Sean Payton Picks the Cowboys! (To Upset Bucs in Week 1)

"Those guys play with great speed to the football, they'll turn it over. I like them winning this game." - Sean Payton on Dan Quinn's defense vs. the Bucs.

FRISCO - Sean Payton likes the Dallas Cowboys.

Oh, but you already knew that.

This "like'' is more specific and more pressing, though, than the former New Orleans Saints head coach's fondness for owner Jerry Jones' franchise.

This is about Week 1 in the NFL, as during an appearance on Kay Adams' show, Up & Adams, Payton revealed his prediction for the marquee Sunday night showdown pitting the home-standing Cowboys against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Payton is picking ... The Cowboys.

"I think it'll be interesting," Payton told Adams, including in his reasoning the work of Dallas defensive coordinator Dan Quinn. "I like Dallas in this game. I think Dallas' defense is improved again. I think Dan does a great job. 

"Those guys play with great speed to the football, they'll turn it over. I like them winning this game."

This prediction from Payton, featuring the "speed'' comment, will resonate with Cowboys Nation - or at least those who pay attention to Quinn's own characterization of his group, even as Dallas is a 1.5-point underdog.

“I like them winning this game.”
⁰@SeanPayton gives us some insight on improvements the @dallascowboys have made, and previews their matchup against the Buccaneers. 👀@heykayadams | @FanDuelTV pic.twitter.com/ruxD31KTKB

— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) September 6, 2022

Said DQ this week: "It's probably one of the fastest and the longest in terms of safeties, linebackers with this kind of size and this kind of length," he said. " ... This group I'd put up with anybody in terms of the speed to go play."

Additionally, this prediction will receive a lot of attention because of the incessant speculation about Payton as a some-day successor to present Cowboys head coaching Mike McCarthy.

Of course, if Payton is right about Sunday ... McCarthy and that supposed "hot seat'' will cool. And Sean can remain where he is perched - in "the catbird seat.''

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