Watching Payton Was Pure Sweetness

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the moment.

The safety, whose job it is to decide which way Payton will go when he finally comes down, is the one who looks stunned and, perhaps, a little frightened. In truth, it is the defender who determines where Payton is going by committing, ever so slightly, to his right. Payton touches down, leans almost imperceptibly left and cuts hard to the right. The safety catches nothing but a lot of air. Payton, blasts of breath pluming through the facemask of his helmet, pressing the ball against the 3 of the No. 34 on his jersey, is eventually brought down. But not without a struggle.
It is a cardinal rule of sport not to elevate under duress. The conventional wisdom is that leaving your feet limits your options. With Payton, the reverse was true. When he was airborne, Payton was supremely confident and seemingly invulnerable.
Frank Caito, the Bears' former trainer, used to say the secret of Payton's success was his "big butt." He meant it, too. Payton's formidable ...

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