Sean Payton Suspended for 2012 Season: Why the Falcons Stand to Benefit the Most

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell laid the hammer on the New Orleans Saints’ bounty scandal on Wednesday in a move that has sent shockwaves throughout the NFC South division.

Among the penalties are fines, the loss of draft picks and the suspensions of general manager Mickey Loomis for eight games and assistant coach Joe Vitt for six. None, however, will be more significant to the Falcons than the year-long suspension of head coach Sean Payton.

That punishment alone leaves the division wide open for the taking, but it means a lot more to Atlanta than its NFC South rivals. That’s because Payton has dominated the Falcons since becoming New Orleans’ head coach in 2006, boasting a 10-2 career record against the Dirty Birds.

By comparison, the Saints are a mere 6-6 against the Carolina Panthers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in that span. 

With Payton now out of the picture, it’d be hard to argue against Atlanta being the front-runners to win the NFC South in 2012.

The Falcons have found consistent success under current head coach Mike Smith, posting four straight winning seasons–three of which resulted in playoff appearances–with a 2010 division title to their name.

On the other hand, while the Panthers and Bucs have been busy in free agency so far, both are coming off losing seasons and still have much to improve. 

As for the Saints, Payton’s suspension doesn’t necessarily make them completely irrelevant. After all, Payton wasn’t the one leading the league in touchdowns and breaking passing records last year. That would be Drew Brees, but it remains to be seen whether he'll be able to post those same numbers without Payton calling the plays in 2012.

In fact, his future in New Orleans itself is uncertain. The Saints’ signal-caller has yet to sign the franchise tag he received earlier this month, and if New Orleans had trouble coming to terms with Brees prior to learning of his head coach’s suspension, they definitely won't have it much easier now.

And all of this doesn’t even include the discipline Saints’ defenders are sure to receive. The league says anywhere between 22 and 27 players were implicated in the three-year bounty program, many of whom may still be with the Saints today. While it would be surprising for Goodell to suspend all of them at once, the possible absence of key defensive players for multiple games would put New Orleans at a great competitive disadvantage.  

But some will argue a win is a win, and Payton’s year-long suspension definitely increases the Falcons’ chances of doing just that when they'll take on the Saints next season.