It’s Time For Sean Payton To Rally The Troops

Since 2006, Sean Payton has seen his fair share of ups and downs as the head coach of the New Orleans Saints. In his first season in New Orleans, Payton guided to the Saints to an appearance in the NFC Championship Game. In 2009 under Payton, the Saints won their first Super Bowl Championship in franchise history and under him they’ve continued to be a perennial title contender while the Bountygate scandal forced Payton to miss the entire 2012 National Football League season. Payton and the Saints rebounded to make the playoffs in 2013, but things have been shaky at best this season.

The Saints were expected to contend for the playoffs once more this season which they have, but it hasn’t been as pretty as expected. The Saints are currently 5-7 and in spite of this they are tied with the Atlanta Falcons for first place in the supremely putrid NFC South. The Falcons currently own the tiebreaker over the Saints due to the fact that they defeated New Orleans back in Week 1.

The Saints began the season with consecutive road losses to the Falcons and Cleveland Browns. The Saints were 2-4 before they appeared to get it going with victories over the Green Bay Packers and the Carolina Panthers to get them to .500. But after this a reversal of fortune has hit the Saints. The Saints had three consecutive home games in which they surprisingly lost all of them. However New Orleans was able to respond last Sunday with a road victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers which has given them some life. The Saints were able to drop 35 points on the Steelers in spite of the fact that tight end Jimmy Graham was held without a reception. On paper the Saints are the most complete team in the NFC South and now with four games left in the regular season the onus is on them to seize control of it which starts with their defense.

In four of the Saints seven losses this season they had a lead in the fourth quarter only to squander it. In Week 1, the Saints allowed the Falcons to kick the game-tying field goal with under a minute to play before losing in overtime. In Week 2, the Saints defense allowed a 14-play, 85-yard drive in just under three minutes which allowed the Browns to kick the game-winning field goal with just three seconds remaining in the game. In Week 7 versus the Detroit Lions, the Saints blew a 13-point, fourth quarter lead as they lost 24-23. And in Week 10 it was the San Francisco 49ers who tied the game versus the Saints in the waning seconds of regulation before winning the contest in overtime.

Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan was brought in last season to fix that side of the ball in New Orleans. But this season the Saints are 31st in total defense in the National Football League as they’re surrendering 390.5 yards per game. Ryan’s defensive schemes are predicated on blitz pressure (especially from the front seven). But the front seven of the Saints defense has been unable to supply pressure this season as they only have 19 sacks this season which is tied for 25th in the NFL. So even if the Saints have a lead in the fourth quarter, opponents know that they can pass at will on them and change the momentum of the game.

This is obviously a different defensive unit that the Saints had in 2009 when they won the Super Bowl. Wholesale changes have been made since then for the Saints as former defenders such as defensive end Will Smith, linebacker Johnathan Vilma, and strong safety Roman Harper could always be counted on for leadership and to make big plays. The Saints have moved on from players such as these as Smith and Vilma are out of football altogether while Harper is still chugging along as a member of the Carolina Panthers. Just like Saints general manager Mickey Loomis constructed that title team in 2009, he has put this squad together and he is hopeful that December is the month that they’ll be able to turn it up a notch.

At 35-years of age Saints quarterback Drew Brees can still get it done which is clearly evident by his 3,748 passing yards and 27 touchdowns so far this season. Brees has thrown 11 interceptions this season with seven of them coming in Saints losses. To make matters worse some of these interceptions have come in the red zone which takes points off of the scoreboard. In the loss to the Niners it was a Brees fumble that set up San Francisco for the game-winning field goal in overtime. But Brees is still good enough and smart enough to clean this up and help the Saints in the final stretch of the regular season.

A few weeks ago on the 300lbsofsportsknowledge Show, I stated that five victories could get it done in order to win the NFC South. But if the Saints can go 3-1 here in December, then that should put them in pig heaven. The Saints control their own destiny to win the NFC South as they have three more games remaining within their division. The Saints host the Panthers this Sunday and they’ll be favored to be victorious as the Panthers have failed to win a game since early October. The Saints will host the Falcons in Week 16 in a contest that will more than likely decide who’ll be the NFC South Champion for 2014. And to finish the regular season the Saints will be on the road to meet the Tampa Bay Buccaneers whom New Orleans needed overtime to get past in Week 5. Sandwiched in between these three divisional games, the Saints have a road game versus the Chicago Bears in which they will more than likely have to deal with the frigid elements.

At the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, the Saints enjoy one of the best home-field advantages in the NFL. The Saints were undefeated at home last season and in recent years the Superdome has been a house of horrors for opponents. The Saints need to get back to that coming down the stretch which starts with them scoring early which will put pressure on their opponent while also getting the home crowd energized. Defensively the Saints must find a way to feed off of this by making more impact plays.

The United States of America is famously known as the land of opportunity and it is also a place that is ripe with second chances. After letting opportunites go by the wayside through the first three quarters of the season, the Saints now have chance to put all of that aside and win their division. And if the Saints are able to click on cylinders and win the NFC South, you can rest assured that there will be a 10 or 11-win wild card team in the NFC that won’t be looking forward to making the trip to the Bayou.