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This is true. As good as he was with the offense and as much as he tailored to what Brees was able to do best, for most of Drew's prime he was equally bad with the defense. That essentially nullified what Brees was able to do when you think of the ultimate goal each season is to get to playoffs and win a championship.Sean both made Drew's career and squandered it. Tragic.
It seems to have went beyond the loyalty and retaining buddy/crony coaches to focus/decisions on player and coach personnel, meddling. For that suspicion I cite the the inability to coexist with Gregg Williams and the whole Rob Ryan fiasco. Rob Ryan is no genius. Very mixed career. But what he did in 2013 worked with the personnel he had. Then Payton forced Jairus Byrd on him, made him change scheme to emulate Seattle, then when that was a spectacular failure he brought in Dennis Allen to clearly look over Ryan's shoulder. Ryan could have resigned of course, but did as told. All of that was just a terrible way to manage the defense or the organization in general.
And Payton's whole time here to me just validates that "offense sells tickets and defense wins championships".
All that offense and elite QB play in Drew's prime cancelled out to 7-9 by equally bad defense.
By the time he got someone to figure out the defense father time caught up with Drew. Still, I will say , particularly when Drew was injured Payton did some of his absolute best work with the offense. Being patient, running the ball. Winning with Teddy Bridgewater, Taysom, and then with Jameis. Winning in lots of different ways/ The head scratcher would remain that Payton laid his biggest eggs in the playoffs or big games, getting flat out outcoached at key moments when he was in position to make championship run. When he would get Drew back he would go back to stubborn patterns in his game planning. He arguably coached a lot better without Brees...