Sean Payton Says That "Clark Kent Is Not Coming Through That Door" And I Couldn't Disagree More

Yardbarker- “Look, we’ve got this roster right now, and Clark Kent’s not walking in the door,” Payton said.

Payton observed that the Saints must clean up their in-game execution and discipline, specifically in the turnover department, if they hope to turn around their season.

“It’s not one big thing. It’s not as easy as saying, ‘Hey, this is the one thing we gotta fix,’” he said. “It’s generally a handful of things you’ve got to be a little more efficient at.”



With all due respect to the Head Coach that brought the Saints their first Super Bowl championship and is responsible for a lifetime full of memories over the last decade, I have got to disagree with Sean Payton here. The only reason that Clark Kent is not walking through that door is because he is already standing in the front of the room. Sean Payton is Clark Kent. He somehow lost the ability to become Superman. His innovative play calling and ability to turn seemingly average receivers into productive players used to be super human. He used to be unstoppable. There were many seasons where his only kryptonite was a porous defense. That kryptonite no longer exists. The defense, while unspectacular thus far, has easily played well enough for a Sean Payton coached offense to win. Now all that is lacking is Superman. There's no more cape. There's no more aura of invincibility. Just an average man, calling average plays from an average play sheet, getting beat by average opposition. Personally, I think I blame the phone booth.

The Saints used to get the ball and you would be surprised if they weren't putting 7 on the board. That was especially true when they were playing in front of their own fans in the SuperDome. I am not sure what happened to those days. I don't know if it has to do with Drew Brees' age or Sean Payton's lack of aggressiveness, but either way this offense has become hard to watch. That's not something that I could have ever imagined myself saying with Sean Payton navigating the ship and Drew Brees manning the wheel. It's not to say that I think Sean Payton is a bad Head Coach, but I do think he has been a different Head Coach after sitting out the season for his perceived involvement in BountyGate. I do think that he used to be one of the premier coaches in the league, whereas now he seems a bit, dare I say it, ordinary. He's still a coach that you can win with, but he's not a coach that can game plan around the flaws in his roster to help his team win. Not every coach can do that, but it used to be something that Sean Payton took pride in. It used to be something that was expected out of the offensive genius that took a 3-13 abomination to the NFC Championship game. Gone are the days of the 2009 Super Bowl team. Gone are the days of the 2011 offense that was likely an abysmal defensive performance away from another Lombardi Trophy. Gone are the days of not only expecting, but knowing, that Sean Payton was going to dominate every defense put in from of him. That 'S' has faded off his chest, and while Clark Kent is still very capable, this current Saints team is in dire need of it's Superman.