Payton gets a pass mainly because there are still so many Saints fans (like me) that witnessed first hand how bad a team can really be....talking about the days of J.D. Roberts or John North as coach. Until Payton, the standard of excellence for the Saints was the Mora regime, and he couldn't even win a playoff game. Giving a franchise its first Super Bowl win in its 44th season will earn a coach a lot of good will. I'm sure there's a breaking point, but speaking as a Saints fan who was in the stadium when Archie Manning ran a QB sneak at the goal line, fumbled and lost 32 yards, I'd say we haven't reached it yet.
@mctiger True dat. A down year isn't going to have either (most) fans or the front office calling for Payton's head. What stings most about this season, for me, is that this team looked like a Super Bowl contender on paper in August. Drew is Drew, the offensive line looked upgraded (though a year older) with Armstead and Goodwin, Cooks seemed like (and was) a valuable addition. On the other side of the ball, D line appeared solid, Byrd, Vaccaro and Lewis should have kept opposing OCs up at night and linebacker was a relative weakness. Then the wheels just flat out fell off. The best explanation I've heard is that there was a mass exodus (much of it forced) of locker room leaders like Jenkins, Harper and Vilma. Though you would have thought SOMEONE would have stepped up to fill that void, apparently no one did. It's also concerning that, of the six players drafted this year, two -- only TWO -- are currently on the roster and that's Jean-Baptiste and Powell and, frankly, I can't remember the last time Jean-Baptiste was active on game day. (Granted two more -- Cooks and Sunseri -- are on IR and Rooks is on the practice squad, but still . . .) Going forward, I'm not ready to give up on Drew but he is getting older every year. Colston has been horribly inconsistent. Graham has been largely absent. Ingram's had a solid year but he's playing for a contract and I'd bet he won't be in black and gold next year.
The only good thing I see on D is Lofton, I think he has had 4 straight years of 150+ tackles. That doesn't happen often. I didn't like the Ryan hire then got fooled with smoke and mirrors and fell into the trap. Thanks @Cajun Sensation this guy is a clown that needs a pink slip and a haircut. Lets see what happens next year.
im worried about our peacenik son. im a psychotherapist part-time and can cut a deal. saints are tied for first as predicted but i do think the ATL wins the tiebreak, no? we need a loss and our schedule is favorable. theres, not so much. saints are likely winning out. this should be interesting.
