New Orleans Saints prepared for coping with head coach Sean Payton's absence - NFL News
New Orleans Saints this offseason are facing a lot of adversity as the bounty scandal punishments have robbed them of their head coach as well as their defence captain. In addition to those problems the offence might even have to go without star player and quarterback, Drew Brees who’s currently without a contract and looks in no mood to sign his franchise tender.
Even with such huge problems on their shoulders, Saints general manager, Mickey Loomis believes that the team will continue business as usual and the loss of Sean Payton will not have a big impact on their upcoming 2012-13 season.
Speaking to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, Loomis felt confident in the team’s ability to push on even in the face of such adversity and said that the offence will not drop of from its amazing performance last season just because of Payton’s absence.
"We definitely think the offense is in good hands,"
The general manager was also full of praise for offensive coordinator, Pete Carmichael Jr. who would take over the duties of calling offensive plays in Payton’s absence.
"(Carmichael's) in tune with Drew, and he's in tune with Sean and what he is looking for offensively in terms of rhythm as well as scheme. Sean's been able to mentor him as he's come along. He's grown each year, and he did a fantastic job last year when Sean was down. If not for that, I think that would've been an uncertainty with us -- we'd think Pete could do a good job, but now we know."
For now though the Saints have to do their utmost to give Brees a new deal and end the stalemate over negotiations.
Carmichael currently has just two quarterbacks in Chase Daniel and Sean Canfield on the roster and without Brees his job will become even more difficult than it currently is.
The quarterback is the face of the franchise and the most important cog in the entire offence and after the fallout from the bounty scandal his leadership and presence has become even more important for the franchise.
It will be interesting to see how the Saints cope with the bounty punishments in the upcoming season but with veteran coaches like Carmichael taking responsibility fans can feel a bit more confident in the team’s prospects for the upcoming season.
Tags: