The officiating was equally bad for both sides. So don't bring that into it.
Payton's team had the ball at the 13 with less than two minutes to play and his opposition having only two timeouts. He could have literally had Brees do three kneeldowns, and the third would have taken a big chunk off the clock. Then they could have kicked a chip shot field goal and forced the Rams to drive the field with no timeouts. Instead, he got greedy, threw on 2 of three plays, and left about 1:40 on the clock with the Rams having a timeout left. After the PI no call, he simply wouldn't let it go, becoming completely discombobulated, and it definitely affected his team. Go look at how Michael Thomas reacted on the INT - not only does he push off, but instead of trying to locate the ball, he *immediately* starts play acting for the ref, looking for the flag. That's a direct result of Payton continuing to harp on the officials and complain about the non-call long after it was over. As I said, Payton melted down, refusing to get over the call, continuing to complain to the officials even into the overtime. Instead of focusing on the situation in front of him, he focused on what was already done and couldn't be changed.
Arguing about McVay not going for it on the 1 - especially in a game we won, is futile. But consider the risk if he doesn't get it - the momentum swings significantly at that point, and the Rams are still behind. Instead he played the percentages, tied the game and didn't give the Saints a momentum boost. You can speculate what might have happened had he decided to go for it, but we know what actually did happen when he didn't - we tied the game, didn't give the Saints a much needed momentum boost, and we eventually won.
As for not using Gurley that much in the game, you obviously haven't been paying attention to his health status. He's been playing hurt, as we all know, despite the denials. If he was fully healthy, I'm sure he would have been used more. His fantasy stats from earlier in the season are completely irrelevant to the argument.
And on the INT in overtime, the only PI could have been offensive. Johnson had position, Thomas turned into him and pushed him over. Even the official on the broadcast said that, but he also noted that don't call PI on balls that float like that due to hits on the QB.
If you want to say Payton outcoached McVay in the NFCC, fine. I think most posters here will take that kind of "outcoached" any day, when the end result is us winning the NFCC in the opponents house.
