Thursday Night Football in Week 7 is not a "pretty" matchup. The New Orleans Saints and Denver Broncos are both banged up, somewhat limping into play this week. That being said, the major storyline here is Sean Payton's return to New Orleans.
He will coach against his former team, looking for a win to truly give them one last tough memory of him. Payton and the franchise agreed to separate, to a degree, but there is certainly no love lost between the two sides.
Many Saints fans believe that Payton simply wanted to jump ship when things got tougher in New Orleans after Drew Brees retire. They are not entirely wrong there, either. Regardless, Brees shared his opinion on how fans should view this matchup against his former coach.
Drew Brees' point of view
Brees has a mixture of appreciation for and determination to beat Payton on Thursday evening. He wants his former team to try to take care of business against a team that they are capable of handling.
"Look, this is the way it should be. It should be, the minute that man walks in the Dome, everybody celebrates him, 'hey Sean, we love you, thanks for everything you've done for this organization, blah, blah, blah, and then the minute that that game starts, man, we're trying to kick your ass. That's the way it should be." -- Brees
There will be plenty of emotion involved in Saints-Broncos.
Payton will surely pull some unique tricks out of his bag on offense, so his former defensive coordinator and now Saints head coach, Dennis Allen, must be ready.
At the same time, Denver's players will want to pull out a victory for their head coach. They'll understand the magnitude that this matchup brings Payton. He is the only coach to ever bring a Super Bowl to the Saints. That's massive implications and history.
As for New Orleans, a handful of notable players under Payton will get their first shot to beat him. They'll want to do exactly that to the coach that, in essence, quit on them just a couple of years ago.
Related: Former Saints QB Drew Brees makes strong statement about Sean Payton/Russell Wilson pairing in Denver
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