The Saints, rendered football vagabonds when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, didn’t march into Giants Stadium. They bumbled in, fumbled around and stumbled around, out with a 27-10 loss.
Saints coach Jim Haslett began to recite the litany of obstacles that his players have tried to overcome since Katrina destroyed much of their home city and displaced the team. They have had four team headquarters in four weeks.
“That has nothing to do with what we did on that field,” said Haslett. “We [stunk] on that field.”
Did they ever. The Saints (1-1) committed six turnovers, 13 penalties and had a field goal attempt clang off an upright.
The Saints, who were supposed to play this game in the Superdome, were awful from the get-go. Michael Lewis took the opening kickoff and handed off on a reverse to Fred McAfee, who was stripped of the ball by Giants linebacker Nick Greisen.
Chase Blackburn recovered the fumble at the Saints 10 for the Giants. Three plays later, Giants cult hero Brandon Jacobs bulled over from the 1 for a touchdown. The Saints, some of whom said this game was built up like the Super Bowl, never led or tied.
“We got our [butt] kicked,” said receiver Joe Horn. “Super Bowl or not.”
Why the Saints reverted to such an unstable play as a reverse on the kickoff in a stadium that is not their home field was baffling. The play put the Saints in a quick 7-0 hole that became 14-0 when the Giants capped a 76-yard drive with a six-yard pass from Eli Manning to Tiki Barber.
The Saints cheerleaders who made the trip had little to cheer about. Officially the Saints were the home team. But “SAINTS” was painted in the west end zone looked as if it had been scrawled by a remedial arts student and there was no fleur-de-lis to be found.
“They were saying it was a home game,” said Saints defensive end Darren Howard. “I don’t think anyone was fooled.”
Horn, who two years ago pulled out a cell phone and pretended to place a telephone call after scoring a touchdown, tried to rally his team. He got in McAfee’s face and screamed, “It’s over! It’s over!”
Then Horn started tearing up the Giants’ secondary. He went in motion early in the second quarter and split two defenders to haul in a 21-yard touchdown pass that cut the Giants’ lead in half, to 14-7.
It wasn’t enough. Aaron Brooks threw three interceptions. The Giants scored 17 points off Saints turnovers.
If there is one NFL team that would seem to be suited to succeed on the road it’s the Saints. Since Haslett arrived in 2000, the Saints have a 26-15 record away from the Superdome.
“Our guys kind of like the us-versus-the-world mentality,” said Haslett.
The people of New Orleans know just how they feel.