Payton's game plan is based on the players he has. If you noticed kast year in Dallas, he had Jason Witten, who was used quite a lot. Here, he has a young O-line and TEs who are known as blockers, not catchers, so -surprise, surprise- Payton is using them almost exclusively as blockers. This is simply smart player evaluation and coaching. He learned from the best, the Tuna, who has changed his offensive philosophy with each team he coached due to the personnal he had.
If the Saints get a TE who is a threat catching the ball, Payton will design his offense to use him. If he doesn't, he'll design his offense to the strengths he does have and safegaurd the weaknesses he has, just as he has been doing this year.
Give the man some credit. He is not a 1-size-fits-all type of coach like Bum Phillips. He is an excellent talent evaluator of his team (a rare gift - most people think what they have is better than it really is) and an excellent play designer based on his evaluations.