As Saints falter, Payton preaches importance of perseverance

Sean Payton showed no interest Monday in calling out particular players on the winless Saints, or even criticizing their collective effort in a 31-14 loss at Tampa Bay that put last year’s NFL Cinderella story in an early 0-2 hole.

There are no signs of any quitters or a lack of emotion on a squad that’s been outscored 72-24 in their first two games, the coach said.

“I haven’t seen that at all. I don’t expect that. We’re in the second week of the season,” Payton said.”The biggest thing we’ve been able to do is put the right type of people and character in this locker room and one of the reasons I think you do that is for times like today, right now,” Payton continued.

“At the beginning of the season, I mentioned to them at some point during the course of the season you’re going to hit a skid … you’re going to hit a stretch where you don’t play well, the games don’t go how you want. Obviously, you’d rather not hit that stretch the first two weeks in the season, but if you have the right guys in the locker room, which I think we do, then you know you’re going to get the right response.”

The Saints’ downfall in their first two losses had more to do with untimely and uncharacteristic lapses on both offense and defense, Payton said.

Dropped balls and a fumble stalled early drives at Tampa Bay, he said, putting the Saints’ tiring defense back on the field and exposing them to big plays that were well executed by Buccaneers quarterback Jeff Garcia and receiver Joey Galloway.

And once the Saints fell behind by several scores, Tampa could bring pressure on quarterback Drew Brees, knowing New Orleans didn’t have time to run the ball. It was a cascading effect that made last year’s league-leading passer look more hurried and harried than usual.

“There’s nothing worse than being in that situation where you’re in a no-huddle-at-the-line mode and you’re playing catch-up,” Payton said. “The degree of difficulty for his job goes way up and so that’s when it’s challenging for him. … We just need to make some plays around him. We’ve got two drops in the very first series. We’ve got a fumble on the next series. We’ve got a chance at a touchdown,” early in the second quarter, but ended up with Devery Henderson’s drop in the end zone and Olindo Mare’s missed 38-yard field goal attempt.

The fumble, by Deuce McAllister, occurred when the game was scoreless and with the Saints marching into Bucs territory on a first-down run. The Bucs capitalized with their first touchdown. The dropped pass in the end zone cost the Saints a chance to close within one score when they were down 14-0. They ended up trailing 21-0 at halftime.

Payton’s point was that the Saints aren’t quite as bad as their winless record and margin of loss would indicate, although he held no illusions about the need for immediate improvement heading into next Monday night’s game against Tennessee (1-1). In falling 22-20 to Indianapolis on Sunday, the Titans nearly beat the same team that trounced the Saints 41-10 on opening night.

“The key is not fooling yourself and the players not fooling themselves, when you watch the tape,” Payton said. “What are the things that keep you from winning? I don’t believe it’s just, ‘Hey, guys got to make plays.’ There’s more to it than that. … There’s a number of things that we just need to detail and clean up. … We’ve got to make these corrections and we’ve got to get this thing headed in the right direction soon. I understand that and so there needs to be a sense of urgency. That’s healthy. And it starts with us. It starts with me, the head coach and our staff, right through to (every player). That’s what our plan is this week. It’s the only way that I know how to get this thing going _ is to get back out and work at it. “

Although it’s not common, teams have bounced back from 0-2 starts to go to the playoffs and even win Super Bowls, as Dallas did in 1993 and New England in 2001.

Brees said he’s been reflecting about the Saints’ early struggles from Sunday night’s plane ride back to New Orleans through his weightlifting session Monday. And the more he thought about it, the better he felt.

“I feel more confident than ever right now. And that may sound kind of crazy after the last two weeks and the results of these games,” Brees said. “But I feel like this is happening to us for a reason. It’s only going to make us stronger. It’s only going to bring us together as a team. And sometimes you need something like this to happen to provoke that kind of thing. And I believe in the guys in this room, I believe in our team, and there’s still a lot to be accomplished this year. By no means are we out of it.”

Of course, that could change if they don’t win soon.