March 9, 2022 • 43 mins
Host Andrea Kremer takes us back to 2007 when NFL Films Steve Sabol interviewed Head Coach Sean Payton. Sean starts with what he learned from mentor Bill Parcells including his motto of 'Don't Eat the Cheese'. Sean mirrored Parcells as a tough but fair head coach that doesn't mind confrontation. Having just taken the Saints job, Payton lists some of the things he'll be changing off the field, like the pregame music and the locker rooms. Steve explores Payton's decision to accept the job in New Orleans despite first interviewing in Green Bay. Sean looks back to his first coaching job at San Diego State and the moment he realized he wasn't going to succeed as a player. Speaking of playing, Payton was a replacement player for the Bears in 1987 and recalls being interviewed by Larry King about the strike. Now in New Orleans, Sean looks at his amazing first season and building momentum with the team and the city.
The Tales from the Vault podcast is part of the NFL Podcast Network.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to NFL Films Tales from the Vault. I'm your host,
Pro Football Hall of Fame journalist Andrea Kramer. This podcast
takes you to a place very few people have ever been,
inside the NFL Films Vault, where we get to explore
some of the greatest interviews Steve Sable ever did in
his five decades as president of NFL Films. I met
(00:26):
Steve when I became the first female producer at Films.
Steve was my boss and mentor, and every week this
is such a passion project for me because I get
to present these conversations for you raw, unedited and in
their entirety for the first time. I'll be providing some
context and insights along the way. Today we head to
(00:49):
two thousand seven for Steve's interview with Saints head coach
Sean Payton. Sean Payton leaves the Saints. He's not calling
(01:10):
it a retirement after sixteen seasons with the fifth highest
winning percentage amongst current coaches. Last season was Peyton's first
ever as a head coach without Drew Brees. Remember, there
are combo that ranked in the top five in points
in the NFL in ten of sixteen seasons as a
point of reference. Due to injuries, Peyton had to use
(01:35):
four different quarterbacks who collectively did not produce the numbers
Breeze did, and even his weakest years that could force
any coach into a hiatus. The interview you're about to
hear took place following Peyton's first year's head coach, a
season in which they finished ten and six and began
the rebirth of New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina.
(01:58):
Remember that following the tooth us in five devastation of
Hurricane Katrina, the super Dome was closed for nearly a year.
In the fall of two thousand six, Peyton, Breeze and
the Saints brought football back to New Orleans. We're gonna
hear Peyton talk about the remarkable impact that they had
both on and off the field of New Orleans. But
(02:19):
we begin talking about one of our more recent podcast subjects,
Bill Parcels. You see, just prior to taking the job
of the Saints, Peyton was with Parcels in Dallas for
three seasons as assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach. Their
close relationship continues to this day, and Peyton learned a
lot from Bill, including something about cheese. That's right, you
(02:44):
heard me correctly. Let's go to the vault for Steve
Sable and Sean Payton. Well, we we're rolling right. What
what is the expression don't eat the cheese? What is that?
As parcels I stole it. It's a it's it's just
making sure that you don't start reading about how good
(03:05):
you are, and you don't spend all week on last
week's when that you get onto the next game. And
because you know, I think in our business, you know,
it's either all the way over here you're doing fantastic,
or or boy, there's there's a major problem here. There's
nothing in the in the middle. And so oftentimes you
(03:26):
are in the middle, or maybe you've won two or
three games in a row and you're trying to put
together a good run and then the reports come, you
know where whether they're just doing fantastic, they're going to
be in the NFC change, you know, so you just
try to don't eat the cheese. Don't eat the cheese,
or you get fat and and uh and that was
something that uh that Bill spent a lot of time
(03:47):
talking else what other things, what other what kind of
an influence did parcels have on you. He helped me tremendously.
It's different than a clinic or an interview or when
you're there for three years. Uh, you know, put the
pencil down in the in the notes and just watch
and how he dealt with everyone in the building, the trainers,
(04:08):
the equipment people, how he managed the coaching staff, what
he was looking for in a corner, what he was
looking for in a tackle, how important you know he
felt these You know, he's got that real acerbic kind
of a way. You know people, he's pretty sarcastic and
and and I think sometimes I might be too with
the players, but he connected though with with the players.
(04:31):
I mean, he had an ability to make you smile
and laugh. And it wasn't just all bark, you know,
or all by He was someone that, uh he could
get you going and he found a way to to
kind of hit the right buttons with each player and
each coach and and everyone from the assistant equipment. What
did you think showing he has that rule that he
(04:51):
doesn't let assistance talk to I understand that I do.
I do that. Um now in the off season, we
have an open door policy with with the coach. It
really is from the start of the season to the
end of the season, and it's just trying to reinforce
one voice. And I never felt as an assistant it
was a deterrent to me advancing or I actually it
(05:15):
was a little bit of a relief because I didn't
have to worry about being misquoted after a game, or
I didn't have to worry about, well, how was I
going to talk about how the quarterback played? Is? Is
it what Bill wanted me to say? And so well,
it was much easier not to have to talk at all.
And it was really the one voice in the season.
And and I think it's something that, uh that we've
(05:37):
we put in place in New Orleans, and I think
our assistants appreciate that. When I want to talk about
play calling, because I think even though you've just been
a head coach for one year, that's been sort of
an area that everybody talks about you being a great
play call And the word that I here used to
describe your play calling is ruthless. You know. I think
(05:59):
when you're successful and you win games, Uh, it's kind
of like the quarterback position. Uh, you know, oftentimes it's
easy to say, boy, you know that player gets a
lot of the credit and that coach did a great
job calling, calling a great game. And then when you
don't have success or you lose a lot of times
that criticism falls maybe on the quarterback, or it falls
(06:20):
on the play caller on either side of the ball,
or the head coach, and it's kind of part of
the deal. But you know, I think all the time
you're trying to evaluate, hey, are we giving our guys
a good opportunity to be successful? Not only what do
you think that that adjective would apply to you? I mean,
you're that you're gonna go for the throat the juggler,
that when you see an opening, you go for it. Right,
we would be aggressive, and I think that a lot
(06:41):
of teams probably take the same philosophy we do. I mean,
I think it's important to convey to your team, hey,
we're gonna be aggressive in this game now some weeks,
maybe more so than others. And if we feel like
we're playing someone where our margin of error is very slim,
then then then we we we're going to take an
aggressive appro coach. And so sometimes I think that that
(07:02):
comes from specific down and distance calls. You know, if
you decide to run an end around on fourth and inches,
you know someone might look at that as well. That
was an aggressive call, and we may have felt as
a coaching staff that really we're gonna get a yard
with this play, maybe more in the wind the win
loss game there was was worth the risk. When you
(07:23):
were calling plays for Bill, he has that expression I've
heard of, you don't get the virus. What does he
mean when he was telling you that? Telling Bill is
is there's a there's different strains of offenses in our
leg and uh you know, I was brought up with
with Jon Gruden at Philadelphia in that West Coast system,
(07:46):
and so that's kind of a different tribe than maybe
the Bill's system. And so as I came in, I
was kind of that outsider. You know, I was the
half Irish, half Italian guy in the mob. So I
really could never be a made guy. You know, I
could only go so far. But you brought up you know,
you're a West Coast guy. You stop here and uh
(08:06):
so he he would kid me about too many plays
and the virus was that was that flu like symptom
of wanting a lot of offense and not being able
to practice at all, and I appreciated that. I did
an interview with Lombardi must have been I was like
twenty five years old, and it wasn't It was situation
similar to this, and I asked him about coaching and
he said, and these were exact words. And you can
(08:27):
imagine how this shocked me when I heard he said
that to be a great coach, you have to be
one half teacher one half s sop. You think that
still holds true. I think you have to be tough.
I do think you have to be a great teacher
and that hasn't changed. Uh, But I think you have
to be demanding. I think what's what's important is your
(08:49):
ability to be fair and putting that first as opposed
to trying to give the illusion you're being fair. And
that's kind of served me well as an assistant in
in my first year as a head coach, of really
trying to do what's right. Uh. I think the players
appreciate honesty. I think being direct and confronting players is
(09:10):
a good thing. And Bill taught me that. Uh. He
was real good about confronting the seventh round pick all
the way to your high priced quarterback or linebacker, and
he wasn't afraid of confrontation and at all, and in fact,
he probably preferred it. And you know, I've I've found
where that's helped me some in my first year of
(09:32):
directly confronting problems and not trying to move on and
kind of e RaSE him away. I think that's important
as a head coach. Now, do you ever sense that
you're trying to micromanage things now? Because you were an
assistant and there's so many things that you understand that
you want to say something like when we had you
might you spent about five or six minutes in the
(09:53):
pregame talking about the views. It drove me nuts. It
drove me nuts. So yeah, I want to change all that.
And uh, you know, maybe what was music that you
didn't like? It was the seventies. The guy in charge
of the music was it was his his error. The
guy was in charge. It was like, you know who's
the DJ, Well, I'll tell you what the music is
(10:14):
gonna be. And we're walking around out there and I'm
thinking to myself, who put this on? Well, I know
who put it on. He's not gonna be in charge
of the music. Next week we're gonna have We're gonna
have a new meeting here, and uh, there are a
lot of little things. I think that's an interesting thing
because Gruden has always been focused on that. I mean,
he'll start out with me. Uh. Jimmy Moore had a
(10:34):
whole big scene in the middle of heel about about
the me Why do you think that's so important? It's
just one It's just one aspect. It might be the music,
it might be you know, how the locker room layout was. Uh,
you know, what's what's the backdrop for the postgame press conference?
I don't like the way that looks. What's all those things? Uh?
(10:55):
We try to make sure it's just how And I
have a picture, maybe in my mind over fifteen years,
of what I think it should be. And in the
case of what the pregame music, what did you change
it to? I wanted the players to have input. Tell
me what you want to hear, because ultimately that's what
it's for. I'm not interested now I'll put a couple
of songs in there I want to hear as well,
two or three. But I wanted to be what they
(11:16):
want and and and uh, I got the feeling in
that first preseason game that that was one of the things.
That was the first time I'd heard it, and I thought, well,
who picked this? It's our home game, and then different
if it was at Dallas, So we got that changed. Now,
what about the visor that you wear? Where where does
that come from? Because we were thinking we're looking at
you know, spurri or war Advisor, Tean Payton War's advisor,
(11:38):
gruden War's advisor, and I've seen gruden Wart in that
snow game up in you know, New England. Where does
that come from? Is that a conscious decision or is
that something you just grabbing? It started probably with me
just grabbing it and and uh, you know, it's something
that I probably wear a lot in the summertimes when
we go to the beach and so, but it isn't
a superstition that now after a while, there's certain things
(12:01):
in regards to you start winning, you know, you want
the same visor, the same jacket. But you know, I
know when we played in Chicago in the NFC Championship game,
as cold as that was, the visor had to go
and I had the ears covered. So but it's something
I feel comfortable wearing. And outside of that, it's uh,
it's uh, it's sitting in my locker before the game.
I put it on, so probably that that I had.
(12:24):
But it's interesting how certain superstitious coaches are. We did
a long time ago again, we did something with Alabama
and we're in the locker room and Bear Bryant is
taking all you have, the shirt and taking everything off,
and he's got a T shirt on, big big hole
in the T shirt. It's a coach, you know what's
he said. It reminds me of when I was a
moral bottom and we had no money and he wore
(12:44):
this T shirt with a hole in it, you know.
And I just figured that that, and I've noticed some
of a lot of other players and coaches have. Do
you do anything like that? Is there something that you're
for me? For me, it's the it's the juicy fruit gum.
You know. I've got one pack of game five pieces,
one for each quarter than one right when you need it,
(13:05):
you know, and if and if a quarter is going
bad at pieces going early now and now I'm behind,
I know that I've got four left and I've got
three and a half quarters, so I don't have that
full piece for overtime. So you know, if I'm on
the same piece in the first half, and I'm into
the second half. I've carried it into the third quarter
of the same piece. That's a good thing. If I'm
on piece like three or four in the second quarter,
(13:25):
we're not doing well. The juicy fruit story is even
more absurd. If you know a transpired during the two
thousand nine NFC Championship game. I'll try to keep it brief,
but here goes. So during pregame, a ball knocked over
peyton supply of juicy fruit, and wait for it, mixed
it with other flavors spearmint, winter fresh, double mint, and
(13:48):
big red. I cannot believe I'm talking about chewing gum here,
none of which were preferred by Peyton. Now, at this
point in his coaching career, Peyton had gone from one
stick per quarter to one stick per drive. So it's
the Saints are driving from the fourth quarter against the Vikings.
Peyton is handed a stick of spearmint gum. His reaction, well,
(14:10):
he already told you how he felt about music, Imagine
how he felt about his own chewing gum preferences. So
profanity alert, can you get me fucking juicy fruit, not
fucking spearment? Thank goodness, the world returned to his axis,
and Peyton got his juicy fruit gum. The Saints went
(14:31):
on to defeat the Vikings, and everyone lived happily ever after.
When we come back, Sean and Steve get into Peyton's
decision to take the job in New Orleans in the
first place. Stay tuned. Welcome back to Tails from the Vault.
In the spring of two thousand six, New Orleans was
(14:53):
still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. The future of the Saints
home was still even very much in doubt. Now, these
weren't exactly the eighths of the seventies, remember those Archie
Manning days, those crowdshots of the fans with bags over
their heads. But the Saints franchise from ninety seven to
two five had just seven winning seasons and just one
(15:16):
playoff win in thirty nine years into that history stepped
Sean Payton and free agent quarterback Drew Brees. Remember Breeze
was coming off of a torn labor in San Diego
in two thousand five. He'd had surgery which was even
considered career threatening, so there were a lot of uncertainties.
(15:36):
I don't think either player or coach could envision the
symbiotic relationship that would ensue between the two of them
go on to New Orleans. To me that that is
a fascinating decision that you made to go to a
to a first of all, a team that never won
anything in a in a disaster area. What what about?
(15:58):
How did you come to that decision? I mean, what's
not a big gambles. A team has a history and
they were winning. You're in the middle of a burn
an area that where it was in ruins. I think
that's a good question. I think that when the time
came at the end of our season, I interviewed a
few years ago at Oakland, and I felt like it
wasn't the best opportunity At that time, I stayed in Dallas.
(16:19):
But you know, it's hard you try to look at
these opportunities and say, hey, none of them are going
to paint the perfect picture from a standpoint. You know,
they're all probably changing coaches for a reason. I did
feel like this though. I felt like, Uh, the commitment
was there from ownership, and I felt like the general manager,
Mickey Loomis, was someone I wanted to work with. Uh.
(16:42):
The concerns I had, though, centered around a lot of
the problems maybe that existed even prior to Katrina. You know,
this is an organization that hadn't won in forty years.
And you know, Bill's advice when I went there was
you need to figure out quickly what's kept that team
from winning and change the culture if you can. So
coming back home, you know, when talking to my wife
about it. At that time, you know, we had just
(17:02):
built a brand new house in Dallas, I mean, just
finished a new one. And the idea, you know, as
we drive the car with the patents and it head
in the New Orleans and everyone else is going the
other way, and you know, we're going to look for homes. Uh,
was was sometimes overwhelming, and yet you know, you it
just felt right. Uh from a standpoint of the team
had just been displaced, We're coming back and really were
(17:23):
at rock bottom. And so uh I thought, as a
as a young first year head coach, we have a
chance to make a difference here. But the Green Bay
interview was one I took first. And and you know,
I share this story with a lot of people. What
you first made look at as where you might want
to go, I mean, and Drew Brees case, it could
have been Miami rather than New Orleans and Reggie Bush's case,
(17:45):
it could have been the Texans, but it was New Orleans.
And in my case it could have been the Packers.
It wasn't Ted Thompson. Uh, it was fantastic through the
process and they hired Mike McCarthy and so here it
was New Orleans and uh it's still Repper send it
a challenge and one in which I remember flying back
from the interview with Mickey and Tom Benson and just
feeling like, you know, boy, what an impact we can
(18:08):
make here beyond just football and uh and then everything
you know, But that that's unusual, I think for for
a coach to think that, because most football coaches and
they're they're they're focused on one thing. And I know
in the many years that I've dealt with him, it's
the first thing is is you talked to a coach,
the first thing he thinks of, well, how is this
going to help you win? That's the first can I win?
Is this is this gonna be an impediment to me?
(18:29):
If this is gonna help me, when I'll do it.
If it isn't, then I felt like we had the
second pick, which was important. I thought we had some
players back on both sides of the ball. That gave
us a chance. Um, I felt like we were at
three and thirteen, you know, rock bottom, and I thought,
you know that, you know, we're only gonna get better.
We can't we can't have a season as bad as
the season was prior for a lot of reasons. And
(18:51):
so you know, that's somewhat appealing and a lot more
appealing than taking a job over that just was ten
or eleven wins. So the idea of coming in and
building something from the ground floor up. Uh, And I
felt like I was ready to be a head coach,
and so I know that the opportunity doesn't come around
where you get to sit back and say, you know,
I want that one. I don't want that one. And
(19:12):
I had gone through the process two years prior with
the Raiders, and I felt like, you know, I want
to do this now. And uh, maybe is is challenging
as it might have seemed or appeared, there were still
some things that I saw in it that that excited me.
And and the concern really was can I get a
staff here? You know, can I get a staff in
place where our players gonna be during the offseason? And
(19:35):
what's the long term future this team. And so I
began to feel better about all those answers after the
second time I visited with Mickey and Mr Benson and
uh uh, but I can write a book on the
first the first month of the job. You know, the
different hotels we stayed in, and and you know, the
paper on the walls as they were trying to repaint
(19:55):
the facility from when FEMA was in there and and
taken it over, and trying to locate our players, and
you know, it was different. Maybe the challenges that you
normally would have as a first year head coach were
exaggerated or greater than what you would normally expect, but
it was something that we look back on and you know,
to to this day, the assistance my staff and everyone
(20:16):
involved in putting that team together last year. The training
camp we had in Millsaps, you know, that was kind
of a We tried to treat it like a modern
day Junction Boys, where we really locked the gates there
hundred ten degrees and and had you know, really four
weeks of tough, uh tough football, demanding football, and one
in which we found out a lot about our team.
(20:38):
And I think that served us well later on in
the season, Sean, was the toughest decision that you had
to make, Lester. I mean, every coach is faced with
decisions and that's really what shapes the season. I'll tell
you a tough decision. The decision to say, hey, we're
we're signing Drew Brees. That's not an easy decision because
there's an investment being made and I know exactly what
we were getting with Drew being healthy, but the concern
(20:59):
was is he going to be healthy? And that decision
weighed heavily on our minds. We had the second pick
of the draft, and we made that decision in February,
right after the combine leading up into free agency, and
it was really a year ago this weekend because he
was in the first week in the free agency that
Drew came in with his wife and we pulled the
trigger and and we made a commitment to that. Did
(21:21):
you show him around the you know in New Orleans?
That took him around? And uh, we actually we got lost.
I was in charge of I had only been there
about a month, and so I took Drew in Brittany
over to our house on the north Shore to show him,
you know, some some home options there. Came back across
the bridge and was heading back to the complex and
I hadn't taken that route before, probably twice. And so
(21:45):
now I'm half an hour away from the complex on
the cell phone. You know, we've been in the car
for two hours. I'm looking at you know, Drew's kind
of dozing off, and so is Brittany. And I'm thinking
this isn't going well. And I called Mickey up and said, hey,
get us back to the facility. I have no idea
where I'm at. And all I've seen now or these
blue roofs, you know, these temporary homes, campers and everything.
It was a nightmare. And so we you know, all
(22:06):
our free time was was shot. You know, we were
hustling Drew and his wife to the hotel. We're late
for dinner. Uh, hindsight, I'll have a driver next time.
But I was the driver at you know, not having
an idea where I was going. But the decision to
to to make and prioritize him as our quarterback, not
as a player, but making sure hey, he was going
(22:27):
to recover was a tough decision. Now hindsight it was
the right decision. A funny story, to be sure, but
to hear Breeze tell it, it's even better. Well. Driving
around the ruins of New Orleans instead of dozing off
or being turned off, Breeze was inspired. He turned to
his wife and they both realized the opportunity they had
(22:47):
to make a difference in a community that had so
many people let them down over the course of the
previous year, and ultimately, instead of being a deterrent to sign,
it became a motivating force and really was the precursor
for all the amazing work that Brittany and Drew did
over their fifteen years there. When we come back, Peyton
(23:07):
tells Steve how he came to play for the Chicago
Bears during the players strike, plus the story of one
of the most famous nights in Saints history. Welcome back
to Tales from the Vault. Every player, every coach has
(23:29):
an origin story, and Sean Payton's is pretty unique. He
had a successful college career at Division two Eastern Illinois,
that mini quarterback factory that has produced Tony Romo and
Jimmy Garoppolo. But it's Peyton who still holds the school
record for passing yards in a single game with five
(23:49):
nine after coming out of Eastern Illinois. Peyton played for
five professional teams in a two year span, including a
stint with the Lester Panthers of the UK Budweiser National League.
I'm sure you followed that team. And then in he
returned to his hometown in Illinois and decided he wanted
(24:09):
to be a coach. Naperville, Illinois. You put everything you've
got in a in a Chevy and your head west.
Where are you going? San Diego State? Steve Divines the
offensive line coach. He's a scout now with the Giants.
UH is in charge of hiring graduate assistant coaches. You know,
first time guys that are just going to go out
(24:31):
there and break down film. And so I had a cavalier.
It broke down in Denver and a guy I remember
on this, I was going up one of these mountains
that in the car just said no, and the guy
came and kind of fixed it to where I could
get to San Diego. But the car wasn't fixed yet.
So UH that got me there, and UH I was
(24:52):
there for two years as a graduate assistant. San Diego
State eighty nine. Um, here's at Sean Payton the play.
You had a one day try out with the Chiefs
in seven three weeks with Chicago of the Arena League. Correct,
a whole month with the Ottawa rough Riders. It's right,
three weeks with the Bears during the eighty seven strike.
(25:15):
How come you couldn't stick with the team? I wasn't
good enough. I I knew, probably somewhere in the middle
of the h of Canada and the Chicago Bears, that
I was gonna end up getting into coaching. But my
dream was to play and coming out of college. But
you know, you want that opportunity, and I was lucky
enough to have some chances and and uh. But but
(25:37):
I knew in that first year that that I was
gonna want to get into coaching. And then the following
year eighty eight was when I when I first had
that opportunity. But I met some good people along the
way in in uh and did a lot of traveling.
If if you were going to do a fill out
a scouting report on Sean Payton as a player, what
what would that scouting report say? Undersized average arm uh,
(26:01):
fairly smart, uh, we need better uh? Three lines? That
would be all I need to do. Strike You were
on the Bears, right Yep. There was a big deal
when they came here because you have the teamsters and everything.
(26:22):
What do you remember about that whole experience. I remember
Buddy Ryan had left Chicago, if you recall, and took
over the Eagles, and Dica now is at the Bears,
and so you know, much has been said about their relationship.
Obviously they had a great run there in Chicago, but
now Buddy had his team and Mike had his team,
and so, uh, now, all of a sudden, they've got
two new teams in a week to prepare. And so
(26:43):
Mike took this game real seriously and you could ask you,
but I mean, he was adamant about us going in
there ready to play a football game and win this game.
And we got in there on Saturday, which is pretty typical.
But what happened was we had a team eating and
he said, the wake up call is at three am
in the morning, and the buses are leaving at three thirty,
(27:05):
and we have cots over at the vet when you
get there. And we went in before any of the
trouble outside began. The Eagles spent the night in the vet.
Our buses left at three thirty in the morning. We
got there and we had cots at the basement of
the vet. We slept on in the visitors locker room.
We got up, we had our pregame meal right down
the hall somewhere. I don't know what that was. And uh,
(27:27):
we beat the snot out of the Eagles that day,
and Mike was so excited about that. I just I
always remember how he felt, because he felt like, you know,
I've got a week with these forty five guys. You
got a week with these forty five guys. Let's see
who the better coaches. And he was pretty serious about
that game. What was your feeling as a player, And
that was the thing with the scabs and everything. In Chicago,
it was and I'm not naive to understand the certain
(27:51):
lines that are drawn during something like that, but in
Chicago we probably didn't see at all the uh the
things that we maybe saw in the news from other areas. Uh.
You know. I I remember being at home and are
one of our class presidents from my high school called
me from CNN. Ronda was working for CNN. She said, Hey,
(28:13):
Larry King wants to do a little show with you. Uh.
So I thought it was a five minute interview and
so they send the limo to the house, and I
should have figured it out at that point. Were drive
into Chicago and there's Larry King, Uh, there's uh Todd
Christensen and at that time the late Joe Robbie all
on on this hour long show for the strike. And
so here I am, you know, and now I'm in
(28:34):
my blue sweater and I'm thinking to myself, boy, Ronda
is gonna get something out of this. This turned out
to be an hour long show dedicated CNN to the
to the to the strike. But I think that, uh,
you know, in the end, for for us, our exposure
was was an opportunity. It was we were you know,
a lot of our players were made up of the
teams that were in those arena leagus or CFL. And uh,
(28:57):
I don't think guys at all. I know, my my
feed back in the feeling I had in Chicago was
it's an opportunity to try to, uh try to get
in the league. And uh, I've never felt since playing
in that at that time that it ever once hindered
me or came back to haunt me. Not once. And uh,
you know, there was some some funny stories. So there's
(29:17):
amazing stories you know where we stayed at the hotel
getting the offense. I mean Ed Hughes was the coordinator,
and he was signaling everything in and it was like foreign,
you know, and you're you know, within two weeks you're
playing a game and I remember the whole game plan
sitting on a laminated sheet, Mike Cohenzy and I staying
up like trying to remember it, and uh, you know,
just feeling like, you know, in a short period of time, Hey,
(29:39):
we're just winging it here, you know. In regards to
the quarterback. Was at that position, you want to have
a pretty good handle on what you're doing. But uh,
but it was, it was It was exciting. And we
beat Philadelphia, we beat Minnesota I think, and then we
lost to the Saints and half their defense had come back.
And the very last game I played and was an
(29:59):
interception in the last past it was an interception to
the to my left. I don't know who it wasn't
picked it off, but it was a sat defender he
took an end. That was it for my career, and uh,
I knew it was time to coach. I wanted to
get back to just a few more questions about your
coaching style and that there there's two different types of
coaching where you have parcels is on one side, lombardies
(30:20):
on that side, and then there's another side, and it's
it's the theory that you criticize privately that you praise publicly.
What side do you see that you feel I'm you know,
it would seemed to me that that that that you're
on the parcel e And I'm not afraid of going
going over that line. I mean, I now I don't
(30:42):
I have to be myself, but I think it's important
that again that you're you know, you confront the things
that you don't like when they happen when they happen,
and and not worry about the player's feelings. I think
when the player sees that it it crosses the board
with everyone, including the coaches, then that's easier to swallow
and accept. Uh. And so you know, it could be
(31:05):
the quarterback and and you know you're you're sending a
message not to him but to everyone else in the
offense you don't like what's going on. But uh. But
that's such a fascinating part of the profession is that
is that because I think today's culture coaches in the
NFL are at a very unique position of leadership because
you have to make decisions in front of millions of people.
You have the sports opinion industry and radio now is
(31:28):
do you have it? Do you have a show like
that New Orleans where they second guest every decision you're making.
Sure and and you know you're you're you're in an
environment now that they can they can reference each play
in a game. You know, the we would we played
the Eagles in the playoffs game this past year and
got the ball with about four and a half five
minutes left in the game, had a good drive going
(31:50):
and had a chance maybe to close out the game,
and we ran this little flip play which was a
short yardage, played a Reggie Bush and he dropped it.
And now you know, your heart drops, and you think,
my god, we're gonna lose this game, and that play
is gonna be something that we never It's gonna be
with us forever. Unfortunately, you know, defensively we came out
(32:10):
and stopped him. But uh, you know, you get great
at each week and uh that's exciting though, and and
you know, I think the ability to digest the winds
quickly and not eat the cheese and get onto the
next week. And the ability to digest the losses and
everything that goes with the losses. That ability is critical,
and and and and keeping the team from being divided
(32:32):
when you go through those tough periods in the season
is critical. The one part of Peyton's journey to the
Saints that we haven't talked about is this four year
stretch with the New York Giants, which included three years
as offensive coordinator underhead coach Jim Fossil and general manager
Ernie A. Corsi. In two thousand, Peyton led a Giant's
offense that trounced the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game
(32:55):
forty one to nothing, ultimately losing in the Super Bowl
to one of the great his defenses of all time,
the Ray Lewis led Ravens. Apparently Peyton made an impression
on Bill Parcels. In fact, over the years, I've actually
talked to Parcels about this, and he told me that
Chris Marra from the Giants was a longtime friend who
(33:15):
called Bill and said that he thought it would be
a good match with this young coach with lots of
enthusiasm Sean Payton. Parcells told me they didn't know each other,
but after a few conversations, he offered him the job.
But let's hear Sean tell it. When you were calling
plays with the Giants who went to the Super Bowl? Yeah,
then was it two years later that you got stripped
(33:37):
of that responsible midway through the season of two thousand
and two. You know, Jim had been someone who used
to call the plays, uh, And he wanted he wanted
to get back in it, and he wanted to be
more involved in it. And but that must have been devastating.
It was it was your self confidence. I mean, this
is what you do well, and all of a sudden,
here's somebody saying, hey, Sean, you know it was It
(33:58):
was certainly one of those times in your career where
you look at you know, how are you gonna handle this? Uh?
And the fact of the matter is we had a
pretty good team. We lost some tough games, uh, And
you know, I think the most important thing was that,
you know, I was continuing on as the coordinator. We
were still putting the game plans together the same way,
and I wasn't gonna let this interfere with the success
(34:19):
we were going to have as a team, and we
were able to get into the playoffs. We lost in
the first round, but uh, it was it was at
that time where you know that tests you a little bit,
you know. And and if you ask this of your
players sometimes uh and and it happens with players where
all of a sudden, we're gonna go with this quarterback
rather than this one because we feel like right now
it's going to help the team. Then certainly, Uh, if
(34:40):
that's the case in the head coach's mind and the
decision he made, then you have to support it. So uh. Fortunately,
after that season, the phone call came from Parcels and
I had never met him before, but it was Christmas
Day and uh and and that that was when I
had the first chance to visit with him about going
to Dallas. What was the first question and ourselves as
(35:01):
it was that nebulous I might be into I might
have a job. Well, everyone had known, you know, he
had already met with Jerry at Tito Borough at the airport,
and so I, Hey, if the I was still under
contract with the Giants and it was gonna be I
have to I would have had to have been able
to get a release from Ernie and ownership, and and
to this day, I'm grateful for that because they gave
(35:22):
me that. When the season ended, I went in to
see Ernie when we were just talking about this this time,
and Ernie was fantastic. I went in to see Mr
Mara and UH and I talked with Jim and they
agreed to give me permission for two weeks if another
coordinator's job came up with take in front of a
blackboard and we never interviewed. No, he called me over
(35:42):
the phone. It was the first I've ever spoken to Bill.
It was on it was Christmas. By what he saw,
he and he had a few people that he knew
in New York and and some some people close to
the Giants that he trusted in. Uh. Then he called
me after that playoff loss. And then it wasn't until
you know, when I got the permission. We really couldn't
talk about the job until after I got the release
(36:03):
from the Giants. And at that point he said, Hey,
here's the job. How much you want to make and Uh,
I'll meet you at Republic Airport in Long Island Friday
and we're going to Dallas and the two of us
met there for the first time, and we got on
Jerry's plane and he got out of Napkin. He started
drawing in the offense and we landed in Dallas and
there and there we were, but it was the two
of us flew into Dallas. That's the first time I
(36:24):
met him. Going through last season, were you aware of
what an incredible story that was unfolding with the Saints?
I mean, could you see beyond this is just more
than just a turnaround of a team. This this is
a story that's going to be told by NFL films
for the next fifty years long after you and I
(36:46):
are going. Could you sense what you were part of,
what you were leading? Actually? I think I think after
that third win, you know what was important for us
is we got off to a good start. We want
a couple of road games. We beat Cleveland to start
the year, and then we went up to Green Bay,
fell behind, and then came back. And you know, we
have a young team. And when you look at the
Cleveland Browns and the Green Bay Packers in the New
(37:08):
Orleans Saints, you know, all three of those teams are
trying to find themselves. In other words, none of us
had had winning seasons the year before, and so the
margin of air in those three games was slight, was
very small. And we came back to beat Green Bay,
which put us at home now for the opening game
in the Superdome Monday night against a tuin Oh Atlanta
Falcon team. And so that was the first small stage
(37:32):
of what was to be a good year. And and
but it was only gonna be a special night if
we won the game, and we talked about that. In
other words, it was the first game back in the Dome,
it had been rebuilt, it was Monday night football, prime time.
They had you toub. I mean, it was like a
Super Bowl. And yet it was only going to be
special if we wanted And that night we played very well. Uh.
(37:52):
It was an amazing scene there if you were there,
just the noise level and the emotions that went into
that stadium being opened again after everything had gone on.
And it was that night, after the wind to go
three and oh, that you realized what could be on
the horizon if we continue to play well. And I
think then fortunately we were able to put more wins
(38:15):
together and the fans reminded you of it all the time.
Now as a coach, you're you're a little bit sheltered
because you're in the morning early in your home at night.
But I don't think any one of us uh had
our head in the sand and didn't see what was
taking place in the city. Do you remember any kind
of like personal vignettes as like I said, someone comes
up to you when you when you're getting your car
(38:36):
fill up with gas or you're at a supermarket or
something that that's one of those moments I'll probably stay
with you the rest of your life. I remember in
the summertime, it was July, the season hadn't started yet,
and you know, the Saints are coming back and playing
the the season in the Dome. And I remember going
to a Kenny Chesney concert in New Orleans. He was playing,
(38:58):
I want to say, the first week of July I
and I remember waiting in line and a fan coming
up to me who had just purchased four season tickets.
And now this this was unique because at this time,
was that really the first time the domean ever sold out?
The Saint sold We sold the season out before it started,
so you know, here it was in July and and
and we we've sold out, and a lot had to
(39:20):
do with that the acquisition of Breeze and Bush and
and there was momentum, I think, in a feeling of hey,
this team is doing the right things. So this fan
came up to me and he said, Coach, I just
want you to know I just bought four season tickets.
I'm living still in my trailer. I don't have a
job yet. I don't know how I'm gonna pay for
(39:40):
these tickets, but we can't wait to see you guys play.
And I'll never forget looking at him and thinking to myself,
you know, here's a guy that just went out and
made a decision. You know, regardless of whether I have
cable TV or I can afford the electric bill, I'm
buying four season tickets. And that type of story, Uh
(40:01):
happened often then, you know, once the season began, you know,
the the different times we had to interact with the fans.
You know, there was a period in the season we
had two or three kids come in from Make a
Wish Foundation or local kids who were struggling and young
kids that came with their parents and watched Friday's practice
and that we're guests of ours on game day, and
we gave him a game ball in the locker locker
(40:22):
room afterwards. Uh, it just took on. Uh, the success
took on a whole new thing that I hadn't been
exposed to as a coach and nothing that you got
into coaching for, because it became more than just the
winning and more than just the Saints. It became the region,
It became the city. It became something I think for
(40:43):
them to look forward to, you know, to to do
on the weekends and then to talk about on Monday
and Tuesday. And as that momentum continued to to gain
strength by the end of the year with the with
the second seed. You know that we had beaten Dallas
in a big game on Sunday night, and we were
competing at that time with Dallas for that second seed.
Chicago had pretty much locked up the first seat. But
(41:05):
it happened almost on a weekly basis at a restaurant
in a supermarket where someone it started with my dad
had tickets when they opened up at Tulane Stadium, or
we saw Dempsey's record setting kick, it would start. You know,
I've had I've had a million of those, you know
where I was at Tulane, and I've never seen this
ever from a Saints team and then you know, to
to get to an NFC championship game, which was the
(41:28):
first for that organization. Uh, it was amazing the impact
it had. And to this day, you know, when when
we go out, it's hard, it's difficult because it's uh,
the people are so excited about not only the accomplishments
of last year, but the direction we're going next year
and in the future. All right, good stay, thank you
for pleasure, good stuff. Three years after this interview was done,
(41:52):
Sean Payton and the Saints won Super Bowl forty four
over Peyton Manning in the Colts. Now you may recall
at the beginning of this interview how Peyton talked about
his aggressiveness. Will remember he opened the second half with
an on side kick, one of the boldest moves in
Super Bowl history, especially since it actually worked. Equally memorable,
(42:14):
but for far different reasons, was the first game back
in the Superdome in two thousand and six. In fact,
the one play that Peyton did not mention was the
blocked punt against the Falcons by Steve Gleason. In fact,
in a statue was erected outside the Superdome with the
inscription rebirth commemorating that play. In the years since that game,
(42:39):
Gleason has become a symbol of hope and strength for
the entire city as he heroically, and I do not
use that word loosely, heroically, continues to battle a l s.
Sean Payton coached fifteen seasons in New Orleans, and as
we speak he might be headed to a year in
the broadcast booth. And next week we bring you Steve
(43:02):
Sables two eight interview with the broadcasting goat, one of
my dearest friends, one of the all time great football voices,
Al Michaels. I hope you'll join us because I am
so excited to bring you this interview. Thanks for listening.
I'm Andrea Kramer. H
Welcome to NFL Films Tales from the Vault. I'm your host,
Pro Football Hall of Fame journalist Andrea Kramer. This podcast
takes you to a place very few people have ever been,
inside the NFL Films Vault, where we get to explore
some of the greatest interviews Steve Sable ever did in
his five decades as president of NFL Films. I met
(00:26):
Steve when I became the first female producer at Films.
Steve was my boss and mentor, and every week this
is such a passion project for me because I get
to present these conversations for you raw, unedited and in
their entirety for the first time. I'll be providing some
context and insights along the way. Today we head to
(00:49):
two thousand seven for Steve's interview with Saints head coach
Sean Payton. Sean Payton leaves the Saints. He's not calling
(01:10):
it a retirement after sixteen seasons with the fifth highest
winning percentage amongst current coaches. Last season was Peyton's first
ever as a head coach without Drew Brees. Remember, there
are combo that ranked in the top five in points
in the NFL in ten of sixteen seasons as a
point of reference. Due to injuries, Peyton had to use
(01:35):
four different quarterbacks who collectively did not produce the numbers
Breeze did, and even his weakest years that could force
any coach into a hiatus. The interview you're about to
hear took place following Peyton's first year's head coach, a
season in which they finished ten and six and began
the rebirth of New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina.
(01:58):
Remember that following the tooth us in five devastation of
Hurricane Katrina, the super Dome was closed for nearly a year.
In the fall of two thousand six, Peyton, Breeze and
the Saints brought football back to New Orleans. We're gonna
hear Peyton talk about the remarkable impact that they had
both on and off the field of New Orleans. But
(02:19):
we begin talking about one of our more recent podcast subjects,
Bill Parcels. You see, just prior to taking the job
of the Saints, Peyton was with Parcels in Dallas for
three seasons as assistant head coach and quarterbacks coach. Their
close relationship continues to this day, and Peyton learned a
lot from Bill, including something about cheese. That's right, you
(02:44):
heard me correctly. Let's go to the vault for Steve
Sable and Sean Payton. Well, we we're rolling right. What
what is the expression don't eat the cheese? What is that?
As parcels I stole it. It's a it's it's just
making sure that you don't start reading about how good
(03:05):
you are, and you don't spend all week on last
week's when that you get onto the next game. And
because you know, I think in our business, you know,
it's either all the way over here you're doing fantastic,
or or boy, there's there's a major problem here. There's
nothing in the in the middle. And so oftentimes you
(03:26):
are in the middle, or maybe you've won two or
three games in a row and you're trying to put
together a good run and then the reports come, you
know where whether they're just doing fantastic, they're going to
be in the NFC change, you know, so you just
try to don't eat the cheese. Don't eat the cheese,
or you get fat and and uh and that was
something that uh that Bill spent a lot of time
(03:47):
talking else what other things, what other what kind of
an influence did parcels have on you. He helped me tremendously.
It's different than a clinic or an interview or when
you're there for three years. Uh, you know, put the
pencil down in the in the notes and just watch
and how he dealt with everyone in the building, the trainers,
(04:08):
the equipment people, how he managed the coaching staff, what
he was looking for in a corner, what he was
looking for in a tackle, how important you know he
felt these You know, he's got that real acerbic kind
of a way. You know people, he's pretty sarcastic and
and and I think sometimes I might be too with
the players, but he connected though with with the players.
(04:31):
I mean, he had an ability to make you smile
and laugh. And it wasn't just all bark, you know,
or all by He was someone that, uh he could
get you going and he found a way to to
kind of hit the right buttons with each player and
each coach and and everyone from the assistant equipment. What
did you think showing he has that rule that he
(04:51):
doesn't let assistance talk to I understand that I do.
I do that. Um now in the off season, we
have an open door policy with with the coach. It
really is from the start of the season to the
end of the season, and it's just trying to reinforce
one voice. And I never felt as an assistant it
was a deterrent to me advancing or I actually it
(05:15):
was a little bit of a relief because I didn't
have to worry about being misquoted after a game, or
I didn't have to worry about, well, how was I
going to talk about how the quarterback played? Is? Is
it what Bill wanted me to say? And so well,
it was much easier not to have to talk at all.
And it was really the one voice in the season.
And and I think it's something that, uh that we've
(05:37):
we put in place in New Orleans, and I think
our assistants appreciate that. When I want to talk about
play calling, because I think even though you've just been
a head coach for one year, that's been sort of
an area that everybody talks about you being a great
play call And the word that I here used to
describe your play calling is ruthless. You know. I think
(05:59):
when you're successful and you win games, Uh, it's kind
of like the quarterback position. Uh, you know, oftentimes it's
easy to say, boy, you know that player gets a
lot of the credit and that coach did a great
job calling, calling a great game. And then when you
don't have success or you lose a lot of times
that criticism falls maybe on the quarterback, or it falls
(06:20):
on the play caller on either side of the ball,
or the head coach, and it's kind of part of
the deal. But you know, I think all the time
you're trying to evaluate, hey, are we giving our guys
a good opportunity to be successful? Not only what do
you think that that adjective would apply to you? I mean,
you're that you're gonna go for the throat the juggler,
that when you see an opening, you go for it. Right,
we would be aggressive, and I think that a lot
(06:41):
of teams probably take the same philosophy we do. I mean,
I think it's important to convey to your team, hey,
we're gonna be aggressive in this game now some weeks,
maybe more so than others. And if we feel like
we're playing someone where our margin of error is very slim,
then then then we we we're going to take an
aggressive appro coach. And so sometimes I think that that
(07:02):
comes from specific down and distance calls. You know, if
you decide to run an end around on fourth and inches,
you know someone might look at that as well. That
was an aggressive call, and we may have felt as
a coaching staff that really we're gonna get a yard
with this play, maybe more in the wind the win
loss game there was was worth the risk. When you
(07:23):
were calling plays for Bill, he has that expression I've
heard of, you don't get the virus. What does he
mean when he was telling you that? Telling Bill is
is there's a there's different strains of offenses in our
leg and uh you know, I was brought up with
with Jon Gruden at Philadelphia in that West Coast system,
(07:46):
and so that's kind of a different tribe than maybe
the Bill's system. And so as I came in, I
was kind of that outsider. You know, I was the
half Irish, half Italian guy in the mob. So I
really could never be a made guy. You know, I
could only go so far. But you brought up you know,
you're a West Coast guy. You stop here and uh
(08:06):
so he he would kid me about too many plays
and the virus was that was that flu like symptom
of wanting a lot of offense and not being able
to practice at all, and I appreciated that. I did
an interview with Lombardi must have been I was like
twenty five years old, and it wasn't It was situation
similar to this, and I asked him about coaching and
he said, and these were exact words. And you can
(08:27):
imagine how this shocked me when I heard he said
that to be a great coach, you have to be
one half teacher one half s sop. You think that
still holds true. I think you have to be tough.
I do think you have to be a great teacher
and that hasn't changed. Uh, But I think you have
to be demanding. I think what's what's important is your
(08:49):
ability to be fair and putting that first as opposed
to trying to give the illusion you're being fair. And
that's kind of served me well as an assistant in
in my first year as a head coach, of really
trying to do what's right. Uh. I think the players
appreciate honesty. I think being direct and confronting players is
(09:10):
a good thing. And Bill taught me that. Uh. He
was real good about confronting the seventh round pick all
the way to your high priced quarterback or linebacker, and
he wasn't afraid of confrontation and at all, and in fact,
he probably preferred it. And you know, I've I've found
where that's helped me some in my first year of
(09:32):
directly confronting problems and not trying to move on and
kind of e RaSE him away. I think that's important
as a head coach. Now, do you ever sense that
you're trying to micromanage things now? Because you were an
assistant and there's so many things that you understand that
you want to say something like when we had you
might you spent about five or six minutes in the
(09:53):
pregame talking about the views. It drove me nuts. It
drove me nuts. So yeah, I want to change all that.
And uh, you know, maybe what was music that you
didn't like? It was the seventies. The guy in charge
of the music was it was his his error. The
guy was in charge. It was like, you know who's
the DJ, Well, I'll tell you what the music is
(10:14):
gonna be. And we're walking around out there and I'm
thinking to myself, who put this on? Well, I know
who put it on. He's not gonna be in charge
of the music. Next week we're gonna have We're gonna
have a new meeting here, and uh, there are a
lot of little things. I think that's an interesting thing
because Gruden has always been focused on that. I mean,
he'll start out with me. Uh. Jimmy Moore had a
(10:34):
whole big scene in the middle of heel about about
the me Why do you think that's so important? It's
just one It's just one aspect. It might be the music,
it might be you know, how the locker room layout was. Uh,
you know, what's what's the backdrop for the postgame press conference?
I don't like the way that looks. What's all those things? Uh?
(10:55):
We try to make sure it's just how And I
have a picture, maybe in my mind over fifteen years,
of what I think it should be. And in the
case of what the pregame music, what did you change
it to? I wanted the players to have input. Tell
me what you want to hear, because ultimately that's what
it's for. I'm not interested now I'll put a couple
of songs in there I want to hear as well,
two or three. But I wanted to be what they
(11:16):
want and and and uh, I got the feeling in
that first preseason game that that was one of the things.
That was the first time I'd heard it, and I thought, well,
who picked this? It's our home game, and then different
if it was at Dallas, So we got that changed. Now,
what about the visor that you wear? Where where does
that come from? Because we were thinking we're looking at
you know, spurri or war Advisor, Tean Payton War's advisor,
(11:38):
gruden War's advisor, and I've seen gruden Wart in that
snow game up in you know, New England. Where does
that come from? Is that a conscious decision or is
that something you just grabbing? It started probably with me
just grabbing it and and uh, you know, it's something
that I probably wear a lot in the summertimes when
we go to the beach and so, but it isn't
a superstition that now after a while, there's certain things
(12:01):
in regards to you start winning, you know, you want
the same visor, the same jacket. But you know, I
know when we played in Chicago in the NFC Championship game,
as cold as that was, the visor had to go
and I had the ears covered. So but it's something
I feel comfortable wearing. And outside of that, it's uh,
it's uh, it's sitting in my locker before the game.
I put it on, so probably that that I had.
(12:24):
But it's interesting how certain superstitious coaches are. We did
a long time ago again, we did something with Alabama
and we're in the locker room and Bear Bryant is
taking all you have, the shirt and taking everything off,
and he's got a T shirt on, big big hole
in the T shirt. It's a coach, you know what's
he said. It reminds me of when I was a
moral bottom and we had no money and he wore
(12:44):
this T shirt with a hole in it, you know.
And I just figured that that, and I've noticed some
of a lot of other players and coaches have. Do
you do anything like that? Is there something that you're
for me? For me, it's the it's the juicy fruit gum.
You know. I've got one pack of game five pieces,
one for each quarter than one right when you need it,
(13:05):
you know, and if and if a quarter is going
bad at pieces going early now and now I'm behind,
I know that I've got four left and I've got
three and a half quarters, so I don't have that
full piece for overtime. So you know, if I'm on
the same piece in the first half, and I'm into
the second half. I've carried it into the third quarter
of the same piece. That's a good thing. If I'm
on piece like three or four in the second quarter,
(13:25):
we're not doing well. The juicy fruit story is even
more absurd. If you know a transpired during the two
thousand nine NFC Championship game. I'll try to keep it brief,
but here goes. So during pregame, a ball knocked over
peyton supply of juicy fruit, and wait for it, mixed
it with other flavors spearmint, winter fresh, double mint, and
(13:48):
big red. I cannot believe I'm talking about chewing gum here,
none of which were preferred by Peyton. Now, at this
point in his coaching career, Peyton had gone from one
stick per quarter to one stick per drive. So it's
the Saints are driving from the fourth quarter against the Vikings.
Peyton is handed a stick of spearmint gum. His reaction, well,
(14:10):
he already told you how he felt about music, Imagine
how he felt about his own chewing gum preferences. So
profanity alert, can you get me fucking juicy fruit, not
fucking spearment? Thank goodness, the world returned to his axis,
and Peyton got his juicy fruit gum. The Saints went
(14:31):
on to defeat the Vikings, and everyone lived happily ever after.
When we come back, Sean and Steve get into Peyton's
decision to take the job in New Orleans in the
first place. Stay tuned. Welcome back to Tails from the Vault.
In the spring of two thousand six, New Orleans was
(14:53):
still recovering from Hurricane Katrina. The future of the Saints
home was still even very much in doubt. Now, these
weren't exactly the eighths of the seventies, remember those Archie
Manning days, those crowdshots of the fans with bags over
their heads. But the Saints franchise from ninety seven to
two five had just seven winning seasons and just one
(15:16):
playoff win in thirty nine years into that history stepped
Sean Payton and free agent quarterback Drew Brees. Remember Breeze
was coming off of a torn labor in San Diego
in two thousand five. He'd had surgery which was even
considered career threatening, so there were a lot of uncertainties.
(15:36):
I don't think either player or coach could envision the
symbiotic relationship that would ensue between the two of them
go on to New Orleans. To me that that is
a fascinating decision that you made to go to a
to a first of all, a team that never won
anything in a in a disaster area. What what about?
(15:58):
How did you come to that decision? I mean, what's
not a big gambles. A team has a history and
they were winning. You're in the middle of a burn
an area that where it was in ruins. I think
that's a good question. I think that when the time
came at the end of our season, I interviewed a
few years ago at Oakland, and I felt like it
wasn't the best opportunity At that time, I stayed in Dallas.
(16:19):
But you know, it's hard you try to look at
these opportunities and say, hey, none of them are going
to paint the perfect picture from a standpoint. You know,
they're all probably changing coaches for a reason. I did
feel like this though. I felt like, Uh, the commitment
was there from ownership, and I felt like the general manager,
Mickey Loomis, was someone I wanted to work with. Uh.
(16:42):
The concerns I had, though, centered around a lot of
the problems maybe that existed even prior to Katrina. You know,
this is an organization that hadn't won in forty years.
And you know, Bill's advice when I went there was
you need to figure out quickly what's kept that team
from winning and change the culture if you can. So
coming back home, you know, when talking to my wife
about it. At that time, you know, we had just
(17:02):
built a brand new house in Dallas, I mean, just
finished a new one. And the idea, you know, as
we drive the car with the patents and it head
in the New Orleans and everyone else is going the
other way, and you know, we're going to look for homes. Uh,
was was sometimes overwhelming, and yet you know, you it
just felt right. Uh from a standpoint of the team
had just been displaced, We're coming back and really were
(17:23):
at rock bottom. And so uh I thought, as a
as a young first year head coach, we have a
chance to make a difference here. But the Green Bay
interview was one I took first. And and you know,
I share this story with a lot of people. What
you first made look at as where you might want
to go, I mean, and Drew Brees case, it could
have been Miami rather than New Orleans and Reggie Bush's case,
(17:45):
it could have been the Texans, but it was New Orleans.
And in my case it could have been the Packers.
It wasn't Ted Thompson. Uh, it was fantastic through the
process and they hired Mike McCarthy and so here it
was New Orleans and uh it's still Repper send it
a challenge and one in which I remember flying back
from the interview with Mickey and Tom Benson and just
feeling like, you know, boy, what an impact we can
(18:08):
make here beyond just football and uh and then everything
you know, But that that's unusual, I think for for
a coach to think that, because most football coaches and
they're they're they're focused on one thing. And I know
in the many years that I've dealt with him, it's
the first thing is is you talked to a coach,
the first thing he thinks of, well, how is this
going to help you win? That's the first can I win?
Is this is this gonna be an impediment to me?
(18:29):
If this is gonna help me, when I'll do it.
If it isn't, then I felt like we had the
second pick, which was important. I thought we had some
players back on both sides of the ball. That gave
us a chance. Um, I felt like we were at
three and thirteen, you know, rock bottom, and I thought,
you know that, you know, we're only gonna get better.
We can't we can't have a season as bad as
the season was prior for a lot of reasons. And
(18:51):
so you know, that's somewhat appealing and a lot more
appealing than taking a job over that just was ten
or eleven wins. So the idea of coming in and
building something from the ground floor up. Uh, And I
felt like I was ready to be a head coach,
and so I know that the opportunity doesn't come around
where you get to sit back and say, you know,
I want that one. I don't want that one. And
(19:12):
I had gone through the process two years prior with
the Raiders, and I felt like, you know, I want
to do this now. And uh, maybe is is challenging
as it might have seemed or appeared, there were still
some things that I saw in it that that excited me.
And and the concern really was can I get a
staff here? You know, can I get a staff in
place where our players gonna be during the offseason? And
(19:35):
what's the long term future this team. And so I
began to feel better about all those answers after the
second time I visited with Mickey and Mr Benson and
uh uh, but I can write a book on the
first the first month of the job. You know, the
different hotels we stayed in, and and you know, the
paper on the walls as they were trying to repaint
(19:55):
the facility from when FEMA was in there and and
taken it over, and trying to locate our players, and
you know, it was different. Maybe the challenges that you
normally would have as a first year head coach were
exaggerated or greater than what you would normally expect, but
it was something that we look back on and you know,
to to this day, the assistance my staff and everyone
(20:16):
involved in putting that team together last year. The training
camp we had in Millsaps, you know, that was kind
of a We tried to treat it like a modern
day Junction Boys, where we really locked the gates there
hundred ten degrees and and had you know, really four
weeks of tough, uh tough football, demanding football, and one
in which we found out a lot about our team.
(20:38):
And I think that served us well later on in
the season, Sean, was the toughest decision that you had
to make, Lester. I mean, every coach is faced with
decisions and that's really what shapes the season. I'll tell
you a tough decision. The decision to say, hey, we're
we're signing Drew Brees. That's not an easy decision because
there's an investment being made and I know exactly what
we were getting with Drew being healthy, but the concern
(20:59):
was is he going to be healthy? And that decision
weighed heavily on our minds. We had the second pick
of the draft, and we made that decision in February,
right after the combine leading up into free agency, and
it was really a year ago this weekend because he
was in the first week in the free agency that
Drew came in with his wife and we pulled the
trigger and and we made a commitment to that. Did
(21:21):
you show him around the you know in New Orleans?
That took him around? And uh, we actually we got lost.
I was in charge of I had only been there
about a month, and so I took Drew in Brittany
over to our house on the north Shore to show him,
you know, some some home options there. Came back across
the bridge and was heading back to the complex and
I hadn't taken that route before, probably twice. And so
(21:45):
now I'm half an hour away from the complex on
the cell phone. You know, we've been in the car
for two hours. I'm looking at you know, Drew's kind
of dozing off, and so is Brittany. And I'm thinking
this isn't going well. And I called Mickey up and said, hey,
get us back to the facility. I have no idea
where I'm at. And all I've seen now or these
blue roofs, you know, these temporary homes, campers and everything.
It was a nightmare. And so we you know, all
(22:06):
our free time was was shot. You know, we were
hustling Drew and his wife to the hotel. We're late
for dinner. Uh, hindsight, I'll have a driver next time.
But I was the driver at you know, not having
an idea where I was going. But the decision to
to to make and prioritize him as our quarterback, not
as a player, but making sure hey, he was going
(22:27):
to recover was a tough decision. Now hindsight it was
the right decision. A funny story, to be sure, but
to hear Breeze tell it, it's even better. Well. Driving
around the ruins of New Orleans instead of dozing off
or being turned off, Breeze was inspired. He turned to
his wife and they both realized the opportunity they had
(22:47):
to make a difference in a community that had so
many people let them down over the course of the
previous year, and ultimately, instead of being a deterrent to sign,
it became a motivating force and really was the precursor
for all the amazing work that Brittany and Drew did
over their fifteen years there. When we come back, Peyton
(23:07):
tells Steve how he came to play for the Chicago
Bears during the players strike, plus the story of one
of the most famous nights in Saints history. Welcome back
to Tales from the Vault. Every player, every coach has
(23:29):
an origin story, and Sean Payton's is pretty unique. He
had a successful college career at Division two Eastern Illinois,
that mini quarterback factory that has produced Tony Romo and
Jimmy Garoppolo. But it's Peyton who still holds the school
record for passing yards in a single game with five
(23:49):
nine after coming out of Eastern Illinois. Peyton played for
five professional teams in a two year span, including a
stint with the Lester Panthers of the UK Budweiser National League.
I'm sure you followed that team. And then in he
returned to his hometown in Illinois and decided he wanted
(24:09):
to be a coach. Naperville, Illinois. You put everything you've
got in a in a Chevy and your head west.
Where are you going? San Diego State? Steve Divines the
offensive line coach. He's a scout now with the Giants.
UH is in charge of hiring graduate assistant coaches. You know,
first time guys that are just going to go out
(24:31):
there and break down film. And so I had a cavalier.
It broke down in Denver and a guy I remember
on this, I was going up one of these mountains
that in the car just said no, and the guy
came and kind of fixed it to where I could
get to San Diego. But the car wasn't fixed yet.
So UH that got me there, and UH I was
(24:52):
there for two years as a graduate assistant. San Diego
State eighty nine. Um, here's at Sean Payton the play.
You had a one day try out with the Chiefs
in seven three weeks with Chicago of the Arena League. Correct,
a whole month with the Ottawa rough Riders. It's right,
three weeks with the Bears during the eighty seven strike.
(25:15):
How come you couldn't stick with the team? I wasn't
good enough. I I knew, probably somewhere in the middle
of the h of Canada and the Chicago Bears, that
I was gonna end up getting into coaching. But my
dream was to play and coming out of college. But
you know, you want that opportunity, and I was lucky
enough to have some chances and and uh. But but
(25:37):
I knew in that first year that that I was
gonna want to get into coaching. And then the following
year eighty eight was when I when I first had
that opportunity. But I met some good people along the
way in in uh and did a lot of traveling.
If if you were going to do a fill out
a scouting report on Sean Payton as a player, what
what would that scouting report say? Undersized average arm uh,
(26:01):
fairly smart, uh, we need better uh? Three lines? That
would be all I need to do. Strike You were
on the Bears, right Yep. There was a big deal
when they came here because you have the teamsters and everything.
(26:22):
What do you remember about that whole experience. I remember
Buddy Ryan had left Chicago, if you recall, and took
over the Eagles, and Dica now is at the Bears,
and so you know, much has been said about their relationship.
Obviously they had a great run there in Chicago, but
now Buddy had his team and Mike had his team,
and so, uh, now, all of a sudden, they've got
two new teams in a week to prepare. And so
(26:43):
Mike took this game real seriously and you could ask you,
but I mean, he was adamant about us going in
there ready to play a football game and win this game.
And we got in there on Saturday, which is pretty typical.
But what happened was we had a team eating and
he said, the wake up call is at three am
in the morning, and the buses are leaving at three thirty,
(27:05):
and we have cots over at the vet when you
get there. And we went in before any of the
trouble outside began. The Eagles spent the night in the vet.
Our buses left at three thirty in the morning. We
got there and we had cots at the basement of
the vet. We slept on in the visitors locker room.
We got up, we had our pregame meal right down
the hall somewhere. I don't know what that was. And uh,
(27:27):
we beat the snot out of the Eagles that day,
and Mike was so excited about that. I just I
always remember how he felt, because he felt like, you know,
I've got a week with these forty five guys. You
got a week with these forty five guys. Let's see
who the better coaches. And he was pretty serious about
that game. What was your feeling as a player, And
that was the thing with the scabs and everything. In Chicago,
it was and I'm not naive to understand the certain
(27:51):
lines that are drawn during something like that, but in
Chicago we probably didn't see at all the uh the
things that we maybe saw in the news from other areas. Uh.
You know. I I remember being at home and are
one of our class presidents from my high school called
me from CNN. Ronda was working for CNN. She said, Hey,
(28:13):
Larry King wants to do a little show with you. Uh.
So I thought it was a five minute interview and
so they send the limo to the house, and I
should have figured it out at that point. Were drive
into Chicago and there's Larry King, Uh, there's uh Todd
Christensen and at that time the late Joe Robbie all
on on this hour long show for the strike. And
so here I am, you know, and now I'm in
(28:34):
my blue sweater and I'm thinking to myself, boy, Ronda
is gonna get something out of this. This turned out
to be an hour long show dedicated CNN to the
to the to the strike. But I think that, uh,
you know, in the end, for for us, our exposure
was was an opportunity. It was we were you know,
a lot of our players were made up of the
teams that were in those arena leagus or CFL. And uh,
(28:57):
I don't think guys at all. I know, my my
feed back in the feeling I had in Chicago was
it's an opportunity to try to, uh try to get
in the league. And uh, I've never felt since playing
in that at that time that it ever once hindered
me or came back to haunt me. Not once. And uh,
you know, there was some some funny stories. So there's
(29:17):
amazing stories you know where we stayed at the hotel
getting the offense. I mean Ed Hughes was the coordinator,
and he was signaling everything in and it was like foreign,
you know, and you're you know, within two weeks you're
playing a game and I remember the whole game plan
sitting on a laminated sheet, Mike Cohenzy and I staying
up like trying to remember it, and uh, you know,
just feeling like, you know, in a short period of time, Hey,
(29:39):
we're just winging it here, you know. In regards to
the quarterback. Was at that position, you want to have
a pretty good handle on what you're doing. But uh,
but it was, it was It was exciting. And we
beat Philadelphia, we beat Minnesota I think, and then we
lost to the Saints and half their defense had come back.
And the very last game I played and was an
(29:59):
interception in the last past it was an interception to
the to my left. I don't know who it wasn't
picked it off, but it was a sat defender he
took an end. That was it for my career, and uh,
I knew it was time to coach. I wanted to
get back to just a few more questions about your
coaching style and that there there's two different types of
coaching where you have parcels is on one side, lombardies
(30:20):
on that side, and then there's another side, and it's
it's the theory that you criticize privately that you praise publicly.
What side do you see that you feel I'm you know,
it would seemed to me that that that that you're
on the parcel e And I'm not afraid of going
going over that line. I mean, I now I don't
(30:42):
I have to be myself, but I think it's important
that again that you're you know, you confront the things
that you don't like when they happen when they happen,
and and not worry about the player's feelings. I think
when the player sees that it it crosses the board
with everyone, including the coaches, then that's easier to swallow
and accept. Uh. And so you know, it could be
(31:05):
the quarterback and and you know you're you're sending a
message not to him but to everyone else in the
offense you don't like what's going on. But uh. But
that's such a fascinating part of the profession is that
is that because I think today's culture coaches in the
NFL are at a very unique position of leadership because
you have to make decisions in front of millions of people.
You have the sports opinion industry and radio now is
(31:28):
do you have it? Do you have a show like
that New Orleans where they second guest every decision you're making.
Sure and and you know you're you're you're in an
environment now that they can they can reference each play
in a game. You know, the we would we played
the Eagles in the playoffs game this past year and
got the ball with about four and a half five
minutes left in the game, had a good drive going
(31:50):
and had a chance maybe to close out the game,
and we ran this little flip play which was a
short yardage, played a Reggie Bush and he dropped it.
And now you know, your heart drops, and you think,
my god, we're gonna lose this game, and that play
is gonna be something that we never It's gonna be
with us forever. Unfortunately, you know, defensively we came out
(32:10):
and stopped him. But uh, you know, you get great
at each week and uh that's exciting though, and and
you know, I think the ability to digest the winds
quickly and not eat the cheese and get onto the
next week. And the ability to digest the losses and
everything that goes with the losses. That ability is critical,
and and and and keeping the team from being divided
(32:32):
when you go through those tough periods in the season
is critical. The one part of Peyton's journey to the
Saints that we haven't talked about is this four year
stretch with the New York Giants, which included three years
as offensive coordinator underhead coach Jim Fossil and general manager
Ernie A. Corsi. In two thousand, Peyton led a Giant's
offense that trounced the Vikings in the NFC Championship Game
(32:55):
forty one to nothing, ultimately losing in the Super Bowl
to one of the great his defenses of all time,
the Ray Lewis led Ravens. Apparently Peyton made an impression
on Bill Parcels. In fact, over the years, I've actually
talked to Parcels about this, and he told me that
Chris Marra from the Giants was a longtime friend who
(33:15):
called Bill and said that he thought it would be
a good match with this young coach with lots of
enthusiasm Sean Payton. Parcells told me they didn't know each other,
but after a few conversations, he offered him the job.
But let's hear Sean tell it. When you were calling
plays with the Giants who went to the Super Bowl? Yeah,
then was it two years later that you got stripped
(33:37):
of that responsible midway through the season of two thousand
and two. You know, Jim had been someone who used
to call the plays, uh, And he wanted he wanted
to get back in it, and he wanted to be
more involved in it. And but that must have been devastating.
It was it was your self confidence. I mean, this
is what you do well, and all of a sudden,
here's somebody saying, hey, Sean, you know it was It
(33:58):
was certainly one of those times in your career where
you look at you know, how are you gonna handle this? Uh?
And the fact of the matter is we had a
pretty good team. We lost some tough games, uh, And
you know, I think the most important thing was that,
you know, I was continuing on as the coordinator. We
were still putting the game plans together the same way,
and I wasn't gonna let this interfere with the success
(34:19):
we were going to have as a team, and we
were able to get into the playoffs. We lost in
the first round, but uh, it was it was at
that time where you know that tests you a little bit,
you know. And and if you ask this of your
players sometimes uh and and it happens with players where
all of a sudden, we're gonna go with this quarterback
rather than this one because we feel like right now
it's going to help the team. Then certainly, Uh, if
(34:40):
that's the case in the head coach's mind and the
decision he made, then you have to support it. So uh. Fortunately,
after that season, the phone call came from Parcels and
I had never met him before, but it was Christmas
Day and uh and and that that was when I
had the first chance to visit with him about going
to Dallas. What was the first question and ourselves as
(35:01):
it was that nebulous I might be into I might
have a job. Well, everyone had known, you know, he
had already met with Jerry at Tito Borough at the airport,
and so I, Hey, if the I was still under
contract with the Giants and it was gonna be I
have to I would have had to have been able
to get a release from Ernie and ownership, and and
to this day, I'm grateful for that because they gave
(35:22):
me that. When the season ended, I went in to
see Ernie when we were just talking about this this time,
and Ernie was fantastic. I went in to see Mr
Mara and UH and I talked with Jim and they
agreed to give me permission for two weeks if another
coordinator's job came up with take in front of a
blackboard and we never interviewed. No, he called me over
(35:42):
the phone. It was the first I've ever spoken to Bill.
It was on it was Christmas. By what he saw,
he and he had a few people that he knew
in New York and and some some people close to
the Giants that he trusted in. Uh. Then he called
me after that playoff loss. And then it wasn't until
you know, when I got the permission. We really couldn't
talk about the job until after I got the release
(36:03):
from the Giants. And at that point he said, Hey,
here's the job. How much you want to make and Uh,
I'll meet you at Republic Airport in Long Island Friday
and we're going to Dallas and the two of us
met there for the first time, and we got on
Jerry's plane and he got out of Napkin. He started
drawing in the offense and we landed in Dallas and
there and there we were, but it was the two
of us flew into Dallas. That's the first time I
(36:24):
met him. Going through last season, were you aware of
what an incredible story that was unfolding with the Saints?
I mean, could you see beyond this is just more
than just a turnaround of a team. This this is
a story that's going to be told by NFL films
for the next fifty years long after you and I
(36:46):
are going. Could you sense what you were part of,
what you were leading? Actually? I think I think after
that third win, you know what was important for us
is we got off to a good start. We want
a couple of road games. We beat Cleveland to start
the year, and then we went up to Green Bay,
fell behind, and then came back. And you know, we
have a young team. And when you look at the
Cleveland Browns and the Green Bay Packers in the New
(37:08):
Orleans Saints, you know, all three of those teams are
trying to find themselves. In other words, none of us
had had winning seasons the year before, and so the
margin of air in those three games was slight, was
very small. And we came back to beat Green Bay,
which put us at home now for the opening game
in the Superdome Monday night against a tuin Oh Atlanta
Falcon team. And so that was the first small stage
(37:32):
of what was to be a good year. And and
but it was only gonna be a special night if
we won the game, and we talked about that. In
other words, it was the first game back in the Dome,
it had been rebuilt, it was Monday night football, prime time.
They had you toub. I mean, it was like a
Super Bowl. And yet it was only going to be
special if we wanted And that night we played very well. Uh.
(37:52):
It was an amazing scene there if you were there,
just the noise level and the emotions that went into
that stadium being opened again after everything had gone on.
And it was that night, after the wind to go
three and oh, that you realized what could be on
the horizon if we continue to play well. And I
think then fortunately we were able to put more wins
(38:15):
together and the fans reminded you of it all the time.
Now as a coach, you're you're a little bit sheltered
because you're in the morning early in your home at night.
But I don't think any one of us uh had
our head in the sand and didn't see what was
taking place in the city. Do you remember any kind
of like personal vignettes as like I said, someone comes
up to you when you when you're getting your car
(38:36):
fill up with gas or you're at a supermarket or
something that that's one of those moments I'll probably stay
with you the rest of your life. I remember in
the summertime, it was July, the season hadn't started yet,
and you know, the Saints are coming back and playing
the the season in the Dome. And I remember going
to a Kenny Chesney concert in New Orleans. He was playing,
(38:58):
I want to say, the first week of July I
and I remember waiting in line and a fan coming
up to me who had just purchased four season tickets.
And now this this was unique because at this time,
was that really the first time the domean ever sold out?
The Saint sold We sold the season out before it started,
so you know, here it was in July and and
and we we've sold out, and a lot had to
(39:20):
do with that the acquisition of Breeze and Bush and
and there was momentum, I think, in a feeling of hey,
this team is doing the right things. So this fan
came up to me and he said, Coach, I just
want you to know I just bought four season tickets.
I'm living still in my trailer. I don't have a
job yet. I don't know how I'm gonna pay for
(39:40):
these tickets, but we can't wait to see you guys play.
And I'll never forget looking at him and thinking to myself,
you know, here's a guy that just went out and
made a decision. You know, regardless of whether I have
cable TV or I can afford the electric bill, I'm
buying four season tickets. And that type of story, Uh
(40:01):
happened often then, you know, once the season began, you know,
the the different times we had to interact with the fans.
You know, there was a period in the season we
had two or three kids come in from Make a
Wish Foundation or local kids who were struggling and young
kids that came with their parents and watched Friday's practice
and that we're guests of ours on game day, and
we gave him a game ball in the locker locker
(40:22):
room afterwards. Uh, it just took on. Uh, the success
took on a whole new thing that I hadn't been
exposed to as a coach and nothing that you got
into coaching for, because it became more than just the
winning and more than just the Saints. It became the region,
It became the city. It became something I think for
(40:43):
them to look forward to, you know, to to do
on the weekends and then to talk about on Monday
and Tuesday. And as that momentum continued to to gain
strength by the end of the year with the with
the second seed. You know that we had beaten Dallas
in a big game on Sunday night, and we were
competing at that time with Dallas for that second seed.
Chicago had pretty much locked up the first seat. But
(41:05):
it happened almost on a weekly basis at a restaurant
in a supermarket where someone it started with my dad
had tickets when they opened up at Tulane Stadium, or
we saw Dempsey's record setting kick, it would start. You know,
I've had I've had a million of those, you know
where I was at Tulane, and I've never seen this
ever from a Saints team and then you know, to
to get to an NFC championship game, which was the
(41:28):
first for that organization. Uh, it was amazing the impact
it had. And to this day, you know, when when
we go out, it's hard, it's difficult because it's uh,
the people are so excited about not only the accomplishments
of last year, but the direction we're going next year
and in the future. All right, good stay, thank you
for pleasure, good stuff. Three years after this interview was done,
(41:52):
Sean Payton and the Saints won Super Bowl forty four
over Peyton Manning in the Colts. Now you may recall
at the beginning of this interview how Peyton talked about
his aggressiveness. Will remember he opened the second half with
an on side kick, one of the boldest moves in
Super Bowl history, especially since it actually worked. Equally memorable,
(42:14):
but for far different reasons, was the first game back
in the Superdome in two thousand and six. In fact,
the one play that Peyton did not mention was the
blocked punt against the Falcons by Steve Gleason. In fact,
in a statue was erected outside the Superdome with the
inscription rebirth commemorating that play. In the years since that game,
(42:39):
Gleason has become a symbol of hope and strength for
the entire city as he heroically, and I do not
use that word loosely, heroically, continues to battle a l s.
Sean Payton coached fifteen seasons in New Orleans, and as
we speak he might be headed to a year in
the broadcast booth. And next week we bring you Steve
(43:02):
Sables two eight interview with the broadcasting goat, one of
my dearest friends, one of the all time great football voices,
Al Michaels. I hope you'll join us because I am
so excited to bring you this interview. Thanks for listening.
I'm Andrea Kramer. H
Popular Podcasts
Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.