[jwplayer bkTLtv5e-ThvAeFxT]
How many NFL head coaches really think they can win a game without their starting quarterback? How many of them are confident they could do so for multiple weeks? Or months?
New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton might be the only one. He’s had to prepare for eight games without Drew Brees under center over the last two years, with more ahead, maybe (Brees is eligible to return from injured reserve next week, which isn’t guaranteed), and Payton has won every one of them.
He went 5-0 with Teddy Bridgewater at quarterback in 2019, crafting game plans around Bridgewater’s cautious style of play and taking advantage of a defense that rose to the occasion. In 2020, Payton has taken pains to accommodate Taysom Hill’s limitations while giving his backup opportunities to show what he’s capable of. Payton’s Saints are 3-0 with Hill at quarterback.
That’s impressive any way you slice it. And it’s not really precedented. When Bill Belichick lost Tom Brady for the season back in 2008, he turned to Matt Cassel and couldn’t consistently find ways to win — that loaded New England Patriots team never put together more than four wins in a row, and finished in second-place in the AFC East, missing the playoffs altogether.
Another popular Coach of the Year pick, Mike Tomlin, has led his Pittsburgh Steelers squad to an 11-0 record. But when he was forced to work without Ben Roethlisberger last season, Tomlin went 6-6 and also limped to a second-best finish in his division, not good enough to make the playoffs.
So why isn’t Payton the Coach of the Year favorite? Even when he did have Drew Brees, he won for months without Michael Thomas, the reigning Offensive Player of the Year. Could other teams pull off that feat?
Probably not. Whether Hill will remain the starter in New Orleans for another week or two remains to be seen, much less whether the Saints can knock off their next opponents with him, but you have to admire the way Payton is maxing out his team’s talents. It’s not for nothing that they are one of the first teams to clinch a playoff berth with Brees watching games in sweatpants.
[listicle id=41069]