Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Associated Press
METAIRIE, La.
No matter how many blowouts the Saints post while Sean Payton is overseeing games from a booth high above the field, the injured coach isn’t about to stay away from the sideline any longer than necessary.
“When I’m healthy, I’ll go back down to the field,” Payton said Monday, shortly after leaning his crutches against a wall and gingerly taking a seat behind a microphone at Saints headquarters. “I think it’s going to be December. ... We’ve got some goals in regard to when we can leave the crutches and when I can get to this podium in three seconds instead of 13 seconds. Generally when that starts to happen, there’s a good chance I’ll go down to the field again.”
Although Payton had not done any coaching from a booth since he was a college assistant at Illinois in the mid-1990s, there was no evidence that either he or his players had any trouble adjusting to his new location in a 62-7 victory over Indianapolis on Sunday night.
Payton decided last week that he would limit his role to providing general observations and reminders to his assistants, but relinquish his usual play-calling duties, allowing offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael Jr. to handle that from the sideline.
Payton said in the case of the Colts game, he figured he was not as well prepared to call plays because he’d spent last Monday through Wednesday afternoon in a hospital recovering from surgery on his broken left leg.
So Payton might go back to calling plays this week. But when asked whether he’d share his plans in that regard, he smiled and said, “absolutely not,” explaining he doesn’t want next Sunday’s opponent, St. Louis, to know.
In any event, it’s no secret to anyone now that the Saints’ offense can be as explosive with Payton upstairs.
The only reason Drew Brees did not extend his NFL record streak of four games with at least 350 yards passing was because the Saints decided to play backup Chase Daniel late in the third quarter. Brees was 31 of 35 for 325 yards and five TDs.