SmashMouth

Sean Payton isn't on the hot seat. But he is under the gun.

If the Saints head coach wasn't feeling the pressure to right the New Orleans Saints' foundering franchise before Sunday, he certainly does today.

In the wake of Sunday's 36-20 loss to the New England Patriots, Payton finds himself staring at the greatest challenge of his coaching career. In the weeks ahead, he must somehow rebuild his team's sagging confidence and keep hope alive after yet another slow start.



In case you haven't heard, the Saints are now 1-11 in the first month of the past four seasons. The last time they won a game in September was in 2014. That was so long ago that only eight players that played in that 20-9 victory against the Minnesota Vikings were on the field Sunday and one of them played for the Patriots (Brandin Cooks).

The most disturbing thing about the slow starts is that the Saints put in so much time this offseason in trying to resolve the issue. They've studied the slow starts, tried to determine their root causes and researched ways to avoid them. They devoted extra practice time to 2-minute drills and situational football in an effort to improve their performance in close games.

And none of it has worked.

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