Shockey trade could bring down Saints' Payton

In 2002, New York Giants offensive coordinator Sean Payton lost the power to call plays a month after taking the fall for an ill-advised decision by coach Jim Fassel to push the ball downfield late in the second quarter of a game against the Arizona Cardinals.

After the season ended, Payton likely would have been fired if he hadn't left to join Bill Parcells' Dallas Cowboys staff.

It's a fact of NFL life: accountability followed, if necessary, by consequences. Sometimes, as in Payton's case, it's not fair. Other times, however, a guy who deserves to be dumped escapes scrutiny.

Indeed, six years after being made the scapegoat in New York, Payton is coach of the New Orleans Saints and enjoys the thick veneer of Teflon that typically is reserved for men who have taken a team to a Super Bowl.

Payton acquired a multi-year pass based on his first season with the Saints, during which the team returned to town after the Katrina catastrophe and won the hearts and minds of everyone with a Louisiana address by parlaying new stars Reggie Bush, Drew Brees and Marques Colston into the first NFC championship appearance in franchise history.

Since, expectations have been high but performances low.

Last year, many hoped the Saints would improve on their unlikely '06 success. Seven wins and nine losses later, they didn't.

This year, big things again were expected. And with two games to play, the Saints already are out of contention, looking up at the Panthers, Buccaneers and Falcons in the NFC South.

So after such tremendous disappointment, who is responsible? Well, if Payton was responsible for calling the one play that doomed the Giants against the Cardinals in '02, Payton should be responsible for two full years of underachievement by the Saints.

The only problem? For now, no one in New Orleans has even begun to whisper the possibility that Payton might not be laying the foundation for eventual enshrinement in Canton, Ohio. It's more than just the won-loss record; because GM Mickey Loomis isn't a traditional "football guy," Payton has more input than many coaches regarding personnel.

And so at a time when many believe that former Texans GM Charley Casserly has been vindicated by passing on "running back" Reggie Bush with the No. 1-overall pick in the '06 draft, why isn't Payton being criticized for pouncing on Bush like the last piece of pizza no one else wanted?

Then there was Payton's curious decision to use a first-round pick last year on wide receiver Robert Meachem, who has a mere nine career receptions, when University of Miami tight end Greg Olsen still was on the board.

Before anyone tries to justify the decision to draft Meachem over Olsen based on the possibility that Payton wasn't interested in a rookie tight end from the "U" based on past experiences with such a player, let's not forget (even though Payton surely would love to) that Payton swung a trade for former Miami tight end Jeremy Shockey, who played for Payton in New York.

Though there have been worse trades in league history, there haven't been many. For at least a second- and a fifth-round pick, Payton received a chronic malcontent who couldn't get over the fact the team won a Super Bowl while he double-fisted cocktails in a luxury suite.

Apart from making Plaxico Burress look good by comparison, Shockey would have contributed nothing of value to the '08 Giants.

The results? In a pass-early, pass-often, pass-always offense, Shockey has only 45 receptions and not a game with more than 75 yards of production.

And no touchdowns.

It gets better, potentially. If ex-Jets linebacker Jonathan Vilma participates in 85 percent of the defensive snaps (he has started all 14 games) and if the Saints sign him to a contract extension, the Saints would have to send to the Jets the second-round pick currently earmarked for the Giants.
And the Giants then would get a first-rounder. For Shockey.

In any other city, Payton would be looking for a landing strip with another team, like the one he found in Dallas when he was about to be fired in New York. In New Orleans, however, there's no sign Payton is in any trouble.

Next year, he might not be so lucky. And since the Saints might not have a first-round pick or a second-round pick in the '09 draft, improvement will have to come from the free-agent market.

Or by trading away 2010 draft picks.

Regardless of how Payton goes about attempting to make his mediocre team better, he'd better have a good plan. Memories of that magical '06 season will last for only so long, especially if the other three NFC South teams continue to separate themselves from the Saints.

(sportingnews.com)