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Saints and Sean Payton follow Andy Reid's blueprint for post-bye success



By Luke Johnson, NOLA.com
The Times-Picayune

He is not sure of the year, maybe 2007 or 2008, but New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton sought some advice from then-Philadelphia Eagles coach Andy Reid.

Here was the issue: Payton's first three New Orleans teams each lost when coming out of a bye week.

The Saints were 5-1 when they headed into the bye in 2006, Payton's first season. They trailed the Ravens 28-7 at halftime in their first game after the bye, eventually losing that game 35-22.

A John Kasay kick split the uprights as time expired to hand the Saints a loss following their 2007 bye, a game in which New Orleans did not score a touchdown against the division rival Panthers.

The Saints had a chance to make a game of it late the next year at Atlanta, but two Drew Brees passes were intercepted near the Falcons goal line in the fourth quarter (one of which was returned for a 95-yard score) and they lost 34-20.

Whatever Payton was doing did not appear to be working, so he turned to Reid for some advice.

"He's someone that I think a lot of," Payton said. "He's had a lot of success in this league and his record after the bye week was real strong and we chatted a little bit and he just talked about what he did and we kind of followed that a little bit."

Reid, now the Chiefs head coach, owns a remarkable 16-3 career record after bye weeks. Essentially, the idea is to let the players have some freedom with extended time off while the coaches get a head start dissecting film of the next opponent.

In recent years, the formula appears to have done the trick. Since the start of the 2009 season -- not counting the 2012 season, when Payton was suspended -- the Saints are 6-2 when coming off a bye week.

In those games, the Saints averaged 36 points, a figure that bumps up to a whopping 43.2 points in the six wins.

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Rugby Saint II

You've got to have the pulse of the team to do this I would imagine. Give the players a break and let the coaches practice teaching them to execute the plan they've come up with.