Saints coach keeps dream season in perspective

NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ Sean Payton barely cracked a smile as he incited bursts of laughter around him. <br/><br/>The subject was the New Orleans Saints' lack of playoff experience, and how they overcame

Wednesday, January 17th 2007, 6:28 am

By: News On 6

NEW ORLEANS (AP) _ Sean Payton barely cracked a smile as he incited bursts of laughter around him.

The subject was the New Orleans Saints' lack of playoff experience, and how they overcame that to beat Philadelphia in an NFC second-round playoff game last Saturday night.

Payton mentioned rookie guard Jahri Evans, who was drafted out of Bloomsburg, a Division II college, last spring.

``It was probably his best game of the year,'' Payton said of Evans' blocking against the Eagles. ``So his postseason experience against East Stroudsburg was pretty good.''

Payton exudes the air of an all-business, disciplinarian, but he had to have a sense of humor to think he could stay sane as a rookie head coach in New Orleans.

When he took the job, the Saints were a mess, and because of Hurricane Katrina, so was their home city.

If there was anything attractive about starting one's head coaching career here, it was that the Saints had nowhere to go but up. Still, few could have envisioned Payton taking this franchise to never-before-seen heights in his first season; their game in Chicago on Sunday marks their first appearance in an NFC title game since the franchise's inception in 1967.

The Saints had gone 3-13 in 2005 and prognosticators universally picked them to finish at the bottom of the NFC South Division, even after they lucked out and got Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush in the draft.

There was still uncertainty about the health of new quarterback Drew Brees and running back Deuce McAllister, both coming off of major reconstructive surgeries in the offseason. There were questions about whether either could operate effectively behind a relatively inexperienced offensive line comprised of guys like Evans and Jon Stinchcomb, who had never started. And the best solution the Saints could come up with to address their trouble stopping the run was a new linebacker corps of role players in Mark Simoneau, Scott Shanle and Scott Fujita, who weren't getting the opportunities they wanted with their old teams.

Even Payton, who replaced half the roster, had little idea of how good the Saints could be as they went into their season opener.

``For me as a first-year head coach coming out of training camp, you're just anxious to start the schedule to see how you stack up,'' Payton said. ``You really don't know.''

Payton did have an advantage in promoting hard work, attention to detail and a team concept. He could point to the fans _ people looking for a symbol of hope and renewal as they struggled to rebuild their lives and their city.

``It is unique and different than the normal opportunity as an NFL head coach,'' Payton said. ``It's something that you find a little bit more fulfilling than I have in my career at any time as a coach, because you know how important it is. The NFL has great fans throughout this league in the various cities where the teams are located, but this situation here is different. I don't know how else to describe it.''

Payton also understood the pitfalls that lay in wait for pro athletes in New Orleans. His first trip here was during a coaching convention when he was a young college assistant. He recalled going home ``with a lot of ATM receipts in my pocket and not a lot of sleep.''

``This is a tough town to accomplish some of the things you want to in football because you have some distractions. You can go down to Bourbon Street and the French Quarter. You have casinos. You have the daiquiri stands,'' Payton said. ``Hopefully, you bring the right type of player in here that understands what's important.''

And if good karma matters, Payton did everything to get it.

When the Saints steamrolled Atlanta in their emotional first home game in the rebuilt Louisiana Superdome, Payton announced he was giving the game ball to the city. After several home games, he exchanged high-fives with spectators, once lifting a little girl from the front row and kissing her cheek.

Payton's rise to fame has been as quick as the Saints' turnaround.

While he was a decent quarterback in high school in suburban Chicago and in college at Eastern Illinois, he never amounted to much as a pro. Payton appeared in three games as a replacement player for the Bears during the 1987 players strike.

In his NFL debut, he was 5-of-11 for 51 yards and was sacked four times. His last appearance came in a 19-17 loss to the Saints. He was 3-of-11 for 28 yards, his last pass an interception.

From there, he spent nine seasons as a college assistant, with stops at San Diego State, Indiana State, Miami of Ohio and Illinois. He then jumped to the NFL as an offensive assistant with Philadelphia for two seasons, the New York Giants for four and the Dallas Cowboys for three, learning from two-time Super Bowl winner Bill Parcells before taking his first shot as a head coach.

One year later, he's the NFL Coach of the Year, having done what has never been done before by taking a team with 13 losses in the previous season to an NFC championship game.

Now he needs one more victory to pull off one of the greatest sports stories of all-time: The Saints in their first Super Bowl during their first season in New Orleans after Katrina. Of course, doing that will require beating a Bears team led by 2005 Coach of the Year Lovie Smith.

Payton isn't taking anything for granted.

``You understand and appreciate that there are a lot of things that go on to get to this point,'' Payton said. ``It's important to take advantage of the opportunities and to understand that when it's in front of you, it's hard to get here and hard to be in these games. ... That's what probably makes it so gratifying.''