What Saints fans are saying

[Mojo Ram]

Little revenge going both ways.

Explain. The Saints revenge angle is obvious, over"blown"(see what i did there?) and beaten into submission....
but what are the Rams mad about? I don't see it.

 

[SteezyEndo]

View attachment 30168

Their dome looks like a UFO. Its possible. But honestly someone needs to crop that crying Jordan face and place it on top of the Superdome.

 

[RamsOfCastamere]

Does he really still believe the officiating favored the Rams in the NFCCG last year? You'd have to be in a cave to not to have been exposed all the noncalls that went on. It's not like one somehow "counts" more.

Actually statistically the ones that happen earlier skew a greater number of future plays, iInm.

He's just a casual sports fan thats influenced by BSPN and is more LSU than Saints. He's actually just a cool guy from the bayou and didnt say much about it, but I pushed it to get something out of him. For a while, my desktop background was the final score of the NFC Championship and after the game I sent a text saying "sorry for that ass beating"

 

[Dieter the Brock]

 

[Corbin]

View attachment 30172View attachment 30173View attachment 30174View attachment 30175View attachment 30177

LMAo would be hilarious to have people giving these paper bags away at the game to incite the Aints fans that go!

 

[Akrasian]

Explain. The Saints revenge angle is obvious, over"blown"(see what i did there?) and beaten into submission....
but what are the Rams mad about? I don't see it.

Their great season was overshown by one bad call - ignoring the large number of non-calls throughout the rest of the game - so many mistakenly believe they weren't legitimate NFC champs. They are legitimately pissed about that.

I'm optimistic for a beat down.

 

[kurtfaulk]

Their great season was overshown by one bad call - ignoring the large number of non-calls throughout the rest of the game - so many mistakenly believe they weren't legitimate NFC champs. They are legitimately pissed about that.

I'm optimistic for a beat down.

Yeah, instead of talking about the rams during the superbowl lead up everyone was talking about that call. I blame the producers of the talk shows for this as they saw a gold mine with that topic. They wouldn't let it go for that two weeks.

And then in the superbowl the rams were getting flagged for minor shit and the cheats got away with dpi on cooks when he was gonna catch a td at a crucial stage of the 4th qtr. It's like that one call had an influence on the refs in the superbowl.

The rams want everyone to know they're so much better than those whiney bitches.

.

 

[payote75]

It blows my mind how these dopey saints fans need to focus on that one play to fuel their team which is hanging by a 40 year old thread in Drew Brees. I get it call was blown but other calls were blown to. Goffs facemask call??? that changes the game completely right cry baby saints fans????? Refs blow calls, unfortunately for you the saints were on the side of the last bad call of the game that wasn't called lolol. All that aside you still had chances to win but turned into little Whitney sissies and the Rams slapped the shit out of you and you lost in your flying saucer dome.
And here's a news flash saints fans try pointing some of those fingers at your grinch faced coach. Got to face that your coach wanted the kill shot on Mcvey and got to cutsie and that cost you just as much. And then there's your defense you were home whistles blowing just keep your opponent out of fg range nope couldn't do that. Win the coin toss score in your home nope couldn't do that. So yes focus on the call fuel your vengeance but Rams did the impossible in your house down 13-0 with those annoying fans whistling we focused and over came the bullshit calls against us and we earned our trip to the big game.
The year prior you blew it with the Minnesota Miracle which to me was a worse way to lose cause there wasn't any other chances for you to regroup and win.
At some point saints fans have to admit that you guys have a propensity to choke and I say this with no disrespect to hurricane victims and my heart will go out to those people that went through that tragedy forever but the saints needed a castrophic event to fuel their way to a Super Bowl. I wonder if the league through you a bone that year for all the terrible events that took place. New Orleans the city and the people deserved it but let's face it the football team had to use that tragedy to push through since then it's been nothing but choke city.

Besides if you need a PI. call to win a game like that in your own chaotic environment be honest with yourself saints fans did you deserve to win????? Did you play well enough to win??? Your just like us you would have taken any way possible to get to the super bowl and unfortunately it was you who ended up dateless at the prom.

See ya Sunday bitches!!!!

 

[Corbin]

Their dome looks like a UFO. Its possible. But honestly someone needs to crop that crying Jordan face and place it on top of the Superdome.

 

[RamBall]

I hope McVay challenges a not called PI and wins it or payton challenges a not called PI and it goes against the aints. I want this new rule to go against the aints every fuckin week.

 

[RamsSince1969]

And Rams Hall of Fame WR Tom Fears was their first Head Football Coach!
View attachment 30145
View attachment 30146

Just kidding on the inappropriate. Just a crazy fact I didn't know.

 

[CGI_Ram]

I think we are probably more motivated than the Saints for this one... as it relates to any carryover from last year.

 

[RocknRam29]

View: https://twitter.com/ThinkBlue47/status/1172140273930887170?s=19

 

[OC--LeftCoast]

Their great season was overshown by one bad call - ignoring the large number of non-calls throughout the rest of the game - so many mistakenly believe they weren't legitimate NFC champs. They are legitimately pissed about that.

I'm optimistic for a beat down.

Preach my man

Been saying it all along

Anyone believing the Saints have the larger chip on the shoulder, well pretty much couldn’t smell the coffee if it was brewing under their nose

 

[LARams_1963]

Preach my man

Been saying it all along

Anyone believing the Saints have the larger chip on the shoulder, well pretty much couldn’t smell the coffee if it was brewing under their nose

I dunno..... reading this article today it sounds like Sour Puss and Bree's are still whining..... I'd say they are carrying the bigger chip.

Saints' Sean Payton, Drew Brees shake off painful playoff defeats

www.nfl.com

Saints' Asshole Face, Drew Brees shake off painful playoff defeats

Print

• 
• By Michael Silver
• NFL.com columnist
• Published: Sept. 12, 2019 at 09:06 a.m.
• Updated: Sept. 12, 2019 at 10:38 a.m.

METAIRIE, La. -- He had been sharing his thoughts for more than 90 minutes, proudly providing an "MTV Cribs"-style tour of the New Orleans Saints' newly revamped training facility and opening up about topics ranging from his future in the Crescent City to the lingering effects of The Missed Call Heard Round The World -- especially the latter.
Now, as he sat in his office on a Friday afternoon last month sipping on a Red Bull Total Zero, Asshole Face wanted to make something abundantly clear about last January's cruel officiating gaffe that likely cost his team a chance to play for a championship, and his voice rose accordingly. "Here's the thing," Payton said. "I want to make sure -- like, I think there's this perception that we keep complaining or bitching about it. And honestly, we haven't at all."
If Payton, now in his 13th season as the Saints' head coach, has done his best to move past the voodoo-curse-level bad luck that befell his team in the NFC Championship Game, which ended with an overtime defeat to the Los Angeles Rams, the rest of the football-watching world hasn't made it easy.



As the NFL's 100th season kicked off last week, fans and media analysts were still adjusting to the rules change provoked by the controversy, with offensive and defensive pass interference calls -- and non-calls -- now included in replay review. And with the Saints (1-0) heading to L.A. for a rematch with the Rams (1-0) at the Coliseum on Sunday, all of those psychic scabs will be ripe for the picking.
Payton gets it. He expects it. If anything, the uproar provoked by the drama that played out last January in the Superdome -- when Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman plowed into receiver Tommylee Lewis well before the ball arrived, but the flag that would have allowed the Saints to drain the clock and kick a chip-shot field goal to break a tie on the final play of regulation stayed in the back judge's pocket -- has been a source of comfort.
"It really validates how poor the miss was," he said. "It was probably one of the worst mistakes in the history of officiating."
In any sport?
"Yeah."
Payton and his longtime partner in offensive artistry, future first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees, have tried valiantly to let go of the sudden and painful end to their 2018 season, just as they did a little more than a year earlier, when what looked like a dramatic, come-from-behind playoff victory fell prey to the Minnesota Miracle.
That Divisional Round defeat to the Vikings was tough to stomach. Getting shafted out of a Super Bowl last January, at home, in a game they'd led 13-0? Well, that was a haymaker to the gut.
"I think everybody was in a pretty deep depression there for a while -- which is understandable," Brees recalled. "It's probably one of the worst feelings I've ever had as an athlete. We'll just leave it at that. Does that sting ever really go away? No, I don't think so. I mean, there are defining moments throughout my career that just torment me a little bit, but it's also what drives me. And unfortunately, that heartbreak is just part of the process at times."



Seldom has a major professional sports franchise swallowed such a sobering double dose of heartbreak in back-to-back years. That the Saints successfully bounced back from the Minnesota Miracle to earn the NFC's No. 1 seed in 2018 was a testament to their resilience. Now, with Brees having turned 40, they're determined to prop up what's left of their championship window and steel themselves for another run -- one which got off to a promising and dramatic start Monday night at the Superdome.
And make no mistake: Ten years removed from hoisting the franchise's first and only Lombardi Trophy, Payton and Brees know this current New Orleans team, at least on paper, is good enough to do it again. The Saints have most of their key players back from 2018, many of them ascending young standouts, and the addition of veteran tight end Jared Cook could help Payton's offense evoke memories of the Jimmy Graham heyday.
Now 55, and seven years removed from a season-long banishment in the wake of a bounty scandal, Payton is in a good place, and he has assumed the unlikely role of sympathetic figure. Come January, if the Saints are once again in position to reach the Super Bowl, you can bet that legions of impartial observers will be in their corner, if only because of the widespread conviction that they got hosed against the Rams.
"Honestly, you go through the whole winter and spring and summer and jump in an Uber, get in a cab, go to a hotel and the guy from room service can't believe it," Payton said. "Like, I'm in Turks and Caicos, and my driver stops the car to look back and say, 'I cannot believe ...' So the point I'm making is, (there are) a thousand reminders: 'I know you've probably heard this, but I cannot believe what happened.' And it's all good. It kind of is what it is."
At the Annual League Meeting in March, Payton, a member of the NFL's Competition Committee, also felt a surge of support. Though conventional wisdom suggested that a significant rules change pertaining to replay review of pass interference calls and non-calls was highly unlikely, there was a widespread desire among coaches to do so, resulting in a 31-1 vote to implement the eventual proposal on a one-year basis.
To Payton, it was a clear statement that a repeat of the on-the-field officiating oversight that probably cost his team a Super Bowl berth was unacceptable, and he used a rather extreme analogy to illustrate his point.
"Well look," he said, "in the league meetings, there's enough smart guys in that room -- 32 owners, coaches, GMs -- that sit in there and (say) let's agree that if you don't do a thing, then you essentially say, 'Hey, the next Katrina that comes, it's going to flood, and why would you expect different results?' And if you're comfortable with that, then, OK. But, I mean, in other words, that can't happen again."
Payton foresees other eventual changes which, he believes, will help shore up officiating, especially at the most crucial moments. He'd like to see an end to the all-star crew model in the playoffs and instead keep regular crews together for postseason games.

His analogy: "If you and I meet on a Friday and go play golf, there's a good chance most of our round is going to be exchanging pleasantries, getting to know each other, human nature. And then if we play every Friday for the last five years, at some point we're going to see something and call bulls---. There's a comfort level you have, a confidence level being around someone. So, when you put a young official with a veteran and the veteran doesn't have quite the same angle -- the young official's got a great angle; he's got our angle -- and all of a sudden the call's made and the veteran is 'No, no no, no, no' ... at that very moment, human nature kicks in, and you acquiesce. It's happened in airplane crashes, where the young co-pilot does not want to step on the pilot, out of respect. One of the planes that went down, they were able to gather the information and they knew the co-pilot knew (that what the pilot was doing was wrong) -- and yet ... So, that's a bit extreme. But my point is it's much easier to disagree with someone you work with on a regular basis than with someone you just met and are working with for the first time ever."
Payton also believes the move toward hiring full-time officials will accelerate, with a centralized, day-to-day operation, although the program was put on hiatus in 2019 as the league continues labor discussions with the Referees Association. "The amount of hours we spend, up 'til 2 a.m. with the game plans -- it's hard when we're still the only sport that doesn't have 100 percent full-time officials," he said. "It's hard to think that these guys, a lot of them are going back to their jobs on Monday. I don't think a lot of your readers are aware of that. And look, there's going to be a point where the officials for the NFL (live in the same place). If you're in the Navy, you're going to live in San Diego. And if you're in the wine business, you're going to be in Napa. And I think that eventually is where it'll get to."
In the meantime, Payton is focusing on what he can control, and not dwelling on how strange it is that he'd suffer two such painful playoff eliminations in as many years.
"What's weirder (would be if) you're not in the postseason and you're not of any relevance," he said. "Because there's 20 teams -- you and I know this -- that have no chance of winning the Super Bowl (in a given season). Now, they can win on Sunday. But they're dysfunctional. (Sometimes) change takes place and now the Rams are a contender. You try to stay one of those teams."



And Payton is quick to point out that every team coming off a postseason disappointment -- including the Rams and coach Sean McVay, whose offense fizzled in a Super Bowl LIII defeat to the New England Patriots -- is challenged by the circumstance.
"What's harder to recover from?" Payton asked. "That (NFC Championship Game) loss, or the Rams' Super Bowl loss scoring three points? In other words, there's a difference when you feel like someone took something from you.
"As you get older, you become an expert on really focusing on the things that you can control, because you begin to be smarter with your energy. When you're younger, sometimes you expend energy on things that, you're like, 'Ah, you're not changing anything here.' But this is a good group, a hungry group. And yeah, you work off the chip on the shoulder a little bit, which is healthy."
It helps that Brees, in his 19th season, is still willing and able to shoulder the load. Like 42-year-old Tom Brady, the man seems to be a freak of nature who defies every prior conception of a quarterback's career lifespan. Both Brees and Payton say there is no sign of a drop-off in his physical skills, and his season-opening performance against the Texans (32 for 43, 370 yards, two TDs, one interception and a game-winning drive) presented no counterargument.
For much of the past decade, there was a sense in NFL circles that Brees might outlast Payton in New Orleans. There were rampant rumors that Payton wanted to leave for another job -- and, specifically, that he'd join forces with Jerry Jones and become the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, for whom he was once an assistant.
Currently in Year 4 of the five-year, $45 million contract extension he signed in the spring of 2016, Payton sounds pretty attached to the Crescent City.
"This is home," he said. "I have a house here. I'm here full-time. Every year, we do more (to upgrade the training facility)."
And what about the whispers that he'd try to leave for Dallas, or another locale? "I think if it ends, it means no one's paying attention, and you're not winning."
History would suggest that Payton has many more victories in his future. Brees is in a much more tenuous position. Given that he likely doesn't have many more chances to capture another championship, last January's defeat may have been even more jolting to the quarterback. Yet like Payton, he's determined not to dwell on the disappointment and is driven to deliver in its wake.



"I mean, listen -- I could sit here for an hour and talk about just how devastating it was," Brees said in August. "And yet, is there anything I can do about it? There's not a darn thing I can do about it. And so, if I allow it to prevent me from moving forward, to accomplishing what I feel like is out there to still accomplish -- shame on me.
"So, I'm not going to let that happen. I'll try to use it as fuel for something more positive, just like we did the year before with the Minnesota deal, and you move on."
On Sunday, he'll try to lead the Saints to victory in L.A. against a formidable foe that can't help but scare up emotional scar tissue on the visiting sideline. Payton, Brees and the Saints won't be crowd favorites at the Coliseum, but they will have a lot of support from otherwise-neutral outsiders who admire their resilience and would appreciate a redemptive championship run.
As for the Football Gods -- well, are they truly neutral this time around, or do they owe the Saints something after back-to-back postseason smackdowns?
"I'm kind of a realist," Payton said. "I believe that they only owe us what we're going to take."
Follow Michael Silver on Twitter @MikeSilver.

 

[LARAMSinFeb.]

I dunno..... reading this article today it sounds like Sour Puss and Bree's are still whining..... I'd say they are carrying the bigger chip.

Saints' Sean Payton, Drew Brees shake off painful playoff defeats

www.nfl.com

Wow. This is the football-lite narrative: a gen-pop view of the NFCC game based on 1 play, all propagated by a clickbait-era media.

What's incredible is there are still people who should know football a little more in depth (Silver, Payton in this case) continuing to propagate this casual-observer narrative.

Facts:
1. Most of the errant officiating favored the Saints in the NFCCG.
2. The Rams overcame far more (poor officiating, they couldn't audibly communicate their entire offensive series, etc.) and thus proved the stronger team.
3. The Saints didn't even earn 1st seed or home field to begin with, based on poor officiating, again free for anyone to see who'd like to research it.

Don't we all learn early in life you don't blame sports losses on one bad call? Isn't that part of what kids' community sports leagues are about?

A reason to be proud of L.A.: we didn't en masse blame our SB loss on the poor officiating that hurt us.

 

[Mackeyser]

I agree that Any Given Sunday doesn't really extend to the playoffs, but did that bitch just call us dysfunctional???

I mean, here I am actually agreeing with him on full time refs and then he says THAT???

Seriously, F him.

 

[Mackeyser]

Wow. This is the football-lite narrative: a gen-pop view of the NFCC game based on 1 play, all propagated by a clickbait-era media.

What's incredible is there are still people who should know football a little more in depth (Silver, Payton in this case) continuing to propagate this casual-observer narrative.

Facts:
1. Most of the errant officiating favored the Saints in the NFCCG.
2. The Rams overcame far more (poor officiating, they couldn't audibly communicate their entire offensive series, etc.) and thus proved the stronger team.
3. The Saints didn't even earn 1st seed or home field to begin with, based on poor officiating, again free for anyone to see who'd like to research it.

Don't we all learn early in life you don't blame sports losses on one bad call? Isn't that part of what kids' community sports leagues are about?

A reason to be proud of L.A.: we didn't en masse blame our SB loss on the poor officiating that hurt us.

You damn right. We got some "Fisher Rams" calls during the season for sure.

And just in the NFCCG, if you're going to focus on the no call* , then in the age of "the NFL must protect the QB above all else" era, HOW do they miss the blatant face mask on Goff??? Those calls are ROUTINELY made even for 3rd string journeymen QBs because the league is all about protecting the QB.

One could argue that THAT no call was just as big because if we get a first and goal off of that Facemask, then it's likely we score a TD and that totally changes the game at that point.

*(which was totally PI and I actually appreciate the rule change as we've been jobbed on no calls for YEARS, so I actually think it will help us in the long run)

 

[Loyal]

I dunno..... reading this article today it sounds like Sour Puss and Bree's are still whining..... I'd say they are carrying the bigger chip.

Saints' Sean Payton, Drew Brees shake off painful playoff defeats

www.nfl.com

Saints' Asshole Face, Drew Brees shake off painful playoff defeats

Print

• 
• By Michael Silver
• NFL.com columnist
• Published: Sept. 12, 2019 at 09:06 a.m.
• Updated: Sept. 12, 2019 at 10:38 a.m.

METAIRIE, La. -- He had been sharing his thoughts for more than 90 minutes, proudly providing an "MTV Cribs"-style tour of the New Orleans Saints' newly revamped training facility and opening up about topics ranging from his future in the Crescent City to the lingering effects of The Missed Call Heard Round The World -- especially the latter.
Now, as he sat in his office on a Friday afternoon last month sipping on a Red Bull Total Zero, Asshole Face wanted to make something abundantly clear about last January's cruel officiating gaffe that likely cost his team a chance to play for a championship, and his voice rose accordingly. "Here's the thing," Payton said. "I want to make sure -- like, I think there's this perception that we keep complaining or bitching about it. And honestly, we haven't at all."
If Payton, now in his 13th season as the Saints' head coach, has done his best to move past the voodoo-curse-level bad luck that befell his team in the NFC Championship Game, which ended with an overtime defeat to the Los Angeles Rams, the rest of the football-watching world hasn't made it easy.



As the NFL's 100th season kicked off last week, fans and media analysts were still adjusting to the rules change provoked by the controversy, with offensive and defensive pass interference calls -- and non-calls -- now included in replay review. And with the Saints (1-0) heading to L.A. for a rematch with the Rams (1-0) at the Coliseum on Sunday, all of those psychic scabs will be ripe for the picking.
Payton gets it. He expects it. If anything, the uproar provoked by the drama that played out last January in the Superdome -- when Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman plowed into receiver Tommylee Lewis well before the ball arrived, but the flag that would have allowed the Saints to drain the clock and kick a chip-shot field goal to break a tie on the final play of regulation stayed in the back judge's pocket -- has been a source of comfort.
"It really validates how poor the miss was," he said. "It was probably one of the worst mistakes in the history of officiating."
In any sport?
"Yeah."
Payton and his longtime partner in offensive artistry, future first-ballot Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees, have tried valiantly to let go of the sudden and painful end to their 2018 season, just as they did a little more than a year earlier, when what looked like a dramatic, come-from-behind playoff victory fell prey to the Minnesota Miracle.
That Divisional Round defeat to the Vikings was tough to stomach. Getting shafted out of a Super Bowl last January, at home, in a game they'd led 13-0? Well, that was a haymaker to the gut.
"I think everybody was in a pretty deep depression there for a while -- which is understandable," Brees recalled. "It's probably one of the worst feelings I've ever had as an athlete. We'll just leave it at that. Does that sting ever really go away? No, I don't think so. I mean, there are defining moments throughout my career that just torment me a little bit, but it's also what drives me. And unfortunately, that heartbreak is just part of the process at times."



Seldom has a major professional sports franchise swallowed such a sobering double dose of heartbreak in back-to-back years. That the Saints successfully bounced back from the Minnesota Miracle to earn the NFC's No. 1 seed in 2018 was a testament to their resilience. Now, with Brees having turned 40, they're determined to prop up what's left of their championship window and steel themselves for another run -- one which got off to a promising and dramatic start Monday night at the Superdome.
And make no mistake: Ten years removed from hoisting the franchise's first and only Lombardi Trophy, Payton and Brees know this current New Orleans team, at least on paper, is good enough to do it again. The Saints have most of their key players back from 2018, many of them ascending young standouts, and the addition of veteran tight end Jared Cook could help Payton's offense evoke memories of the Jimmy Graham heyday.
Now 55, and seven years removed from a season-long banishment in the wake of a bounty scandal, Payton is in a good place, and he has assumed the unlikely role of sympathetic figure. Come January, if the Saints are once again in position to reach the Super Bowl, you can bet that legions of impartial observers will be in their corner, if only because of the widespread conviction that they got hosed against the Rams.
"Honestly, you go through the whole winter and spring and summer and jump in an Uber, get in a cab, go to a hotel and the guy from room service can't believe it," Payton said. "Like, I'm in Turks and Caicos, and my driver stops the car to look back and say, 'I cannot believe ...' So the point I'm making is, (there are) a thousand reminders: 'I know you've probably heard this, but I cannot believe what happened.' And it's all good. It kind of is what it is."
At the Annual League Meeting in March, Payton, a member of the NFL's Competition Committee, also felt a surge of support. Though conventional wisdom suggested that a significant rules change pertaining to replay review of pass interference calls and non-calls was highly unlikely, there was a widespread desire among coaches to do so, resulting in a 31-1 vote to implement the eventual proposal on a one-year basis.
To Payton, it was a clear statement that a repeat of the on-the-field officiating oversight that probably cost his team a Super Bowl berth was unacceptable, and he used a rather extreme analogy to illustrate his point.
"Well look," he said, "in the league meetings, there's enough smart guys in that room -- 32 owners, coaches, GMs -- that sit in there and (say) let's agree that if you don't do a thing, then you essentially say, 'Hey, the next Katrina that comes, it's going to flood, and why would you expect different results?' And if you're comfortable with that, then, OK. But, I mean, in other words, that can't happen again."
Payton foresees other eventual changes which, he believes, will help shore up officiating, especially at the most crucial moments. He'd like to see an end to the all-star crew model in the playoffs and instead keep regular crews together for postseason games.

His analogy: "If you and I meet on a Friday and go play golf, there's a good chance most of our round is going to be exchanging pleasantries, getting to know each other, human nature. And then if we play every Friday for the last five years, at some point we're going to see something and call bulls---. There's a comfort level you have, a confidence level being around someone. So, when you put a young official with a veteran and the veteran doesn't have quite the same angle -- the young official's got a great angle; he's got our angle -- and all of a sudden the call's made and the veteran is 'No, no no, no, no' ... at that very moment, human nature kicks in, and you acquiesce. It's happened in airplane crashes, where the young co-pilot does not want to step on the pilot, out of respect. One of the planes that went down, they were able to gather the information and they knew the co-pilot knew (that what the pilot was doing was wrong) -- and yet ... So, that's a bit extreme. But my point is it's much easier to disagree with someone you work with on a regular basis than with someone you just met and are working with for the first time ever."
Payton also believes the move toward hiring full-time officials will accelerate, with a centralized, day-to-day operation, although the program was put on hiatus in 2019 as the league continues labor discussions with the Referees Association. "The amount of hours we spend, up 'til 2 a.m. with the game plans -- it's hard when we're still the only sport that doesn't have 100 percent full-time officials," he said. "It's hard to think that these guys, a lot of them are going back to their jobs on Monday. I don't think a lot of your readers are aware of that. And look, there's going to be a point where the officials for the NFL (live in the same place). If you're in the Navy, you're going to live in San Diego. And if you're in the wine business, you're going to be in Napa. And I think that eventually is where it'll get to."
In the meantime, Payton is focusing on what he can control, and not dwelling on how strange it is that he'd suffer two such painful playoff eliminations in as many years.
"What's weirder (would be if) you're not in the postseason and you're not of any relevance," he said. "Because there's 20 teams -- you and I know this -- that have no chance of winning the Super Bowl (in a given season). Now, they can win on Sunday. But they're dysfunctional. (Sometimes) change takes place and now the Rams are a contender. You try to stay one of those teams."



And Payton is quick to point out that every team coming off a postseason disappointment -- including the Rams and coach Sean McVay, whose offense fizzled in a Super Bowl LIII defeat to the New England Patriots -- is challenged by the circumstance.
"What's harder to recover from?" Payton asked. "That (NFC Championship Game) loss, or the Rams' Super Bowl loss scoring three points? In other words, there's a difference when you feel like someone took something from you.
"As you get older, you become an expert on really focusing on the things that you can control, because you begin to be smarter with your energy. When you're younger, sometimes you expend energy on things that, you're like, 'Ah, you're not changing anything here.' But this is a good group, a hungry group. And yeah, you work off the chip on the shoulder a little bit, which is healthy."
It helps that Brees, in his 19th season, is still willing and able to shoulder the load. Like 42-year-old Tom Brady, the man seems to be a freak of nature who defies every prior conception of a quarterback's career lifespan. Both Brees and Payton say there is no sign of a drop-off in his physical skills, and his season-opening performance against the Texans (32 for 43, 370 yards, two TDs, one interception and a game-winning drive) presented no counterargument.
For much of the past decade, there was a sense in NFL circles that Brees might outlast Payton in New Orleans. There were rampant rumors that Payton wanted to leave for another job -- and, specifically, that he'd join forces with Jerry Jones and become the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, for whom he was once an assistant.
Currently in Year 4 of the five-year, $45 million contract extension he signed in the spring of 2016, Payton sounds pretty attached to the Crescent City.
"This is home," he said. "I have a house here. I'm here full-time. Every year, we do more (to upgrade the training facility)."
And what about the whispers that he'd try to leave for Dallas, or another locale? "I think if it ends, it means no one's paying attention, and you're not winning."
History would suggest that Payton has many more victories in his future. Brees is in a much more tenuous position. Given that he likely doesn't have many more chances to capture another championship, last January's defeat may have been even more jolting to the quarterback. Yet like Payton, he's determined not to dwell on the disappointment and is driven to deliver in its wake.



"I mean, listen -- I could sit here for an hour and talk about just how devastating it was," Brees said in August. "And yet, is there anything I can do about it? There's not a darn thing I can do about it. And so, if I allow it to prevent me from moving forward, to accomplishing what I feel like is out there to still accomplish -- shame on me.
"So, I'm not going to let that happen. I'll try to use it as fuel for something more positive, just like we did the year before with the Minnesota deal, and you move on."
On Sunday, he'll try to lead the Saints to victory in L.A. against a formidable foe that can't help but scare up emotional scar tissue on the visiting sideline. Payton, Brees and the Saints won't be crowd favorites at the Coliseum, but they will have a lot of support from otherwise-neutral outsiders who admire their resilience and would appreciate a redemptive championship run.
As for the Football Gods -- well, are they truly neutral this time around, or do they owe the Saints something after back-to-back postseason smackdowns?
"I'm kind of a realist," Payton said. "I believe that they only owe us what we're going to take."
Follow Michael Silver on Twitter @MikeSilver.

 

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I agree that Any Given Sunday doesn't really extend to the playoffs, but did that bitch just call us dysfunctional???

I mean, here I am actually agreeing with him on full time refs and then he says THAT???

Seriously, F him.

I don’t think he was calling us dysfunctional. He was saying that there’s 20 teams who are definitely not going to win the super bowl this year. They can win on Sunday but they’re still dysfunctional. At least that’s what I got out of it.