1. Coaches at different levels of their career
One coach in this game is a Super Bowl winner as a head coach for the Saints in Sean Payton, and on the other side is Bill O’Brien of the Texans, who at times has been a quality head coach for the franchise, but the team always seems to come up short in the playoffs.
O’Brien does have a winning record for the Texans at 42-38 overall and has won the most division titles in franchise history with three. On the other hand, his teams haven’t been able to get over the hump in the playoffs and looked lost and confused this past January in their Wild Card loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
Granted, the Texans winning the AFC South last season was a big moment for O’Brien and his team, but the coaching staff also knows (or at least should know) they are on the “hot seat” so to speak. There will eventually be a new general manager one day for this franchise, and the only thing that matters at the end of the day in the NFL is winning, and winning the big games in the playoffs. In his tenure with the Texans, O’Brien is 1-3 in the playoffs with the win coming in 2016.
For the Saints, they have Payton, who has a Super Bowl championship to his credit and has helped make Drew Brees who he has become today in the NFL, and vice versa with Brees helping Payton in his career too.
Payton has been the head coach of the Saints since 2006, and in that time he’s 118-74 in the regular season with a .615 winning percentage to go with his eight playoff wins as a head coach.
O’Brien is taking a bit of a different role this upcoming season, so with a new offensive coordinator for Houston in Tim Kelly, both are said to be a part of the play calling, meaning the Texans could become a more creative offense than what was seen last season.
Both coaches add value to their franchise, and each have had their bad moments in their tenure too, but in the comparison of the coaches and building a franchise, then gaining results, Payton is ahead of O’Brien entering the Week 1 game on Monday Night Football.
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