Topical? Not at all. But it's on my mind, so here we are! If you are lucky enough to have forgotten, this picture shows the moment Jameis was horse-collared by Devin White and had his ACL torn. This occurred in week 8 of the 2021 season.

Entering this game, Sean Payton had the team at 4-2. The team was inconsistent, but starting to click. Jameis was playing the best ball of his career. Everything pointed toward Sean and Mickey having made the right decision to not initiate a rebuild simply because Drew retired.

Then this happened. Jameis goes out for the season. The team craters, losing two close games in the weeks following this one, then dropping the next three in a row by multiple scores. The only silver lining: we still won this game and were blessed with the video of Jameis dancing with his crutches.

Why does this moment stand out so much? Because even without Jameis, Sean still got a winning record out of this team, including going 4-1 in the last 5 games of the season, with the only loss being a fluke thanks to nearly every starter being out with Covid against the Dolphins.

The convenient narrative is that Sean Payton left so soon after Drew retired because he didn't like coaching without his star QB. I simply don't believe that. In my version of history, Jameis avoids this injury, the team goes at least 11-6, possibly 12-5, and easily wins the NFC South. If nothing else, this would show Sean that life after Drew wasn't going to be miserable.

Don't get me wrong, I like the direction we're headed in. The Carr and DA years were rough, but I think Kellen has us on the right track. Still, it hurts to think about what might have been.

EDIT: I got too caught up in the vibes – Turns out TB won the division in 2021 by going 13-4, so 12-5 wouldn't have won it. I do think this team could have gone 13-4 on the season with Jameis (additional losses to the Bills and Cowboys), and we would've then held the tiebreaker over TB by having beaten them twice. Even if we do go 11-6 or 12-5, we still make the playoffs.

14 comments

  1. We came within minutes of making the playoffs with one of the most injured teams in NFL history, it was crazy. It really proves the power of coaching, because DA took a better roster into the following season and went an incredibly disappointing 7-10

  2. Wasn’t until recently I found out some fans hate Payton like he didn’t make this team actually competitive. 

  3. That fucking dolphins game man. When I saw how many players were out I was like were going to miss that playoffs.

    We should’ve and could’ve went 5-0 that last stretch and it would’ve been Payton’s best coaching job ever but that fucking dolphins game.

    Sean would’ve stayed. Jameis could’ve been the future QB too but also I could see Sean tryna trade picks away for a new QB prospect

    Fuck Covid obviously for alot of other reasons but I’m still pissed to this day about it basically is what changed the franchise imo

  5. Simiean won this game pretty easily. Also, things were fine until Kamara missed the 4 game stretch

  6. I’m with you. Sean had Jameis dialed in. That was such a fun game but walking out the dome I had the feeling of it all being over

  9. Our current path was started by the cap management, which made sense until Brees was on the field. The injury Winston suffered didn’t change anything. We would not win the SB anyway, and Payton leaving has nothing to do with that. Your hot take is just a fantasy man.

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