Saints Are Out-Paytoned

In preparation for the season, commentators have been repeating—as they do every year—that the Saints will struggle because every team they play will play extra hard to knock off the defending champs. I traditionally haven’t given much credence to this theory. The NFL is a wonderfully competitive league, which means almost any team has a legitimate shot at beating the Super Bowl champions on any given Sunday. But after the first three weeks of watching my Saints struggle, it seems that either they really are playing a regular season of Super Bowls, or the Saints are just not yet back in form.

It’s a fair argument that the Saints should have won yesterday’s game. We gave up three turnovers, a 100-yard rusher and a 100-yard receiver, and we were still a missed field goal away from winning. That said, the Saints were fairly lucky to leave 0-3 San Francisco with a victory last Monday night, and the Falcons really did earn that victory. Unlike with Dallas Clark in the Super Bowl, the Saints never found an answer for Tony Gonzalez. The Falcons’ second quarter, 19-play touchdown drive was demoralizing and downright emasculating. And Atlanta showed guts and resilience on the Saints’ home field.

What most concerned me about the game yesterday was that the Saints were out-Paytoned. What I mean to say is that the Saints’ game-plan was less dynamic and less aggressive than we’ve come to expect from Sean Payton. Mike Smith attempted three fourth down conversions, converting two of them, and he kept running the ball to keep the defense honest. On key plays, including a failed fourth-down conversion, Sean Payton gave the ball to rookie Chris Ivory rather than Drew Brees.

Finally, on his home field, Sean Payton elected to kick a field goal rather than try to score the touchdown. Mathematically it probably made sense not to risk anything. Pierre Thomas was possibly injured; Chris Ivory had already fumbled; Drew Brees had thrown two interceptions. But to me the call didn’t match the identity of the New Orleans Saints as Payton and Brees have sculpted it. The same team that attempted an onside kick in the Super Bowl should say: We have home field. We have the best quarterback in the league. We’re gonna take two shots at the end zone. And then we can talk about a field goal.