Time to Fire Sean Payton

Totally Kidding regarding the headline.

I am not going to describe the play that every Saints fan wants to forget today. But I do want to talk about Marcus Williams.

Marcus Williams was a second round pick out of Utah. He was tabbed the starter on what was one of the worst defenses in the NFL. He is only 21 years old, meaning he just became legal to drink at the beginning of the NFL season. He just made the biggest mistake of his young career.

If you don’t think he knows that, you may be the dumbest son of a bitch on the planet. After the game, a reporter tweeted that he was in his locker with his head in his hands crying because he felt he just cost his team an opportunity at the Super Bowl. These are the type of plays that haunt athletes. They replay it over and over thinking what if. They don’t need you to remind them.,

Some of you may say it was Williams that cost the Saints the Super Bowl. If you do, I will just assume you have no idea what it is like to be part of a team nor understand the complexity of sports. One play doesn’t single handedly win or lose a game. There are a number of the things the Saints could have done better in that game. The first half, they were held to just six yards passing. They had two big pass interference calls back to back to help set up a Vikings touchdown. The Saints left a lot of opportunity out there.

I can’t help but feel sorry for Williams. This is a play he will replay in his head over and over and over all offseason and it shouldn’t be.

Williams is one of the key pieces to the defensive turnaround the Saints have had this year. He finished the year with four interceptions as a rookie. He also made the biggest defensive play for the Saints against the Vikings with an interception deep in Vikings territory to set up a much needed touchdown for the Saints. But fans are only going o to talk about the bad which isn’t fair. For the love of god, if you don’t know his name and just reference him as 43, where the fuck have you been all year? Don’t even start making an opinion because your opinion is as useful as MySpace at this point.

He is going to beat himself up enough over this. The last thing he needs is a bunch of kumquat fanboys berating him. Shit happens. Move on because this game has zero impact on your life. Seeing some of the hateful comments on social media just make me glad I am not as miserable of a person as some of you. I feel sorry for your children and significant others.

Marcus Williams is a hell of a player and one I am truly excited to have in a black and gold uniform. He is every bit the playmaker he was hyped up to be on draft day and a great safety. The Saints have not had a playmaker like him at safety since Sammy Knight. I just hope he doesn’t let this define his career.

If you find yourself angry about this season, this is only the beginning for the new age of Who Dats.

Prior to the season, I was calling for Payton’s head after three losing seasons in a row. I thought the Saints were on a collision course for number four until the dramatic turnaround after week 2.

That turnaround led them to an 11-5 record, NFC South Division Champions and a playoff victory against the Carolina Panthers.

Unfortunately, the pass heard around the world from Case Keenum to Stefon Diggs still leaves a sour taste in my mouth. You never want to see a great season end on such a tragic note.

Normally, this is where I would rant about the Saints, but I am not here to do that. Contrary to popular belief that I am just a Saints hater because I don’t pick them to make the postseason every year, I just call things like I see them. I was wrong about this year.

Assuming they can find the quarterback for the future, this team is poised to be good for a while. This is the list of players who are 26 or younger…

• Alvin Kamara
• Michael Thomas
• Terron Armstead
• Larry Warford
• Andrus Peat
• Ryan Ramczyk
• Sheldon Rankins
• Tyler Davison
• AJ Klein
• Alex Anzalone
• Marshon Lattimore
• Ken Crawley
• PJ Williams
• Marcus Williams
• Von Bell

With many of these guys being so young and several being rookies, I am curious to see what happens next year when teams have a full season of film to watch. But, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited about the future of New Orleans.