Sean Payton won't ever say it publicly, but you have to know he feels on top of the world right now. Sure, whipping a team 42-17 will do that for you, but beating your former boss, in the way that he did, gives it a little something extra. It's not a case of Payton and Parcells having bad blood between them, but Payton showed he took some of the things he learned under Parcells, added in his own knowledge, and punished his old boss. At the end of the game, it was so bad, that he actually showed mercy on the Cowboys.
Having spent the last three years on Parcells' staff, Payton knew exactly how to attack the Cowboys - and Drew Brees pulled it off perfectly, tying his career high with five touchdown passes, all before the third quarter ended. New Orleans finally showed mercy in the fourth period, even taking a knee from inside the 5 well before the two-minute warning.