NEW ORLEANS – Sean Payton helped bring a championship to New Orleans and also apparently has helped give some ambulance patients something to smile about.
The Acadian Ambulance Service has about 250 vehicles that serve hospitals in the New Orleans area. Kenneth Williams, an emergency medical technician, said about a third of the ambulances have “Saints” and “World Champions” written on the outside alongside the team logo, including one he is riding in this week.
Payton, now coach of the Broncos, steered the Saints to their only Super Bowl win in February 2010. He will return to the Superdome on Thursday night for the first time as Denver (3-3) faces New Orleans (2-4) in a game nationally televised by Amazon Prime.
With Payton’s return in mind, how do patients, many of them fans of the team, react when they might see an ambulance touting the Saints’ greatest season having picked them up?
“Some of the patients obviously aren’t able to recognize what’s going on but others they have fun with it,’’ Williams said.
Payton was the Saints’ coach for 15 seasons between 2006-21 before taking 2022 off and being hired by the Broncos in 2023. His crowning achievement was when New Orleans defeated Indianapolis 31-17 in Super Bowl XLIV in the 2009 season.
In French Quarter bars, there are framed newspapers from when the Saints, who were founded in 1967, won the Super Bowl. The headline in The Times Picayune then read “AMEN AFTER 43 YEARS, OUR PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED.”
At Big EZ Seafood & Oyster restaurant in suburban Kenner, there is a “Saints Room,’’ which has a big mural on the wall. It includes illustrations of quarterback Drew Brees, who will be inducted into the Saints Hall of Fame at halftime of Thursday’s game, and of Payton holding up the Vince Lombardi Trophy.
The mural was painted three years ago by Anthony Nguyen, 68, a native of Vietnam who fought in the Vietnam War for 1 1/2 years before coming to New Orleans at the age of 19 in November 1975. He said “right away” he became a Saints fan.
“They wanted me to paint the whole room with the New Orleans Saints winning the Super Bowl,’’ said Nguyen, who estimates as an artist he paints “60%” of the floats in the Mardi Gras Parade. “They gave me some photos but told me to do anything I wanted.”
Nguyen said the “Saints Room,” is always packed when the team plays. He is excited to see Payton returning to the Superdome.
“I really liked it when he was the coach in New Orleans,’’ Nguyen said. “He was a very good coach, and it will be exciting to see him back at the dome.”
Williams, 29, also is excited to see Payton coming back. The New Orleans native was 14 when the Saints won the Super Bowl.
“They love Sean Payton here,’’ Williams said. “He brought a championship, and he brought a great culture to the Saints. He made it better for the city. It was just a better feeling after Hurricane Katrina.”
Payton took over after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005 and in his initial season of 2006 led the Saints to their first NFC Championship Game appearance.
“We would fly home from regular-season games (and) there would be 1,000 people at the airport,’’ Payton said of that season. “None of us could have ever envisioned that. So, there was a uniqueness to it. (The fans have) always been passionate, but I think a lot of it had to do with the year prior and how difficult it was.”
Then came the Super Bowl win three years later and the city had a huge parade. A photo of Payton at the game can be seen at Manning’s Sports Bar and Grill in New Orleans, which is owned by former Saints star quarterback Archie Manning. He is the father of former star quarterbacks Peyton Manning, who played for Denver from 2012-15, and Eli Manning.
The restaurant has all sorts of memorabilia related to the Manning family and to the Saints. But Archie doesn’t deny that, despite the photo of Payton, his place might be a bit short in one area.
“I probably don’t have as much about the Saints winning the Super Bowl as I should have, being it’s a New Orleans place. But you got to remember who the Saints beat in that Super Bowl,’’ he said with a laugh about Peyton, then with the Colts, being on the losing end.
With Payton returning to New Orleans, plenty of memories figure to flow. He has secured about 20 tickets for family members and close friends.
One thing will be new for Payton when he arrives at the Superdome. He said he’s “never been in” in the visitor’s locker room.
Regardless of the circumstance, some of Payton’s former players with the Saints figure he’s going to use whatever he can to get an edge. Star defensive end Cameron Jordan said New Orleans didn’t help matters by losing 51-27 last Sunday at home to Tampa Bay.
“He’s going to be fired up,’’ said Jordan, who is in his 14th season with the Saints, including having played for Payton for 10. “Everybody in this building knows who Sean Payton is. If he sees blood in the water, he’s going to try and go take advantage, and that’s always been his M.O. So, we’re not helping deter that at this point, with this last game we put on.”
Linebacker Demario Davis agrees that Payton will relish the challenge of facing his former team at the Superdome.
“Going against him is going to be a unique challenge,’’ said Davis, who is in his seventh Saints season, including having played for Payton from 2018-21. “I know he’s going to have all his guns up and be ready to go.”
There are 18 players with the Saints remaining from when Payton was the coach, although about a half dozen are injured and won’t play Thursday. Several of those players have said they expect Payton to get a warm welcome from the fans.
But then the game will start. And Saints fans at the Superdome and at Big EZ Seafood & Oyster, even with Payton looming over them, won’t be cheering for him any longer.
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