RELOCATED SAINTS WATCH, PRAY FOR FOLKS AT HOME
Venue for NFL team’s season opener uncertain in aftermath of hurricane Ida
Widespread destruction.
Stunned survivors wading out of flooded neighbourhoods, or waiting on rooftops to be rescued. Electrical power and phone service disruptions everywhere.
Yes, New Orleans has been here before, and so too has the entire central U.S. Gulf Coast region — rebounding and left to rebuild after a powerful hurricane blew through.
This time it is Ida, 16 years to the day after Katrina caused epic, widespread devastation. The scale of destruction left in Ida's path is not, of course, fully understood as yet. But the experience of Katrina is at least helping first responders and aid workers in the area to respond better. It sure helped this time that the levees didn't break.
Far down the list of New Orleans' priorities, the region's beloved pro football team, the Saints, has been here before, too. The club's GM Mickey Loomis was on the job in 2005. And Sean Payton took over as Saints head coach only a few months after Katrina obliterated parts of the city.
This time, the Saints relocated their football operation to Dallas before the storm hit land on Sunday — much as it did in 2005, temporarily, to Houston and later, during the NFL season, to upstate Baton Rouge.
Payton was asked in Dallas on Monday what his message is to everybody back home.
“It's prayers, it's safety, it's all the things that we want for our neighbours, our residents,” Payton said. “I am sure there are a lot of pretty dangerous areas relative to electric lines, gas, etc. So we've seen it all from just seven hours away, here in Dallas.”
As he and Loomis huddled for hours on Monday to decide which 25 players to let go in advance of Tuesday's roster deadline (more on that below), Payton said he's fully aware his team can't help but be distracted for the time being. How does he balance that human element with his duties to prepare this group of men for its first regular-season game, a week from Sunday afternoon, ostensibly at home against the Green Bay Packers?
“I think you try to communicate, be open. This would be obviously a lot more challenging or difficult if families were split up, and I'm sure to some degree, some are.
“We had the team meeting this morning, kind of hit on some topics . ... I think every one of us is kind of like, man, we would love a picture of what it looks like outside of our home or apartment. And I'm sure there's going to (be) damage to the roof, damage to windows and the external portions of homes . ... All of that can get taken care of in time, with insurance. But most importantly it was getting to a safe spot.”
Payton said “we have a handful of people” at the club's headquarters in suburban Metairie, and initial indications were that “things held up.”
Reports later said the Caesars Superdome wasn't seriously damaged.
Next up for the Saints? To practise for the next three days at the Dallas Cowboys' vacant playing-field home, AT&T Stadium, courtesy of owner Jerry Jones.
“Going out and being able to practise today is going to be good for everyone,” Payton said. “Because from afar, there's only so much you can do. We'll practise on Tuesday, we'll practice on Wednesday, and then kind of assess from there. There's a good chance when we start (game week preparations for the Packers next Monday), that's going to be somewhere other than Metairie.”
Might the Week 1 opener on Sept. 12 be relocated to Green Bay?
“No, I don't see that happening,” Payton said. “We haven't heard. (Ownership), Mickey, myself will be looking closely at our status relative to New Orleans, and then surely we'll have a backup plan.”
ROSTER CUTDOWN CHAOS
Leaguewide climactic camp cut-downs come four days earlier this year in the NFL.
The deadline for clubs to trim from an 80- to a 53-man roster is Tuesday at 4 p.m. EDT. That means as many as 27 players per team, or 864 men leaguewide, will at least temporarily lose their jobs by next sundown.
But because each club again this year is permitted to carry six over the usual number of practice squad players — 16 instead of 10, because of the pandemic — that means up to 512 of the 1,200 or so players waived since the first round of camp cuts began two weeks ago will yet latch on to a team, if only as weekly paid practice help.
Practice squad contracts can be offered starting Wednesday.
The difference in pay between a 53-man roster spot and a practice-squad spot is huge. The minimum salary on the main roster ranges from $660,000 a year (for someone with no previous NFL experience) to $1.075 million (seven-plus years of NFL experience), or the equivalent of $36,667 to $59,722 per week as divvied over the 18-week, 17-game season. The maximum weekly earnings on the practice squad range from $9,200 to $14,000.
Remember this, too. One team's sixth-best offensive tackle might be another team's fourth or fifth best. Hence, the transaction wire will heat up for the rest of this week like the cord of a 70-year-old vacuum cleaner, as each team invariably drops a player or three who made the initial 53-man roster on Tuesday, to replace them with discards from elsewhere deemed to be upgrades.
I think every one of us is kind of like, man, we would love a picture of what it looks like outside of our home or apartment.