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February 9, 2010Thursday, Feb. 11
February 11, 2010
Saints coach Sean Payton walked into his team’s locker room and knew he had to do something to give his team second-half momentum.
The Saints had dominated the second quarter, but still trailed 10-6 at halftime, giving the Saints coach an itch to dig into his bag of tricks.
“We were down and I wanted to do something to kick-start our team in the second half,” Payton said. “So we took advantage of the longer halftime and told our guys what we were going to do.”
The play Payton turned to was a surprise onside kick to start the second half (the first such play in Super Bowl history) and the coach’s gamble paid a huge dividend as the Saints recovered the football and rolled to a dominant lead, en route to a 31-17 win.
“I just told our guys, ‘You’ve got to make me look good on this play and recover it,'” Payton said. “We did and it honestly became like a turnover for us.”
The coach said the Saints practiced the onside kick “countless times” in practice prior to the Super Bowl and it worked “only sometimes.”
“We had run it in practice all week and we knew we were going to find a place for it in the game at some point,” Payton said.
Colts coach Jim Caldwell said the onside kick was not the sole factor for his team’s inability to win the Super Bowl, but he said it played a part in the outcome.
“It’s not just one play, but that definitely got them going,” Caldwell said. “I think they fed off that one a little bit.”
Rolling the dice is nothing new to the Saints’ coach, who has made a career of pushing the envelope, which has resulted in both good and bad outcomes throughout his career.
“I love it,” said Saints quarterback Drew Brees. “That’s our mentality. Aggressiveness. Turn it loose. That’s us to a T. That’s why he’s one of the greatest.”
Payton’s risk-taking ways have not always been as successful as they were to start the second half on Sunday.
In 2007, he opted to run a late fourth quarter double-reverse, instead of a more conventional running play with the scoreboard on his side in a late-season divisional game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
That play resulted in a fumble, which handed the ball back to the Bucs and allowed them to earn a last-second, game winning touchdown drive, knocking the Saints out of playoff contention.
“That’s probably the worst job I’ve done as head coach since we’ve been here,” Payton said following that game. “Obviously, I regret the play call. It cost us the game.”
And even in the Super Bowl, the coach’s risks sometimes fell flat, like a 7-yard loss the team incurred on a reverse to Devery Henderson, or the decision to go for a touchdown on fourth and goal at the 1-yard-line, which resulted in the team being kept off the scoreboard.
But this year, the coach’s gambles have seemingly turned up more good results than bad and the reward — the Super Bowl title — has made every risk worthwhile, according to Saints’ owner Tom Benson.
“I feel like I can kiss him,” Benson said of his coach.
The Saints’ season started with Payton going out on a limb as the coach gave up $250,000 of his own salary to bring in veteran defensive coordinator Gregg Williams to improve what was one of the NFL’s worst statistical defenses last season.
The move turned the Saints defense into one of the NFL’s best units at forcing turnovers and it was an interception return for a touchdown that sealed the team’s Super Bowl win.
The Saints reportedly will reimburse Payton $250,000 for taking the pay cut – a move safety Roman Harper said might have saved the season.
“Coach Williams just gives us so much confidence,” he said. “We all trust in his scheme and he’s made a big difference.”
Payton now joins the club of elite coaches that have won the Super Bowl championship.
And no matter how many risks in the future may come up flat, Payton said his style will never change because of the success his team was able to earn this year.
“This feeling right here,” Payton said as he clutched the Lombardi Trophy. “This is pretty strong. I can’t describe how this feels.”
New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton walks on the sidelines during the first half of the NFL Super Bowl XLIV football game against the Indianapolis Colts in Miami, Sunday, Feb. 7, 2010. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
