How Dat? Sean Payton Wants To Know New England Patriots' Success Secret

Sean Payton has always known that the secret to success is to ask a lot of questions.

St. Augustine was one Saint who asked Jesus so many questions that Jesus finally handed him the key to the gates of heaven so Augustine would leave him alone.

Sean Payton asked Bill Parcells a lot of questions when he was a young assistant with the Dallas Cowboys, then soaked up the answers like a sponge. Payton even sought Parcells' advice before last year's Super Bowl and the ol' master obliged.

Anyone with a pulse and access to ESPN knows that repeating as Super Bowl champions is against all odds.

It just doesn't happen. Not very often anyway.

The last team to do it was the New England Patriots, following the 2003-04 seasons.

That was six years ago. That's how hard it is to do.

So it should come as no surprise that Sean Payton pulled Tom Brady aside on Tuesday morning for a friendly chat, according to the Boston Globe.

You see, in the words of a former President, it wouldn't be prudent to travel all the way to Boston and not ask Tom Brady and Bill Belichick how it's done—how do you win two in a row?

Payton wasn't asking Brady about those beautiful New England autumns. You can count on that. 

The Patriots are the standard by which the New Orleans Saints measure themselves. They are the organization the Saints are striving to become.

"I’ve said this a number of times, when we got hired in 2006, we looked closely at New England in regards to what they were doing. Clearly, they were the model, and we’re not afraid to talk about that,” Payton told the Boston Globe.

There’s a ton of times I’ve brought up, this is an organization that gets it. They put the team first. They do a great job of bringing in the key veteran players. They’ve got good quarterback play, they’re unselfish, and all those things you talk about. Like any business you study closely that’s successful, this is the team we’ve paid attention to.

Payton peppered Brady with questions:

Why didn't you repeat after winning the Super Bowl in 2001? What when wrong? You didn't even make the playoffs the following year.

Why did you repeat in 2004 after winning the Super Bowl in 2003? What changed that allowed you to repeat after you failed to repeat in 2002?

Brady told Payton that the fact that the Saints didn't lose a lot of players from last year's team doesn't mean diddly.

Payton told reporter Karen Guregian that Brady's message to him was, "just because you have a lot of your team back [from the championship], it really means nothing. It’s a new year, the best team will win the championship.”  

The Saints boss has never made any secret of the fact that he holds Bill Belichick in high regard. They say imitation is the highest form of flattery and Payton believes it.

The Saints were 10-0 heading into a nationally televised game with New England and Payton did his best Belichick imitation while addressing his team, speaking in that flat Belichick monotone.

It worked, as the Saints went on to embarrass the Patriots in a tipping-point game on the way to a Super Bowl championship.

"My grandmother used to say imitation was the greatest form of flattery,” Payton tells the Boston Globe this week. “He’s someone who’s done a great job. They’ve created a great environment here that we tried to create in New Orleans.”

This NFL is a high-stakes poker game, so don't expect the Patriots to divulge too many secrets to the Saints this week in Foxboro.

The Saints are playing with house money these days after pulling off the impossible one year ago.

So don't expect them to be shy about seeking answers from those nasty Patriots and the dour Belichick.

What have they got to lose? 

"They were the team of the decade,” said veteran linebacker Jonathan Vilma to the Boston Globe. “We’re just trying to get to where they were at as an organization"

And Tom Brady says good night and good luck.