SmashMouth

One of Sean Payton’s favorite coaching techniques is to create a crisis for his team when things are going well.

He learned the tactic from Bill Parcells and strategically employs it when he fears his team has gotten a little too full of itself. The aim is to galvanize and re-focus his team on the task at hand.

In 2009, Payton famously created a crisis when a handful of players were late to Media Day on the Tuesday before Super Bowl XLIV. Five days later, the inspired Saints defeated the Indianapolis Colts to win the club’s first Lombardi Trophy.

The Saints find themselves in a similar position with similar expectations this season. And thanks to their shockingly uninspiring 33-14 loss to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday (Dec. 30) at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, Payton won’t have to create a crisis to get his team’s attention.

They provided one for him.

The loss came to a Panthers team that started a third-string rookie quarterback named Kyle Allen and entered the game in a free fall, having lost seven consecutive games, including a 12-9 setback to the Saints in Charlotte, North Carolina, just two weeks ago.

“I’m at a loss for words,” defensive end Cameron Jordan said. “I’m upset. I’m overly irritated about it.”



Jordan wasn’t alone. The lackluster performance inspired a stern lecture from Payton to the entire team afterward.

“We can spin it anyway we want to – we didn’t play well,” Payton said.

Asked if there was a moment in the game when he felt the team wasn’t inspired, Payton said, “From the get-go it was obvious. You take that personally as a coach. It’s disappointing.”

It also might prove fortuitous.

Call me crazy, but I believe the tail-kicking was exactly what Payton and the Saints needed. If they had pounded the Panthers and cruised into the postseason bye week on a high note, it easily could have lulled them into a false sense of confidence heading into the playoffs.

That’s certainly not the case now. Payton and his staff will have the full attention of the team when they review the tape of the Panthers game and start practice next week. Complacency won’t be a problem now. Not after this stinker.

“We’ve got the right guys in the locker room to respond to this the way we need to,” Saints punter Thomas Morstead said. “I don’t sense any panic or anything like that, but I also think if everybody just kind of brushes this off and moves on, it’s a mistake.”

It was clear early that this wasn’t the same Saints team we watched all season. More was missing than just key starters like Drew Brees, Alvin Kamara, Larry Warford and Terron Armstead. The Saints lacked intensity. They lacked the edge they played with while winning 13 of their first 15 games.

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