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New Orleans Saints Sean Payton has opened up about his team's recent ordeal involving a number of COVID-19 false positive results from some of their players.
After finally being given the green light to play on Sunday, the Saints were able to mount a come-from-behind victory against the Detroit Lions, 35-29, which is something that coach Payton was extremely delighted about:
“It’s just one of those games you’re proud of your team,” Payton said, via ESPN.com (h/t Josh Alper of NBC Sports). “It’s [the nature of] this game — it’ll test you from an adversity standpoint. And I think this year is gonna be that way for a lot of us.”
According to reports, fullback Michael Burton and a number of other Saints players were forced to undergo a second round of testing after Burton's initial test prior to their flight to Detroit yielded a positive result. They had to wait up until 3 a.m. on Sunday for the results, which fortunately for them, turned out to be all negative.
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The Saints had a sluggish start against the Lions, going down 14-0, but their ability to bounce back and escape with a victory speaks volumes of their mental fortitude. For Payton, he hopes this is the same mindset his team carries moving forward.
“New England’s gonna have to travel tomorrow, play a game tomorrow night. And quite honestly, no one really cares,” Payton added. “And I mean that in a good way — there’s far more other things that are important that we’re suffering from than to hear about, ‘We were up ’til 1.’ That’s just the way it is this season. And so we have to understand that and then still be ready to play our best game.”
It's only going to get tougher from here on out for the Saints. Nonetheless, Payton is confident that his team will be able to overcome any hurdle after their recent bout off the field.
