Payton, Saints face big decisions this week

Saints owner Tom Benson left the NFL meetings today and headed back to New Orleans, where his team’s top brass had major matters to discuss during what could be Sean Payton’s last week of work in 2012. Team spokesman Greg Bensel says no decision has been made on an interim coach since a meeting took place on Tuesday with former NFL coach Bill Parcells. Payton has indicated he is hoping Parcells can help New Orleans move forward, whether he wants to get back into coaching or not. It could be a few days before the team decides on an interim coach. Payton says he has not decided whether to appeal his season-long suspension; he has until Monday to do so. Payton spent only Tuesday at the NFL meetings and planned to be back at work in New Orleans today, with a view to tying up as many loose ends as he can in the next few days. As many as 27 players also could be sanctioned for their role in the bounty scandal. Payton says he doesn’t want the scandal to “taint or tarnish” his team’s recent success. “We’ll get through this,” he says. “This will be a challenge. You know, we’ve gone through a lot of adversity, and we’ve won a lot of games in really a short window of time. And I know our players are leaders both within the locker room, and the coaching staff will look at this as a challenge and a little bit as an opportunity.”