Is Sean Payton the Next Bill Belichick?

No, this is not a post about probable video recording by the now-current Super Bowl champion head coach. We may touch upon the 17-2-ness of the Colts as well, and maybe stop Bed Bath and Beyond, not sure if we’ll have time yet…

In all reality, the thought came to me very early this season as I heard multiple national media members claiming week after week that everything Bill Belichick did was premeditated. “He’s a defensive mastermind”, “The best of our generation”, and others could be heard saying week in and week out and no one here in New England would dare to question it.

However, I think now that we have lived through 4th-and-2 and seen the Patriots pull a completely unstellar 10-6 record on the season, the torch is being passed and in Super Bowl XLIV (or “Extra Large 4″ as El Mustachio likes to call it), Sean Payton took that torch right out of Belichick’s hand and forcefully stated into the microphone aptly branded with the NFL logo, “I’m in charge here!”

As many “Brady vs. Manning” articles as you will read throughout the internet this week and beyond, I think this is the really true story behind this Super Bowl victory for New Orleans when it comes to any regional tie-in for New England fans.

On August 29, 2005, doom was brought upon the region of New Orleans, beyond what they thought they knew, when Hurricane Katrina did the damage that is no news to anyone who is currently reading this. With Coach Jim Haslett at the wheel following the disaster and Saint’s games being played everywhere besides New Orleans, the team went 3-13 that following season playing home games in other teams’ stadiums.

On January 17, 2006, the Saints hired Sean Payton as their Head Coach and look where they are just four years later. Hoisting that Lombardi Trophy into the air!

Payton was able to take newly acquired Drew Brees and grow with him in his first head coaching job. Similar circumstances to Belichick’s quarterback commitments here in New England. In fact, it has almost become a regular benchmark in the Belichickian Tree (See: McDaniels, Josh and Cutler, Jay Orton, Kyle).

The Saints are now 42-27 under Payton in his four seasons at the helm and Super Bowl XLIV really was an exhibition of what he could do as a coach.

I am going to assume that most of you watched the game since it was the only thing on television all night besides The Sound of Music or Titanic, and if you watched either of those, you probably got to our site on accident.

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