Sean Payton Addresses Media For Final Time Before Super Bowl

New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton addressed the media for the final time this morning in Miami before his team's Super Bowl showdown with the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday evening.

Payton says he feels a victory would bind the team and coaching staff together forever. He talked about meeting his wife in Indiana and about the challenges Peyton Manning poses for his defense.

In maintaing the team's week-long philosophy of approaching this week as a business trip, Payton says overall the week has gone well in regards to maintaining a regular routine and avoiding distractions.

Payton says sure there will be nerves and players will be wound up but, "We'll manage that fine."

Here are some highlights:

1. On how Payton plans on getting Brees comfortable in the game : Payton: "I think the flow of the game is important always for a quarterback. You try to look at the defense you are getting, try to get some rhythm for him. He's (Brees) a guy that can get real hot early and I look at it as a coach as an objective of ours. Sometimes, it's through intermediate throws. Sometimes, it's screens. Sometimes, it's a throw down the field. Just have the right balance and mix is important in any big game."
2. On how the Saints have been able to handle the week: Payton: "We're on our normal schedule. There's a few little nuances just in regards to the logistics. This event (press conference) is a little different. We're in meetings right now. This is something we've done before in terms of travel and relocate. You know, our London game last year. Houston in the pre season this year. With Hurricane Gustav last year, we relocated to Indianapolis. You set up shop in the hotel much like you would training camp. You get your meeting rooms established. You get your itinerary and you try to stay on a routine. Those are the things that are important."
3. On what the turn-around against Miami meant to the season: Payton: "As the season goes on, you find yourself playing with leads, playing with deficits and certainly in that game we fell behind and didn't play too well early and Miami did a great job. We kind of hung in there in the second half and made a few plays. Got some turnovers and capitalized on them and that ended making a difference in giving us a chance to win. All these things build confidence and you hope to draw on those things in the post-season. Certainly, that was one of a handful of games where we fell behind and battled back and were able to overcome some early mistakes."
4. What will a Super Bowl championship mean to the City of New Orleans? Payton: "The relationship with the fans is unique. This is a city that has been very close to this team, through a lot of hard times and after (Hurricane) Katrina, when the Saints were able to get back and play in the Superdome, there was certainly some symbolism that evening. I think playing good football and giving them (the fans) something to be proud of is important. With as visible as our players are in the community, I think all those things make it a positive and make it pretty special.
5. On How Payton's experience as a Dallas Cowboy' assistant prepared him for this point in his career? Payton: "I was fortunate to have had three years with Bill Parcells. Four years before that with the New York Giants. Those are a couple of flagship organizations that have won a lot. Being with the people there in Dallas- Mr. (Jerry) Jones and his family, Bill (Parcells) and the staff he put together was a great experience for me. I consider myself fortunate to have had a chance to be touched by all these people we're talking about and they're a big reason why I'm sitting here today. They are very instrumental in my development.
6. On how Payton met his wife at Indiana State: Payton: "I've got a lot of family back in Indiana. Beth and I met at Indiana State where I was coaching. Her family is from back in that area, Morocco, Indiana, which is in the northern part of the state. I spent two years as a coach (in Indiana), my high school coach was from Indiana and a lot of good friends and family that live back there...My brother and sister-in-law live in Greenwood just south of Indianapolis. I think all of them were on the flight out here yesterday and probably were the ones wearing Saints jerseys."
7. On how Payton has grown as a head coach in the past four years: Payton: " I think you're leraning all the time. I think that certainly just as we ask our players to improve, study, hone their the skills, the same as to expected of us (coaches). There are ertain experience that are hard to simulate maybe and each year something little or something big comes up and you deal with it and reflect back some times at the end of the season and try to look at ways in which you can improve as a head coach. I think that's the nature of teaching, at least good teaching. So, that's something we try to pay very close attention to."
8. What would a Super Bowl mean to Sean Payton? Payton: "You know one of the things that you talk to your players about, an accomplishment like that almost binds you together forever as a team and a coaching staff."
9. Is the flexibilty on the Saints offense by design? Payton: "When you sign a player, you have to have a vision for the player. We're not going to draft and sign and than when they arrive say we're going to do this. Generally, when you sign a free agent player, you've got a pretty good vision as to what you want to do with them. I think it's important each year to be flexible in regards to the health of your team, in regards to who is playing well and to try to put them in good situations to give them a chance to be successful. But, he (the player) provides some flexibilty in that he plays "Y", he plays "F" and he can do a number of things. That's a good trait to have."
10. After losing the last three regular season games, what was your challenge in getting the team reday for the playoffs? Payton: "I think the key was preparing to play well in the playoffs. Much was made of finishing the regular season. I think most importantly was just getting prepared, physically and mentally, to play in the divisional round. No different than approach Indianaoplis was taking and certainly we wanted to win a couple of those close games. We weren't able to but to get guys healthy and to really focus on taking advantage of playing at home against Arizona and Minnesota. That became most important.
11. On Peyton Manning: Payton: "He's a tremendous player and we have a lot of repect for his accomplishments. Just like we did with Kurt Warner, you know the Hall of Fame player a couple of weeks ago and Brett Favre, another Hall of Fame player last week. We've had a stretch here where each week these guys are special. He (Manning) has done it over a long period of time. His staying power, his consistentcy, his approach is unique and that's why it's talked about so much. So, we've got a lot of repect for his abilities and what they've done offensively there and their coaches and their preperation. It will be a tremendous challenge for us. We're going to have our work cut out for us with the way he's playing.'