The team with no home field gave away whatever home-field advantage the NFL tried to bestow on it last night in inexplicable fashion.
The Saints, rendered football vagabonds when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, tried a reverse that went terribly wrong on the opening kickoff. The Saints came bumbling into Giants Stadium and stumbled out with a 27-10 loss.
Michael Lewis took the kickoff and handed off to Fred McAfee, who was stripped by linebacker Nick Greisen. Chase Blackburn recovered for the Giants at the Saints 10. Three plays later, Giants cult hero Brandon Jacobs bulled over from the 1 for a touchdown.
“I really think every single player on our football team has done a good job under the situation,” Saints coach Jim Haslett said earlier this week of the instability thrust upon his team. “They have understood it’s going to be different until we get into some type of normal routine – if we can ever get into a normal routine.”
But the abnormal play on the opening kickoff 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. Their team never led. The “SAINTS” painted in the west end zone looked as if it had been scrawled by a remedial arts student. There was no fleur-de-lis to be found.
Saints star receiver Joe Horn tried to rally his Team, getting in McAfee’s face and screaming, “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 TD that cut the Giants’ lead in half.
“We want to play football, to give them something, to give them some kind of hope, to give their children something to watch and something to be proud of,” Horn said earlier this week.
If there is one NFL team suited to succeed on the road it’s the Saints. Since Haslett arrived in 2000, the Saints have a 26-14 record away from the Superdome.
“Our guys kind of like the us-versus-the-world mentality,” said Haslett.