Schedule talk

9,934 consecutive offensive snaps played.

Brees and the Saints will be in Minneapolis on Sept. 11 to face the Vikings in the first regular-season installment of “Monday Night Football.”

The former Purdue standout and two-time NFL Offensive Player of the Year left the San Diego Chargers as a free agent in 2006 and signed on with the Saints. He has thrown for 66,111 yards and 465 TDs in his career.

Brees and Thomas had company on the sidelines on a warm evening at the lakefront stadium.

New Orleans also held out veteran running backs Adrian Peterson and Mark Ingram.

Peterson signed with the Saints as a free agent in April after 10 seasons with the Vikings. He has 2,418 career rushes for 11,747 yards and 97 rushing touchdowns.

Ingram is starting his seventh season in New Orleans with 953 career rushes for 4,238 yards and 32 rushing touchdowns.

Seven other Browns joined Thomas on the sideline, including rookie tight end David Njoku (back) and rookie defensive lineman Caleb Brantley (finger).

Buckeye connection

On the two teams playing a preseason game Aug. 10 at FirstEnergy Stadium, the one based in Ohio, the Cleveland Browns, had no Ohio State products on its roster.

By way of sharp contrast, the visitors from Louisiana, the New Orleans Saints, had four former OSU standouts on its roster.

Getting starts for the Saints were 11th-year wide receiver and Glenville High School product Tedd Ginn, second-year wide receiver Michael Thomas, and second-year free safety Von Bell. Rookie cornerback Marcus Lattimore was third on the depth chart at right cornerback.

The Browns and Saints don’t face each other often, but they have a history that goes back 50 years to the Saints’ inaugural season.

On Oct. 1, 1967, the Browns came to Tulane Stadium to face the Saints in the third regular-season game for the expansion team.

The routed the Saints, 427. The stars that day for the Browns were quarterback Frank Ryan (11-for-21, 201 yards, 3 TD passes), and two future Hall of Famers, running back Leroy Kelly (20 rushes, 110 yards, TD) and wide receiver Paul Warfield (four catches, 107 yards, 2 TDs).

Cleveland has a 13-4 edge in the regular-season series, having won the first eight games before the Saints broke through with a 16-14 win on Oct. 28, 1984.

The tables were turned in 1999 when it was the Browns who were the expansion team facing the Saints on Oct. 31, 1999. After the 1995 season, the original Browns team was moved to Baltimore by owner Art Modell.

Coming into the game with an 0-7 record, the Browns notched the first victory for the re-born franchise when rookie quarterback Tim Couch connected with rookie wide receiver Kevin Johnson on a 56-yard Hail Mary TD pass with time expiring in the fourth quarter. The PAT by Phil Dawson capped the 21-16 victory.

The teams last played on September 14, 2014, at FirstEnergy Stadium. Cleveland won, 26-24, when a 29-yard field goal by Billy Cundiff gave rookie head coach Mike Pettine his first NFL victory.

In the 2018 season, the Browns will play regular-season games against the Saints and fellow NFC