishing 7-9 the last couple seasons and fielding sub par D's for pretty much his entire head coaching tender probably forced him to reflect. A genius O mind has never been a question but he's surely been no defensive guru and like Smash said We'll see!! Maybe ? My question will be when games are on the line if Allen can call the right plays in a chess match deep in a playoff game?

WillMacKenzie

I'm just thankful for the team and coach that we have right now.

When you consider the alternatives:

Browns, Falcons, Lions, Rams...anyway, the list goes on.

Can you imagine the horror of knowing your team just named RG3 starting quarterback?

neugey

I hope Coach got his mojo back. We're going to need it to make the playoffs.

SaintsBro

That press conference Payton dropped at the very end of last year was like THE BOMB for me. It was manna from heaven. He said absolutely everything I wanted to hear him say, and it was all authentically him, and real -- not phoned in. And if you remember, he stayed at the podium and answered every single question they asked him. And remember Loomis, Lauscha, and the Bensons were all there in the front row, listening to him, which is very unusual for a year-end coach's press conference. He was clearly a changed person, that day -- I don't know if it was the rumors or the meeting with Loomis or the stuff that idiot Fletcher Mackel said about him, or what, but something had clearly happened to reinvigorate Coach Payton and get him focused. I mean REALLY focused. This year just already looks like the same exact guy as that last press conference, not the sullen, snarky guy from the earlier rest of last year.

I can't speak for anyone else, but after that press conference, I was immediately back to being all-in on Sean Payton at that point. I was ready to strap on pads and follow him anywhere. I'm excited to see what happens.

darstep

He has for ever been trying to find his equal on the defensive side of the ball.
He has been trying to clear his mind of it but just has been frustrated to no end.
No DC has been able to match the performance and return the offense has been
generating since Payton got here.
Can you imagine if the defense were ranked 10-15 all these years?
Superbowl success also put us in a higher tax bracket.
We had no "real" cap issues until everybody seemingly deserved to be paid.
Rightfully so.
I hope Dennis Allen and Johnson can ease Payton's mind and get these guys
playing at a high level on the defensive side of the ball.
Now that would be fun. Lots of fun!

**SaintSince67**