Sean Payton’s history with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is pretty wild, and he’s continuing that by trolling Tom Brady.
To call a team like the New Orleans Saints cursed seems misleading. Over the last quarter-decade, Saints fans have watched a Hall of Fame quarterback play for a Hall of Fame head coach while they routinely make Super Bowl runs with one of the best rosters in football.
Just over a decade removed from winning a Super Bowl, it’s not a hard sell to have an NFL fanbase like one in Cincinnati or Miami happily trade places with the Saints. But despite the success that other franchises would do anything for, football on the bayou has been defined by close calls and heartbreak.
The Minneapolis Miracle. The NFC Championship Game no-call. Losing Wild Card weekend last year after letting the No. 1 seed slip away.
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It’s a weird dichotomy being a Saints fan, one that has already announced itself this offseason. Before New Orleans could get dug any deeper into its “Us Against The World” approach to 2020, Tom Brady decided to come to the NFC South and make things a little more complicated.
Truly fitting.
Sean Payton revealed on ESPN’s Get Up that he texted Brady to welcome him to the division, and in doing so fired the first shot of what is sure to be a fun evolution of a rivalry that has been tremendously one-sided.
having a cup of coffee watching Sean Payton on @GetUpESPN
— Steve Geller (@SteveGellerWWL) March 31, 2020
He says he texted Tom Brady to keep the cannons quiet in Tampa 😉 (the pirate ship in stadium fires when the Bucs score)
Ever since Drew Brees and Sean Payton arrived in New Orleans, they’ve made cannon fodder of the lowly Buccaneers. Now, however, the entire rivalry has been spiked with G.O.A.T.ness, as we get to watch Brees and Brady battle it out twice a year.
Payton’s history with the Bucs features little love lost. There was the time he broke his leg on the sideline of Raymond James Stadium, and just a year ago he had an aggressive exchange with then-head coach Dirk Koetter over a fight that happened weeks prior:
Interesting exchange between Dirk Koetter and Sean Payton following the game. The shoulder pats getting a little aggressive. Sounds like unresolved matters from the week 9 scuffle involving Winston, Evans and Lattimore. (credit @JeffTewksFox13 for video) #Bucs pic.twitter.com/IWDdml3LLM
— Scott Smith (@ScottSmithFOX13) January 1, 2018
New Orleans did more than just text a quick troll to Brady in response to him signing in Tampa Bay. The Saints followed news of Brady’s arrival by signing Emmanual Sanders, thus bolstering Drew Brees’ already insane arsenal of talent. Sanders joins an offense that already includes Alvin Kamara and Michael Thomas, and a team with blustering angst over how their lost dynasty has turned out.
For three straight years, the Saints entered the playoffs as Super Bowl picks and all three years their season came up short. It was the best dynasty we never got to see, and now — in fittingly absurd fashion — the orchestrator of the league’s most iconic dynasty has inserted himself into the Saints narrative.
If one thing is certain, nothing in the NFC South is going to be quiet in 2020.