Ashley Fox: Vet proving ground for Saints' Payton

MIAMI - It was like law school, only with cats and rats. Jon Gruden would arrive at Veterans Stadium long before the sun came up, and the feral cats that roamed the old place always spooked him.

"What's with all these cats?" Gruden once asked a crusty security guard.

"You want cats or you want rats?" the security guard answered. "The cats eat the rats."

"We'll take a lot more cats," Gruden said.

In the office in the bowels of the stadium, Gruden would find Sean Payton already breaking down film, already scheming, already trying to find a way to maximize the Eagles' passing game. The young quarterbacks coach was there because he knew that his boss, the offensive coordinator, would be there, because even then Gruden was a tireless grinder.

Twelve years later, Payton is a step away from football immortality. In just his fourth year on the job - and his fourth season as an NFL head coach - Payton has the Saints in the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.

These aren't the Aints of old. These Saints are an offensive juggernaut, a destination franchise just a few years removed from the wrath of Hurricane Katrina and the failure of the city's levees.

Since the 46-year-old Payton arrived in New Orleans in 2006, the Saints have led the NFL in total offense, averaging 391.8 yards per game, an average that topped 400 in 2009. He has a .594 winning percentage, a 19-13 road record, 29 wins in 48 NFC games, three postseason wins, and two appearances in the NFC championship game.

A lot of the credit for the Saints' success goes to Drew Brees, but it was Payton who recruited Brees to New Orleans. He targeted the quarterback, then took the time to assure Brees and his wife that New Orleans post-Katrina was worth the trouble. He sold his system, his passion, his vision, and the results have been worth it.

On Sunday, the Saints will play the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV.

To hear Eagles president Joe Banner tell it, Payton's NFL career got a jump-start from none other than Andy Reid. Back before the 1997 season, Ray Rhodes needed a quarterbacks coach, and he reached out to Reid because he figured Reid, then the Green Bay Packers quarterbacks coach, would know somebody.

Reid gave Rhodes two names: Dirk Koetter and Sean Payton. According to Banner, Koetter, now the Jacksonville Jaguars' offensive coordinator, turned down the position. Payton, a career college coach, jumped at the chance to move up to the pros. It was also a chance to return to Philadelphia, having spent part of his youth in Newtown Square.

"He was a grinder," Banner said of Payton, who was 33 when he accepted the Eagles' job after coaching at San Diego State, Indiana State, Miami of Ohio, and Illinois. "He came in and you could immediately sense he was a smart, self-confident guy.

"Him and Jon, I don't ever remember being here when they weren't here - be it late at night, early in the morning, when they were supposed to be on vacation. There was never a moment when the two weren't in here working."

Banner said Payton had an "incredible drive" and a "natural work ethic," and there also was the dynamic that, like Gruden, he was trying to make a name for himself. He was young, hungry and ambitious.

"He sees Jon's always there, and he didn't want to leave early or arrive late when his boss is there," Banner said.

From Gruden's perspective, the two were just alike, and they wanted to see what they could do with the Eagles' offense, which included quarterbacks Ty Detmer, Rodney Peete, and Bobby Hoying, wide receiver Irving Fryar, and running back Ricky Watters.

"We led the NFL in hours," said Gruden, now an analyst on ESPN's Monday Night Football. "We spent a lot of time in [the Vet], because all of us were fairly new. I was going into my third year as the coordinator there, and we had a very young offensive staff. A lot of things we saw on film were things we were seeing for the first time."

Payton said that when he arrived in Philadelphia he was "a blank tape," and that the Eagles just asked him to "study and learn." He stayed two years, then went to New York to work for Jim Fassel first as the Giants' quarterbacks coach and then as the offensive coordinator. In 2003, Payton followed Bill Parcells to Dallas to be the Cowboys' assistant head coach; he stayed for three seasons before getting the New Orleans job.

Although short, the Philly years were just as good as the rest.

"I learned a lot in a short period of time working with Jon and that offense," Payton said. "It was a foundation for me that I still hold on to. It was a little bit like law school. There were a lot of late nights and a lot of early mornings. I learned about preparation.

"You come out of college, and you get into this league, and you realize that there's a lot of football that you don't know. It can be humbling, but yet it was important."

Even if there were a ton of cats.