NEW ORLEANS – Saints head coach Sean Payton turned to ice cream and Netflix for comfort after the team’s devastating NFC Championship loss.
Appearing for his first press conference since a now-infamous no-call led to an inglorious end of the Saints season, Payton spoke candidly about his reaction.
“Much like normal people, I sat, probably didn’t come out of my room, I ate Jenny’s ice cream and watched Netflix for three straight days,” Payton said. “There’s certain vices you gravitate to. For me, it’s probably sugar.”
The Netflix and ice cream binges would come back as certain realizations set in, Payton said, like the fact that nothing is going to change about the season.
“You get wrapped up in a news series and a new episode, and then it comes back again, and you get wrapped up in a news series and a new episode, so…” he said.
Every season has its share of disappointments, and this season is no different, Payton said, even if the biggest disappointment came in the postseason.
“We’ve got to be able to get past that, and we will,” he said. “We’ve got good leadership on this team. I don’t know that you ever completely get over it, but you do get past it.”
As for what he was binging on Netflix during his dark days after the loss, the themes Payton gravitated to seemed to be appropriately grim.
“You watch the Ted Bundy Tapes, and then all of the sudden you watch the series called You, and it’s like when Ted Bundy met, like, Dawson’s Creek,” he said. “It’s brutal.”
Overall, Payton said it’s time to move on.
“It’ll take a little bit of time, obviously, but it’s why we like this game,” Payton said. “I mean, football is like life, you know, it’s not always going to be how you planned it, it’s not always going to be fair, and sometimes you get punched, and you get up, and there’s that toughness and grit element that comes with the game.”