MIAMI — This is why they call the job a pressure cooker.

Stuff melts.
Like your thoughts. Like your focus. Like your ability to translate a confusing scene in the final seconds of a first half, as replays are run and a stadium is chaos, down to a simple, declarative sentence. Like?
“We were prepared to kick it,” New Orleans coach Sean Payton said.
That’s it. That’s the sentence that should have mattered above the clutter to Dolphins coach Tony Sparano. The Saints were prepared to kick a field goal at the end of the first half and leave the field trailing 24-6.
And the Dolphins called a timeout.
“Obviously, we had enough time after the timeout was called to give some thought to that, and it changed our minds,” Payton said.
This is the unfortunate way to start explaining how a beautiful Sunday began to tilt against the Dolphins, then slide on them and ultimately end on top of them in New Orleans’ 46-34 win.
It’s not the only explanation, of course. Nothing’s that simple. And the mess started with Davone Bess making the kind of fumble a team up 24-3 just can’t make.
Then Ted Ginn Jr. started the second half with the kind of play that keeps defining his career. He missed a catchable pass, watched it tapped by Saints cornerback Tracy Porter and grabbed by safety Darren Sharper, who returned it for a touchdown.
How much longer can Ginn be afforded a role of responsibility?
Still, enter the Saints locker room after, talk to the players, and there was no question what changed the game: Their touchdown at the end of the first half to pull within 24-10.
Rewind the tape: Five seconds left in the half. New Orleans is out of timeouts. A replay has just reversed Saints receiver Marques Colston’s touchdown by saying his knee touched the ground just before the ball crossed the goal line.
The Saints’ extra-point unit—same as its field-goal unit—is on the field, because the original call was a touchdown The Dolphins’ defense was on the field, evidently ready for anything.
But just before the ball was put back into play, just before the clock started, just before New Orleans would have kicked, Sparano and defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni began signaling timeout.
“I guess you could say they helped us,” New Orleans kicker John Carney said.
Quarterback Drew Brees had been telling Payton to go for it all along. “Put it on me,” he said.
With the extra time to collect his thoughts, Payton made the call a coach down by three touchdowns should have had initially. Brees took the snap, jumped and stuck the ball over the goal line.
“If you could’ve been in here at halftime, it was, ’Hey, we have them right where we want them,’ “ Brees said. “To be on the 6-inch line and come out of with a field goal would have been disappointing.
“There are moments in the game you feel the emotion of a play, and ⁄the touchdown‹ gave it to us.”
And in the Dolphins’ locker room?
“Demoralizing,” nose tackle Jason Ferguson said.
Look at before and after that Bess fumble.
Before: Three points in 29 minutes.
After: 43 points in 31 minutes.
Before: Brees had completed 5 of 9 passes for 59 yards and two interceptions.
After: Brees completed 17 of 26 passes for 239 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Before: The Saints were 0 for 7 on third down.
After: The Saints were 5 of 8 on third down.
Before: The Dolphins had 120 yards rushing.
After: The Dolphins had 17 yards rushing.
Get the picture? The entire game shifted. Sometimes one moment can do that when you’re dealing with a team like the Saints.
Look, no coaching staff gets more out of less than the Dolphins’ in the last couple seasons. Sparano’s use of the Wildcat is inspired. This was just one of those moments where a decision backfired.
“We wanted the right personnel, and we called a timeout to bring in the right personnel,” Sparano said.
He was asked a couple more times, just to be sure. Because if the Dolphins thought New Orleans would go for a touchdown, it already had the defense on the field. But, at one point, he said, “I called the timeout. So. Period.”
That’s the nature of the job. Sometimes things melt and, against a team like New Orleans, start a meltdown.