Yeah, I got to admit, I don't get the love affair with Payton. I think he's showing to be a classic guy who's a top-shelf coordinator when paired with a head coach that can reel him in at times, but not a guy suited for a head-coaching position himself.
Whenever I watch a Saints' prime-time game, I'm amazed by all the mistakes they make. It's like that game they had against Minnesota; they vastly outplayed them in many ways, but at the end of the day played fundamentally poor football and somehow lost.
And I also think Payton is (or at least he thinks he is) too smart for his own good. His play calling becomes downright goofy at time. Granted, he doesn't have much to work with at the running back position in terms of tailbacks that can actually carry the football.
The jury's still out on Sparano. Taking that Miami team to the playoffs was a great accomplishment. It's unfair, at this point, to just assume what happened to the '04 Cowboys will happen to next year's Dolphins. With that said, though, he certainly has to show me he can do it again but I start rueing the day we let him leave.