Tag: Sean Payton (Page 8 of 13)

      Saints dispel momentum argument

      January 16, 2010 /

      After Tim Hightower took the handoff and broke off a 70 yard touchdown run on the first play of the game on Saturday, you could almost hear the wheels turning in people’s heads.

      The Saints, losers of three in a row entering Saturday’s Divisional playoff game, were about to fall victims to “Big Mo.”

      But almost immediately after Hightower crossed the goal line, New Orleans reminded us of how good it was for most of the season. Drew Brees marched the Saints down to the 1-yard line on the ensuing possession and Lynell Hamilton capped the drive off with a 1-yard touchdown run. Then the Saints added a touchdown, then another, then two more before half to take a 35-14 lead.

      All of a sudden, “Big Mo” was looking for a backdoor out of the Superdome to save himself from further embarrassment. The Saints added 10 more points in the second half to trounce Arizona 45-14 and set up a date with either the Cowboys or Vikings in the NFC Championship Game.

      Momentum can be a crucial factor in sports. But talent, preparation and execution will win out every time. People forgot how explosive Sean Payton’s offense could be and how opportunistic Gregg Williams’ defense could be with a full complement of players. Save for Charles Grant, the Saints were almost completely healthy on the defensive side of the ball and it showed today, as they harassed Kurt Warner and held a Cardinal offense that scored 51 points last Sunday to just 14 on Saturday. They also forced two critical turnovers and could have added one more to that tally had the refs not called a cheap roughing the passer call after Darren Sharper intercepted Warner in the second quarter.

      Even though they had lost their previous three games, don’t forget that Payton and his coaching staff had two weeks to prepare for the Cardinals. Teams with the top two seeds in the playoffs don’t just get an off week to rest up – they also get two full weeks to study their opponents’ weaknesses. The Saints proved today how valuable it is for teams to earn the No. 1 seed in the postseason.

      Granted, New Orleans won’t be as fortunate to face a defense as bad as the one that took the field for the Cardinals over the past two weeks. But if Payton’s offense is clicking as well as it was today, then either the Cowboys or Vikings are going to have their hands full next Sunday.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NFL

      NFL Playoffs Fan Battle: Cardinals vs. Saints Preview

      January 14, 2010 /

      To get you ready for the Cardinals-Saints’ Divisional Round tilt in the “Big Easy” this Saturday, here’s a preview of the game via a mock dialogue between an Arizona and a New Orleans fan.

      Saint Fan: I bet Sean Payton couldn’t sleep after watching the Packers rip apart the Cardinals’ defense last Sunday! Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, James Jones and Jermichael Finley lit you guys up and we have similar weapons in Marques Colston, Jeremy Shockey, Devery Henderson and Robert Meachem. I can’t wait to see what that group will do against Arizona’s brutal secondary this Saturday!

      Cardinal Fan: Last week was an anomaly – the Cards’ defense won’t play that bad two weeks in a row. Ken Whisenhunt and his staff have already dissected what went wrong and are working to correct the problem. Besides, tackling was the main issue last week, which is correctable.

      Saint Fan: Payton just won coach of the year and is one of the brightest offensive minds in football. If Mike McCarthy figured out how to rack up 40-plus points on Arizona, then Payton might double that.

      Cardinal Fan: This isn’t the regular season – it’s the playoffs.

      Saint Fan: Wow, you’re just figuring this out now?

      Cardinal Fan: Hear me out; Whisenhunt is 4-1 in the postseason as the Cardinals’ head coach. He has already been to the Super Bowl and thus knows what it takes to get there. There’s no doubt Payton is a great coach, but there’s a lot more at stake for him this weekend with the Saints being the No. 1 seed and expected to reach the Super Bowl after running through the competition for most of the season.

      Saint Fan: Yeah, but let’s give defensive coordinator Gregg Williams his due. His aggressive style has changed how the Saints run their defense and he deserves just as much credit for our team’s success this year as Payton does.

      Cardinal Fan: Oh, you mean the same Gregg Williams-led defense that can’t stop the run? Once we establish the ground game with Beanie Wells, Kurt Warner is going to pick your fading defense apart with his precision passing. Plus, once we get inside the red zone we’re nearly unstoppable. We’ve scored touchdowns on 70.4 percent of our trips inside our opponents’ 20-yard line, which is the best in the league.

      Continue reading »

      NFL

      Sean Payton wins Coach of the Year

      January 14, 2010 /

      The Saints’ Sean Payton has been named NFL Coach of the Year by the Sporting News.

      For the second time in his four seasons as leader of the New Orleans Saints, Sean Payton is Sporting News Coach of the Year.

      After two years of the Saints not making the playoffs since they advanced to the NFC championship game after the 2006 season, Payton guided them to a 13-3 record. The five-game turnaround from 2008 took New Orleans from worst to first place in the NFC South.

      If Payton could split the award in half, I’m sure he’d give part of the honor to defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. The Saints’ defense has really struggled down the stretch, but most of that can be attributed to injuries on all three levels. For the most part, Williams has done a remarkable job turning the Saints’ defense into a unit that can (along with the offense’s help, of course) contend for a Super Bowl.

      I’m looking forward to seeing how Payton fares in his second postseason stint. His offensive schemes are excellent and he knows how to attack an opponent’s weaknesses. However, he couldn’t figure out the Cowboys in the regular season this year and the Bears in the postseason in 2006, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens if New Orleans meets Dallas again next week.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NFL

      NFL Week 16 COY Power Rankings

      January 3, 2010 /

      Upsets galore and crazy outcomes have forced us to look a bit harder at the Coach of the Year rankings, but most of our contenders are hanging tough.

      1. Jim Caldwell, Indianapolis Colts—The poor guy is still dodging proverbial rocks being thrown by Colts’ fans, who wanted their team to continue its pursuit of perfection instead of rolling over against the Jets. Being that the Colts were still in position to go to 15-0 when Caldwell did that, we have to cut him some slack and remember that his team is still the top seed in the AFC and would be in the NFC as well.

      2. Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints—Payton surely did not want to back into the #1 seed in the NFC, but after losing two games in a row, his team did just that when the Vikings’ loss Monday night let the Saints snag the top position. And once again, we have to consider the entire season’s body of work.

      3. Norv Turner, San Diego Chargers—When you consider that Turner’s Chargers always play lousy in September, only to win when it really matters, that’s far better than it being the other way around. It’s time we started to give Turner his due.

      4. Marvin Lewis, Cincinnati Bengals—The Bengals are another team not playing well, but they have dealt with two tragedies this season—the death of player Chris Henry, and the passing of the wife of D-coordinator Mike Zimmer. And still, the Bengals are 10-5 with an AFC North title. Raise your hand if you expected that.

      5. Brad Childress, Minnesota Vikings—Yes, the Vikings are floundering and in danger of losing the #2 seed to Philly or Dallas, but I’ll keep mentioning two players who Childress sought in the off-season that made this a championship caliber team—Brett Favre and Percy Harvin.

      Honorable mention: Ken Whisenhunt, Cardinals; Mike McCarthy, Packers; Andy Reid, Eagles; Bill Belichick, Patriots; Rex Ryan, Jets; Wade Phillips, Cowboys; Josh McDaniels, Denver Broncos

      NFL

      Saints pick the wrong time to start fading

      December 27, 2009 /

      It took 13 weeks for people to think the Saints were an unbeatable juggernaut, but only two to give everyone reason to doubt them.

      Connor Barth’s field goal in overtime gave the Buccaneers a surprising 20-17 win over the Saints in New Orleans on Sunday. The Saints blew a 17-0 first half lead, allowed 439 total yards on defense and 176 rushing yards. It was the second time in two weeks that the Saints lost at home after they fell to the Cowboys in Week 15.

      Every team wants to peak heading into the playoffs, but New Orleans is fading. Their offense hasn’t been as explosive the past two weeks as it had been earlier in the season and their defense hasn’t played well in over a month. They’ve also been handcuffed by some injuries on the defensive side of the ball, but every team is banged up at this point in the year.

      But while the Saints’ play has been troubling, don’t forget that the Cardinals faded down the stretch last year and wound up in the Super Bowl. New Orleans can use the bye week to get healthy and for Sean Payton to fix what has gone wrong over the past month. They might not be the hottest team heading into the playoffs, but the Saints are arguably still the most dangerous.

      Another thing to keep in mind is that if Garrett Hartley doesn’t miss a 37-yard field goal at the end of the fourth quarter, then the Saints would have escaped today with just a scare. They’d still be a team with issues, but the what’s-wrong-with-the-Saints questions would be kept to a minimum.

      NFL

      « Older posts Newer posts »

      © 2026 The Scores Report – The National Sports Blog

      Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑