Sean Payton Injury: Saints Must Rely on Super Bowl Experience with Coach Hurt

For most teams in the NFL, losing their coach to injury for any amount of time can be devastating.

However, for the New Orleans Saints, a team loaded with leaders well-versed in the ways of winning Super Bowls, Sean Payton's absence from the sidelines shouldn't prove to much of a hindrance whatsoever.

Payton underwent successful surgery on Monday to repair a broken left tibia and a lateral meniscus tear and won't be able to put any weight on the leg for at least eight weeks. Payton is expected to coach from the press box until his leg is healed.

In the meantime, the Saints will miss Payton's presence on the sideline but will hardly be held back if he can't be there in the flesh. Most communication from the head coach in the modern-day NFL is transmitted through the headset anyway, and, last I checked, they work just fine from more than a few feet away.

What's more, New Orleans already has a coach on the field, and his name is Drew Brees. The Saints quarterback has long been a living, breathing extension of Payton on the field, and while Brees didn't exactly have his finest game against the Buccaneers—a season-high three picks, a season-low 64.4 percent success rate on his passes—one game doesn't discount his long-standing track record of success in on-field leadership.

Brees isn't the only guy on the Saints roster with winning experience, either. New Orleans has a number of holdovers left from the Super Bowl-winning squad from two seasons ago, including Marques Colston, Pierre Thomas, Jonathan Vilma and Roman Harper. Additionally, Olin Kreutz, who joined the Saints' offensive line as a free agent this summer, played in Super Bowl XLI with the Chicago Bears. Hence, there's no shortage of players in "Nawlins" who know how to win, with or without Sean Payton in their ear at ever moment, telling them what to do.

Sure, having Payton limited to coaching from up top is anything but ideal, but it's certainly anything but damning. It might even prove to be a strategic advantage, as it will afford Payton a more complete view of the field, one that will allow his brilliant offensive mind even more information with which to adjust his game plan from play to play.

Not that anyone in the Bayou was panicking about Payton's injury to begin with, but the Saints should be fine while he's up in the booth. The Saints' only problem, at this point, is turnover prevention, something that Payton could hardly affect during any given game even with two healthy legs.