by Jeff Duncan
“It could be anything,” Brees said. “More often than not, there’s at least one guy on the field who’s telling you what everybody else is doing. Ten guys can put on a great disguise, a great poker face, be winning an Oscar with their disguise. And then there’s one guy who’s maybe a little nervous because he’s disguising something here, but he’s responsible for this area way over there, and he starts cheating that way. When I see that, I’m like, all right, thank you, you just told me what everybody else [on defense] is doing or where the pressure is coming from, or any number of things.”
Any tell or tendency can give Brees an edge and keep him one step ahead of the opponent on game day. In this way, Brees isn’t much different from most experienced quarterbacks. What makes him special, coaches and teammates say, is his ability to take what he finds during film study and apply it during the chaos and heat of battle on game day.
“I’m always looking for opportunities because I know that in any given game there could be that one play that’s the difference maker, whether it’s the result of that play, the momentum that it creates, if it prevents something bad from happening,” Brees said. “That could be the difference in the game. And I want to make sure that we are taking advantage of every one of those opportunities when they come.”
The Saints offensive coaching staff takes the same mindset into its work week, which is even longer and more laborious than the one Brees puts in.
For Payton and his staff, a normal work week in the NFL schedule begins on Monday afternoon for a Sunday game. After players and coaches meet as a team and in positional groups to review the previous game, the attention quickly turns to the next opponent.
Under Payton, game-planning is a collaborative effort. The entire offensive coaching staff is involved, along with Brees and the other quarterbacks. Campbell, offensive line coach Dan Roushar, running backs coach Joel Thomas, and assistant offensive line coach Brendan Nugent are in charge of the running game. Carmichael, Lombardi, Payton, and receivers coach Curtis Johnson collaborate on the passing attack. The staff meets as a group to brainstorm ideas and share initial thoughts, then they scatter to their offices to watch film and individually focus on a different aspect of the plan: empty formations, play-action passes, etc.
“Sean is always popping his head into your office, ‘Hey, I’d like to have this rep this week. Or did you see that?’” Carmichael said. “On Monday there’s a list of plays being created by guys’ thoughts on that week’s game plan.”
Throughout this time, offensive assistants Declan Doyle and D.J. Williams tabulate the run and pass plays onto separate lists for review and consideration on Tuesday morning. Before them, this was one of the tasks Joe Brady performed for the Saints in the 2017 and 2018 seasons. These are the beginning stages of the massive call sheet that Payton will use on game day.
“You get together and there’s crossover between the coaches doing the running game and passing game,” Lombardi said. “Hey, you’re running this run play out of this formation; okay, let’s change this pass formation so there’s play-action. Sean is watching film on his own and he will come in and give us his thoughts, as well.”
After a late night of film study, the entire 11-man offensive coaching staff meets at 9 am Tuesday morning to begin the tedious process of compiling the game plan. Under Payton, these game-plan sessions are collaborative, democratic affairs. All opinions are encouraged and heard, from the coordinators down to the offensive assistants.
Roushar starts the meeting by presenting the plan for the running game to Payton, who jots ideas to himself on a notepad throughout the session. Every play on the list is evaluated and discussed in detail. It’s not unusual for the group to spend an hour on a single play and then determine it won’t make the cut and eighty-six it.
“Some weeks, Sean will see the plan and say, I love it,” Lombardi said. “Some weeks, he’s like, I don’t like any of your ideas and we’re starting from scratch. But regardless, we’re still going through every play on that game plan with a fine-tooth comb. And whether it changes or not, we’re looking at it. Show me the film. Why do you like this? There’s just all of this input that comes in.”
Lombardi, who served as the offensive coordinator in Detroit in 2014 and 2015, and Campbell, who spent six seasons on the Miami Dolphins coaching staff before coming to New Orleans, say Payton’s inclusiveness makes the process stimulating and unique.
“I know when we put together a third-down plan, I might have a few ideas, but I’m gonna ask Pete Carmichael or Joe Lombardi what they think, too,” Payton said. “That interaction helps you arrive at better decisions.”
The long hours aren’t great for the coaches’ family lives, but they know they are one of the keys to the team’s success. It’s the way Payton does business. Coaches who can’t accept it don’t last in New Orleans.
“Nobody grinds like we do—nobody,” said Campbell, who is considered one of the top head coaching prospects in the league and interviewed for head coaching positions with the Arizona Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, and Indianapolis Colts in the 2017, ’18, and ’19 offseasons.
When Lombardi was the offensive coordinator in Detroit, he said Lions head coach Jim Caldwell wanted the entire running game plan for that week’s game completed by 8:00 am Tuesday and the passing game finished by 9:30 am. By comparison, the Saints often are not finished with the game plan for the running game until 4:00 pm on Tuesday and the passing game will often take them deep into the morning hours of Wednesday to complete.
Lombardi said he tried to institute the Saints’ method of operation during his two-year tenure in Detroit, but it didn’t take under Caldwell, who was more comfortable with a less-is-more approach. And Lombardi stresses that it’s not in any way a criticism of Caldwell’s coaching ability or process, just a different way of doing business.
“There was a totally different way of playing offense there,” Lombardi said. “In Indy, which Jim [Caldwell] was really comfortable with, one receiver would line up on the left side and the other on the right, and they had much fewer formations. I assumed the process would change a little bit [in Detroit], but it did much more than I thought, just because we had less time and less input, and there wasn’t that same culture of the game-planning we did here [in New Orleans].”
In New Orleans, Payton subcribes to a more-is-more approach, primarily because the Saints have the luxury of Brees, a quarterback capable of handling the massive mental workload. This is where the intelligence, experience, and continuity of 14 years together pay off for Brees and Payton.
The Saints often will go back through three years of an opponent’s game tape during their film preparation on game-plan days. All the opponents’ games from the current and previous seasons are reviewed. The plays are inventoried by down-and-distance situations so coaches can get an understanding of tendencies and preferred concepts.
If the opponent has a new coordinator, the staff will review tape of the coach’s previous team to see how his teams operated there. When Dan Quinn became the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons in 2015, for example, the Saints studied tape of the Seahawks’ 2013 and 2014 seasons, when Quinn served as Seattle’s defensive coordinator.
“We’ll go back two or three years if it’s relevant,” Campbell said. “And we’re going to watch that tape, and we’re going to see how he likes to play these plays versus a good tight end. What’s he going to do against an X receiver like Mike Thomas? Are they going to double over here? And we’re going to watch the game until we feel like we have every situation covered. We know exactly how they are going to play us. What does he like to do? Where are their strengths? It’s fourth-and-1, what’s he going to call? We don’t want to ever feel like we’re going to get caught with our pants down.”
Throughout the day, Brees will text his thoughts to Payton or Carmichael from what he sees during his film-study sessions. Over the years, Br
ees’ role in the game-planning has grown. The pre-snap check-with-me plays he makes at the line of scrimmage are his main focus. But in recent years, Brees has gone from suggesting a tweak to a route to scheming entire play concepts.
“We’ll have our phones in there and all of a sudden it will be—ding!—‘Hey, go to Kansas City and watch Play 27 against Atlanta,’” Carmichael says, describing a text from Brees on the floor below. “He usually has his thoughts on some empty [backfield] stuff. He throws all of his thoughts [on the game plan] into a text message, and sometimes he might even come upstairs and poke his head into the offensive meeting room and ask, ‘Hey, I know this guy is down this week. Who do you see the personnel playing in his place in the slot?’ He does a great job also of studying how this DB plays his technique when he’s in press [coverage]. That continues throughout the week. He looks for tendencies. He’s got such a great memory, and he keeps such great notes he probably knows the majority of [defensive] guys in the league and has a feel for them.”
Added Lombardi, “He’s excellent at saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got this guy running the route at this depth, and I think it fits better with my footwork if we can cut it down two yards or so. Or, ‘I’d rather have this receiver on this route rather than this other receiver.’ He’s excellent at giving his input. Every detail, he’s got a thought.”
And even when Brees isn’t physically present in the room, his influence is pervasive. His exacting high standards raise the bar for everyone. None of the coaches wants to be the one who gives him an incomplete answer when the game plan is introduced on Wednesday.
For example, Lombardi said the coaching staff might have a run play with a 99 percent chance of being successful in the upcoming game, but the opponent has shown one defensive look that could blow up the play for a loss. Most teams, Lombardi said, would be willing to live with those odds and keep the play in the game plan. Not the Saints. Not with Brees at quarterback. The staff will spend an extra hour trying to find a solution to the one percent.
“When you have a quarterback that is as smart as Drew is, he’s going to find that look, and he’s going to ask you about it,” Lombardi said. “We know we have to come up with an answer. There is a responsibility that you feel. We have to give this guy an answer for every situation that he has. If you’ve left a hole in the game plan, he’s going to find it and he’s going to ask you about it.”
Under Payton and Brees, the game plan is an evolving, weeklong process. The plan is formulated on Tuesday and introduced to the team on Wednesday, but it’s constantly changing as the team starts practice to see how the concepts translate from the meeting room to the field.
One of Payton’s pet sayings is, ‘The hay’s never in the barn.’ In other words, it’s never too late to add something to the plan. Coaches and players say it’s not uncommon for Payton to introduce a completely new play to the plan on Saturday night or even Sunday morning.
But for the most part, by Saturday, the plan is largely intact. It has been tweaked and honed into a few hundred plays for roughly 18 situational categories: base runs and passes; third down; play-action passes; short-yardage; red zone; goal line; four-minute; two-minute; screens; draws; special plays or gadgets; etc. The call sheets are compiled by the offensive assistants and distributed to Payton, Brees, and the rest of the offensive staff. This is the script Brees uses to conduct his visualization session after the walk-through on the day before each game.
Later that night at the hotel, Payton presents the first 12 to 15 plays, or openers, to the offensive players. A short walk-through is conducted in street clothes to familiarize everyone with their assignments on the opening set of plays. The group then breaks for a snack before Payton, Brees, Carmichael, and Lombardi reconvene for a final meeting, which is referred to as the dot meeting, normally about 9:15 pm.
It’s not unusual for NFL quarterbacks to meet with the play-caller on the eve of game day to synchronize their thoughts. But the Saints take it to another level. They break down every play in each situation of the game plan. It varies week to week, but Brees usually will identify four to six favorite plays per category during the meeting. His choices are based on how successful the plays were in practice and how comfortable and confident he feels in executing them on game day. Payton uses a yellow highlighter to identify each of Brees’ favorite plays on the laminated call sheet, then he takes a black Sharpie and adds a single black dot to each one.
“Having played the position, Sean knows that if you like the play then you’re going to go to great lengths to make sure it’s successful,” said McCown, who sat in many dot meetings during his three-year tenure as Brees’ backup from 2013 to ’15. “You really study it. You’re going to know the ins and outs of it. You’re going to understand the rhythm of it, the timing of it and where people should be. You’re going to make that play go.”
Like most things under Payton, the dot meeting is a collaborative effort. Brees and Payton dominate the discourse, but everyone in the room is free to weigh in. Brees will ask Payton how he sees a play working against certain coverage or when during the game or where on the field he might call a certain play. He might tell Payton he really likes a certain pass play but is a little nervous if the defense attacks it with a certain blitz. If Brees doesn’t like a play, Payton might try to present a case for why he thinks it will work, but nine times out of 10 it’s eliminated from the game plan. The meetings usually last about 40 minutes, but sometimes they can extend until late that night. By the time it ends, Brees has vetted, dissected, and probably practiced every play that he will run in the game.
“It’s an exciting process,” Brees said. “It’s a bit nerve-wracking early in the week because you’re sitting there watching film after film and you’re trying to identify all the ways that you can attack that defense, but it all eventually comes together. I think some of our best ideas at times come late in the week, on a Saturday night or even Sunday morning. When the game starts, I can anticipate what he’s going to call in every situation and why he’s calling it.”
The tedious, mind-numbing grind of film study and game-planning is the least glamorous part of an NFL coach’s job. It doesn’t make for compelling theater on NFL Films documentaries. Most fans don’t understand the amount of work that goes into preparing for each game and most media members don’t appreciate it. But for the Saints offensive staff, it’s one of the reasons for their success, something that gives them an edge on their opponents. A lot of coaches and players talk about it. The Saints live it, because Payton demands it.
“It’s a results-oriented business, so there’s certain things that you have to get done on a Monday night and certain things that need to be done by Tuesday night and Wednesday night,” Payton said. “We try to be prepared, to be ready, to be thorough, so I don’t know how you define that. The fear of failure is sometimes what drives you the most, I think. The fear of not being successful.”
A father of six, Lombardi wasn’t sure he was ready and willing to make the sacrifice required to make it as a member of Payton’s coaching staff. He remembers the culture shock of his first year on the job in 2007. The Falcons, with whom Lombardi worked as a defensive assistant the previous season, certainly didn’t work this way. His mind was so boggled by the long hours and draining schedule that he called his father, a former coach himself, to vent. His father’s advice resonates with him to this day.
“He said, ‘Hey, who was the No. 1 offense in the NFL last year [in 2006]?’” Lombardi said, “‘Why don’t you just keep your mouth shut and learn everything you can learn, and then you can start piping up if you feel like you can do something better.’ He was absolutely right. It’s exhausting, and it’s hard work, and I don’t think most people are willing to do it. I’m not always happy about it. But I’m happy with the results.”
11. Finding the Golden Nugget
History will remember the 2017 NFC divisional playoff game between the New Or
leans Saints and Minnesota Vikings as the Minnesota Miracle game. Stefon Diggs’ stunning 61-yard touchdown catch on the final play of the game instantly earned a spot on the list of greatest plays in NFL history. Minnesotans will relive it for generations and tell their grandchildren where they were when Diggs split Saints defensive backs Marcus Williams and Ken Crawley and raced down the sideline for the dramatic walk-off score.
The stunning finish spoiled what should have been one of the great come-from-behind wins in Saints history. If not for the divine intervention of the gridiron gods, the game would have gone down as one of the signature moments in the Payton-Brees era of Saints football.
After all, the Saints had turned U.S. Bank Stadium on its collective head with a furious fourth-quarter rally, outscoring the Vikings 24–6 in the game’s final 17 minutes to turn a 17–0 deficit into a 24–23 lead. And they were only 25 seconds away from winning and advancing to the NFC Championship Game, one play away from becoming just the second team in NFL history to rally from a 17-point deficit in a playoff game’s final 17 minutes.
Then fate intervened, and the heroics of Sean Payton and Drew Brees were long forgotten.
The Vikings had dominated the Saints for the first three quarters. Just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Saints early. Brees threw two interceptions in a game for the first time in nearly three months. Ken Crawley gift-wrapped a field goal with a pair of pass interference penalties in the second quarter. A touchdown to Ted Ginn Jr. was called back because of a penalty. The Saints failed to convert a single third down. And the normally reliable Wil Lutz missed a field goal.
By the time Brees and the Saints offense touched the ball for the first time in the second half, they trailed 17–0 and only 23 minutes remained in the game. The Saints would need to score three times against a Vikings defense that allowed the fewest yards and points in the NFL that season. The Saints’ win probability was 3 percent, and for those in attendance that day a comeback seemed even more remote.