Need A Favor RE Old Finney Article

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Of course, New Orleans Saints Coach Sean Payton's insides are churning, but as he answered the questions leading up to the matchup against the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday in Miami, there was one thing that struck me.

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He radiated the outer calm of a coach who had gotten his team back.

It wasn't simply that the Saints had gone from 0-3 during the last stretch of the regular season to 2-0 in the playoffs.

It was more how they did it.

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On defense: knocking balls loose, snagging an interception here and there, coming up with hustle plays and open-field tackles.

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On offense: Drew Brees distributing the football, and Pierre Thomas carrying it with a special verve, all from behind a front that held together.

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On special teams: The young legs of punter Thomas Morstead and kicker Garrett Hartley.

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You looked at the picture of a team with a 15-3 record and you see the hand of a coach who talked about "leaning heavily on your foundation."

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"I think it served us well, " Payton said. "We played from deficits a lot this season. We played with big leads. But I think your foundation of what you do and what you installed during training camp, and what ultimately becomes who you are as a team, is something that you never lose sight of."

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You could hear Bill Parcells, a one-time mentor of Payton, saying the same thing if he were in charge of the team.

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Parcells was fond of saying "you are what your record says you are."

The Saints are 15-3 because Payton did a good job of assembling the right players and the right coaches, then made sure -- when victories began to mount -- he didn't "over coach" or "under coach."

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It's a sin other coaches, given the same set of circumstances, have been guilty of, all of which can happen when you're in charge of so many personalities.

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"It's been a long time since you look at the Super Bowl, and here sit the two No. 1 seeds, the two teams that were unbeaten for 90 percent of the season, " Payton said. "And here they are playing for the championship."

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Are the Saints and Colts the "two best" in the NFL?

As the playoffs began, depending on who you talked to, you would have heard the Cowboys, Eagles, Packers, Chargers, Cardinals and Vikings had a better chance to reach Super Bowl XLIV.

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Here's what we know: The oddsmakers have made the Saints an underdog for the first time this season.

Why?

Because, along with Peyton Manning, who they consider the best quarterback in the game, Indianapolis has a defense that has impressed with its wall to wall quickness.

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And when it comes to "handling the snap count" to "directing traffic" to "putting his receivers in the best possible spots, " the Saints' coach said, "Manning does that better than anyone."

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The last two weeks, Gregg Williams' defense has faced, and punished, two quarterbacks (the Cardinals' Kurt Warner and the Vikings' Brett Favre) with Super Bowl rings.

Now comes a third.

"It's exciting, " Payton said.

It's far more exciting, let's say, than the past.

Remember that ancient Who Dat franchise? Remember just a few of the footnotes that made them special in a goofy kind of way?

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The day of the game, he arrived with a parrot on his shoulder. He put the parrot above his locker, in a cubicle for valuables, and shut the door.

He goes out, bobbles the first punt, fumbles the second. Obviously, his career as a Saint had ended.

Sadly, he returns to his locker to discover the life of his parrot also had ended.

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