Saints Payton Says He Can Relate to Brady’s Frustration

Ian Logue

7 years ago at 1:46 pm ET

Ed Mulholland - USA TODAY Sports

Bill Belichick may not be into Twitter, but New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton happens to have an account on that medium and sent a recent Tweet that should resonate well in New England.

On Sunday when the Patriots posted their photo of the tribute of Tom Brady on the lighthouse, the Saints coach apparently saw it and was moved enough to take the time to repost the photo and tagged the Patriots.

@Patriots pic.twitter.com/lpMDygsA1v

— Sean Payton (@SeanPayton) September 4, 2016

On the surface it seemed like the gesture was his way of standing behind Brady and the plight the quarterback was having to endure, but on Thursday the coach essentially confirmed that was indeed the case.

“If someone is asking, then I don’t know that they’ve paid much attention to it all,” Payton said, via the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “There aren’t a lot of people that can understand what Tom is going through. Certainly, I’m one of them.”

Payton knows all too well after being suspended for the entire 2012 season for his alleged role in the Saints’ bounty scandal, and he clearly still has a bad taste in his mouth from that experience.

Bill Belichick was asked about Payton’s gesture on Thursday and said that he was aware of the coach’s Tweet, and that it was appreciated.

“Yeah, it means a lot,” Belichick said via NESN.com. “I have a good friendship with Sean. We go back quite a ways. We have a great working relationship, a great professional relationship and a good personal relationship. So I always appreciate his support. He’s had ours. We’ve had his. Can’t say that about everybody, but he certainly has been a good friend and a good supporter.”

Needless to say it’s good to see Brady get support from a prominent person from another team outside of New England. It’s just too bad other coaches or owners don’t seem to feel the same way because, unlike Payton, it hasn’t happened to them – yet.