By Pat Yasinskas

NEW ORLEANS — Mike Triplett has a very good story about how Sean Payton has matured as a coach and I’d like to elaborate on this a bit because this is one topic that hasn’t been talked about enough in this magical season for the Saints.

If you followed the Saints closely last year and have done the same this year, you’ve seen very visible growth by Payton. He certainly wasn’t a bad coach before, but the maturity we’ve seen from Payton this year has helped him emerge as a top-notch coach.

The thing that’s impressed me most about Payton this year has been his willingness to adapt — that’s been a fatal flaw for a lot of other coaches. Payton had to make some very tough decisions after last year’s disappointing 8-8 season.

He knew he had to do something about a defense that was bad last year. He fired coordinator Gary Gibbs and brought in Gregg Williams. The results there speak for themselves.

Read more of the story here.

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