Saints Shouldn't Just Honor Sean Payton's Absence, They Should Make It Permanent

News continues to emanate from the Big Easy as a result of the "player bounty" scandal that has rocked the New Orleans Saints, but once again the team seems more concerned with circling their wagons than, in any way, holding the parties apparently at the center of the scandal accountable.

Head coach Sean Payton, who was suspended by the NFL for the entire 2012 season as a result of a program that allegedly offered financial incentives for injuring opposing players, was a conspicuous absence when the Saints opened their rookie minicamp last week.

That absence will continue to be conspicuous all season long. The New Orleans Times-Picayune  reports that in a show of solidarity towards their embattled head coach, the team will leave Payton's seat empty on team flights and in meetings for the remainder of the season.

At first glance, this may appear to be nothing more than a nice gesture, meant to further foster the "us against the world" mentality that New Orleans will undoubtedly use as a rallying cry this year in light of the numerous suspensions that were levied against coaches and players alike.

However, if you take a look a little deeper and examine some of the comments made by interim head coach Joe Vitt about Payton's absence, you'll see something different and much more troubling entirely, especially given that Vitt is staring at a six-game suspension himself as a result of the scandal.

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"How would Pittsburgh react if Chuck Noll was gone? Or how would Dallas react if Tom Landry wasn't there? Or San Francisco without Bill Walsh?" Vitt said. "Sean's put those kinds of numbers up. He has that kind of recognition in the league. Nobody can take his place. ... We recognize the challenge we are facing."

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The ridiculousness of comparing Payton to any of those coaches aside (Super Bowl rings: nine. Year-long suspensions: zero), Vitt's comments sound a lot less like a remorseful coach trying to make the best of a bad situation than they do the musings of a man who believes that Payton's most serious offense in this whole mess was getting caught.

Payton, Vitt and general manager Mickey Loomis appealed their suspensions last month, claiming that the bounty program was the work of "rogue" defensive coordinator Gregg Williams (now conveniently with the St. Louis Rams and facing an indefinite suspension of his own) and that the trio had no knowledge of its existence.

Commissioner Roger Goodell, not surprisingly, didn't buy it, and the suspensions were upheld.

If Payton really didn't know that his defensive coordinator was running amok and placing bounties on opposing players, then he should be fired for completely losing control of his team. Payton doesn't really strike one as the whole "lose control" type, however, so you can bet your last nickel that he knew about the program, and either implicitly condoned it or simply turned a blind eye.

Either way, Payton (and Vitt and Loomis for that matter) should have been shown the door.

Were it a head coach such as Romeo Crennel or Gary Kubiak we were talking about, we wouldn't even be having this conversation, as they would have been fired about 11 seconds after the extent of this scandal became known.

However, the Payton regime has led the New Orleans Saints from the depths of futility to a Super Bowl championship. So, even in an era where player safety is at the forefront of issues facing the NFL rather than any real action from owner Tom Benson, all that came from the Saints was an apology of sorts from Payton and Loomis and a statement from Benson that the team would weather the storm.

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“I have been made aware of the NFL’s findings relative to the “Bounty Rule” and how it relates to our club. I have offered and the NFL has received our full cooperation in their investigation. While the findings may be troubling, we look forward to putting this behind us and winning more championships in the future for our fans.”

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Many supporters of the Saints will no doubt simply label me a "hater" and claim that the actions of the team, up to and including leaving Payton's seat empty all year, are simply a show of loyalty towards their head coach after he was one of the victims of an NFL witch hunt.

If you want to believe it's about loyalty, that's your right, but unfortunately, Payton's continued employment with the New Orleans Saints likely has a lot less to do with loyalty than it does with the Saints keeping around a coach that they think will help them win the most football games in the future.

And in the NFL, winning football games trumps doing the right thing about 99 percent of the time. If it didn't, the Saints wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.

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