Sean Payton vs. A Fire Alarm

The face of a man who fought a fire alarm and won 

            On Sunday, the New Orleans Saints destroyed the Cincinnati Bengals, 51-14. Quarterback Drew Brees completed 22 of 25 passes for 265 yards and 3 TDs. Mark Ingram ran 13 times for 104 yards, averaging a ridiculous 8 yards per carry. Alvin Kamara had over 100 yards rushing and receiving with two touchdowns. Wide receiver Michael Thomas caught two more TD passes. By the end of the game, Saints radio announcers Zach Strief and Deuce McAllister were openly rooting for the game to end as quickly as possible so McAllister could get out of the cold. The New Orleans defense intercepted two passes from Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton. By halftime, the Saints had a 35-7 lead a 99.6% win probability. The game was an impressive performance by a New Orleans team with its sights clearly set on a division title and the playoffs. 

            But the Saints on-field destruction wasn’t the only big storyline coming out of the game. Before the game, head coach Sean Payton engaged in a little destruction of his own. His target wasn’t the Bengals defense, but rather a pesky fire alarm.

The fire alarm is going off at Paul Brown Stadium. The Saints must be walking into the building. pic.twitter.com/B2nXiYAOwL

— Michael DeMocker (@MichaelDeMocker) November 11, 2018

            Before the game started, a fire alarm sounded throughout the stadium. After about 15 minutes, Payton was fed up. It was clear that the team was not in danger nor was the stadium burning down. Worried that the alarm was hurting his team’s focus for the upcoming game, Payton took matters into his own hands, laying waste to the alarm situated in the middle of the Saints locker room. Take a look at the damage below.

Sean Payton smashed a fire alarm in the Saints locker room before Sunday's game against the Bengals. The alarms were going off throughout Paul Brown Stadium. https://t.co/Tt1Az5PBIL pic.twitter.com/kdkfpiJLpb

— Josh Katzenstein (@jkatzenstein) November 11, 2018

            So we have a couple of questions. Did he damage it with his hands? Because that would be the story of the game. Did he use a hammer? What about one of those clunky Microsoft Surface tablets? How did his players react when their head coach destroyed a fire alarm? Did he just come out of his office, calmly destroy it and go back in? He did talk to anyone about whether this was a good idea? He did ask for the alarm to be turned off?

            In his post-game press conference, Payton claimed that he did not destroy the alarm, calling such claims “sensationalist.” Instead he simply explained that “I just needed the noise to stop.” Payton offered to pay for the cost of repairing the broken alarm. The Bengals issued a milquetoast response saying “We are aware of this situation and have been in touch with the authorities, but have nothing more on it at this time.” It’s not clear if anything will happen to Payton for his wanton destruction of lifesaving fire equipment. But there seems to be almost nothing on or off the field that can stop the Saints this season.