Payton and Brees, стр. 68
“I knew in my heart of hearts, [leaving the Saints] was not going to be something that came to fruition, and that was something I knew in my heart that I didn’t want to come to fruition,” Payton said that day. “And yet, there’s a part of what we do that we can’t control. There will be a time where they don’t want you back anymore, and that’s okay. One by one that train stops for all of us.”
But the positive vibes didn’t last long.
After another disappointing 7–9 season in 2016, reports surfaced that Payton was putting out similar feelers with the Los Angeles Rams, who had fired head coach Jeff Fisher that December. By this time, Loomis and Saints ownership had grown weary of Payton’s dalliances with other teams. After three consecutive losing seasons, there was a feeling by some inside that organization that a change might be best for both sides. The Saints were prepared to lose Payton and start a new chapter. The Rams asked to interview Payton the week after the Saints’ season-ending 38–32 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, but once Loomis informed them any “trade” for Payton would involve compensation in the form of high draft picks, the Rams backed off and turned their sights toward Washington Redskins offensive coordinator Sean McVay, whom they eventually hired a week later. With encouragement from Ornstein, who was playing the role of consigliere, Payton and Loomis once again met behind closed doors and reconciled their differences.
Loomis knew smart, talented leaders like Payton were hard to find. But he also knew that these things happened sometimes in the NFL. Great coaches can lose their way. Environments can go stale on them if they stay too long in one place. It happened to Andy Reid in Philadelphia and to Mike McCarthy in Green Bay. Sometimes a change can be the best thing for both sides. Loomis didn’t want to lose his head coach. He was loyal to Payton. But his first loyalty was to the organization, and he believed the Saints needed and deserved a coach who was “all in.” Loomis knew the landscape of the NFL. He knew the Saints, with their respected, hands-off owner Gayle Benson, fawning small-market media corps, and favorable lease arrangement with the state of Louisiana, were a unique franchise with several built-in advantages Payton wouldn’t experience elsewhere.
“Those three years had been rough, and I had some pretty frank and hard discussions with him about it,” Loomis said. “And I think he eventually arrived at the decision that this is where he wanted to coach for the rest of his career. And that was a change from previous years.”
Added Payton: “Mickey and I talked that offseason about the direction we were going. It was not renewing our vows but reconsidering what we created [in 2006] and how fragile that can be. Mrs. Benson has been great to work for. Mickey and Dennis [Lauscha] have done a lot of tremendous things for the organization. This is where I plan on coaching the rest of my career. I’ll be here as long as they’ll have me. I read something a few weeks back…‘Leave early a hero, stay late and become a villain.’ And if I have to someday become that villain, I plan on staying until everyone says we’re burning your wagon out of town. And I’m comfortable with that. I am.”
After three consecutive losing seasons, something had to change, though. Payton and Loomis agreed to overhaul the defensive and special teams coaching staff. Payton fired five assistants, including longtime loyal lieutenants Joe Vitt, Greg McMahon, and Bill Johnson.
“One of the biggest mistakes executives make in professional sports is they make decisions based on the record instead of making decisions on whether you believe you have a great coach,” Loomis said. “If the record didn’t reflect that there’s other reasons for it. It’s not just the head coach. I knew we had a great head coach.”
Loomis’ steady hand throughout the tumultuous 2014–16 seasons was critical in maintaining organizational stability. Another general manager almost certainly would have moved on from Payton, given his transgressions. Someone with a bigger ego would have jettisoned the head coach and found a more malleable replacement. Loomis, after all, was the one who plucked Payton from anonymous assistant coaching ranks in 2006 and willingly allowed him to become the face of the organizational makeover after Hurricane Katrina. But Loomis knew the Saints were better with Payton leading the way. At times, Payton was a handful to manage, but his talent more than compensated for the hassles he sometimes created.
“Sean needs Mickey, and Mickey needs Sean,” Strief said. “They make each other better. There’s no question Sean works best when he has people around him to rein him in. And Mickey is the perfect guy for that.”
Added Brunell, the former backup quarterback who played in five different organizations during his 17-year playing career: “Mickey is a key guy in this whole thing. He realized what they had was special. He knew how to navigate the situation and keep Sean around and that was very impressive.”
Dome-ination:
2018 Philadelphia Eagles
When the Philadelphia Eagles visited the Superdome in Week 11 of the 2018 season, they were only 10 months removed from the franchise’s first Super Bowl title. Coach Doug Pederson was still the talk of the town and quarterback Carson Wentz was still being hailed as the city’s next conquering hero. A spate of injuries and the inherent challenge of defending their title had conspired to wreck the first half of their season. The Eagles arrived in New Orleans at 4–5, having lost all five games by a touchdown or less.
“If you want to be one of the best teams in the league, you have to beat the best, and I know teams are saying that about us,” Pederson said during a conference call with New Orleans–area reporters the week of