The Associated Press
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - The devastation visited on the Gulf Coast and the city of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath has both relegated football to secondary status and thrust the New Orleans Saints into a role as America's Team.
The team has embraced its role as a symbol of perseverance and hope.
"I think the best thing we can do as a football team to keep the Saints name out there, to keep the city and the Gulf Coast region out there, is to win games," said coach Jim Haslett. "I think that this team, we can keep the Gulf Coast and New Orleans alive by just winning football games and raising a lot of money for the area."
Monday's game against the New York Giants, who also won their opener, was originally scheduled for the Louisiana Superdome on Sunday. But the league decided on Sept. 2 to move the game to Giants Stadium after the storm damaged the Superdome's roof and the facility was used as a storm refugee center.
The move was a decision Haslett said he understood but didn't necessarily agree with. The rest of the Saints' home games are scheduled to be played in San Antonio, where the team is now headquartered, and at LSU's stadium in Baton Rouge, La.
"From a coach's perspective, you like to play at home or somewhere where you are practicing, or a neutral site where the away team doesn't have the advantage," he said. "But I understand what the NFL was trying to do to raise money for the relief fund and I think that probably the best city to do that in is New York City."
The game will be the climax of an unprecedented televised fundraising effort by the NFL in conjunction with a relief committee headed by former Presidents Bush and Clinton. New Orleans natives Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis are among several Gulf Coast-area musicians who will perform live at the game, and victims of the disaster will be recognized during the pregame and halftime shows.
In between, there will be some football played between two teams that, under different circumstances, would have no shortage of motivation against each other.
The last time the Giants and Saints met, in 2003, New Orleans wide receiver Joe Horn punctuated a 45-7 romp at the Superdome by pulling a cell phone from the goalpost padding and placing a call after a touchdown. He was later fined $30,000 for the display.
"You don't want anybody showing you up, whether someone pulls a cell phone or whatever," said Giants cornerback Will Allen.
That loss came in the dreary final weeks of the Jim Fassel era for the Giants, who suffered through another losing season a year ago under Tom Coughlin but have showed promise in a 3-1 preseason and a 42-19 win over Arizona last weekend.
The Saints, though they missed the playoffs last season, closed with four wins to finish 8-8. That accomplishment paled next to their cathartic, season-opening 23-20 win last Sunday at Carolina on a 47-yard field goal by John Carney with 3 seconds remaining.
"I can't even explain it," Haslett said. "There were so many things that were going on with people's lives, property, their loved ones back home, the unknown, the uncertainty of everything going on, and then trying to play a football game. It was hard. One thing about our team, our team is pretty resilient and we've done a pretty good job of handling every situation with four buildings, four complexes in four weeks. All the little inadequacies and hardships we've had really don't mean anything compared to what is going on in the Gulf and what happened in the city."
With all the attention given to the Saints' saga and the various relief efforts, the Giants were practically relegated to a footnote leading up to the game. Giants quarterback Eli Manning, a New Orleans native whose house was spared major damage in the storm, was one of several Giants who cautioned against allowing the emotions surrounding the game to affect the team's focus.
"We have to go into the game expecting them to have a lot of motivation and be emotional and play hard for the whole 60 minutes," he said. "That's what we have to expect and that's how we have to play. We have to go in there and play hard and compete every play. We can't have mental mistakes. We have to execute our game plan to have a chance to win."
The team has embraced its role as a symbol of perseverance and hope.
"I think the best thing we can do as a football team to keep the Saints name out there, to keep the city and the Gulf Coast region out there, is to win games," said coach Jim Haslett. "I think that this team, we can keep the Gulf Coast and New Orleans alive by just winning football games and raising a lot of money for the area."
Monday's game against the New York Giants, who also won their opener, was originally scheduled for the Louisiana Superdome on Sunday. But the league decided on Sept. 2 to move the game to Giants Stadium after the storm damaged the Superdome's roof and the facility was used as a storm refugee center.
The move was a decision Haslett said he understood but didn't necessarily agree with. The rest of the Saints' home games are scheduled to be played in San Antonio, where the team is now headquartered, and at LSU's stadium in Baton Rouge, La.
"From a coach's perspective, you like to play at home or somewhere where you are practicing, or a neutral site where the away team doesn't have the advantage," he said. "But I understand what the NFL was trying to do to raise money for the relief fund and I think that probably the best city to do that in is New York City."
The game will be the climax of an unprecedented televised fundraising effort by the NFL in conjunction with a relief committee headed by former Presidents Bush and Clinton. New Orleans natives Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis are among several Gulf Coast-area musicians who will perform live at the game, and victims of the disaster will be recognized during the pregame and halftime shows.
In between, there will be some football played between two teams that, under different circumstances, would have no shortage of motivation against each other.
The last time the Giants and Saints met, in 2003, New Orleans wide receiver Joe Horn punctuated a 45-7 romp at the Superdome by pulling a cell phone from the goalpost padding and placing a call after a touchdown. He was later fined $30,000 for the display.
"You don't want anybody showing you up, whether someone pulls a cell phone or whatever," said Giants cornerback Will Allen.
That loss came in the dreary final weeks of the Jim Fassel era for the Giants, who suffered through another losing season a year ago under Tom Coughlin but have showed promise in a 3-1 preseason and a 42-19 win over Arizona last weekend.
The Saints, though they missed the playoffs last season, closed with four wins to finish 8-8. That accomplishment paled next to their cathartic, season-opening 23-20 win last Sunday at Carolina on a 47-yard field goal by John Carney with 3 seconds remaining.
"I can't even explain it," Haslett said. "There were so many things that were going on with people's lives, property, their loved ones back home, the unknown, the uncertainty of everything going on, and then trying to play a football game. It was hard. One thing about our team, our team is pretty resilient and we've done a pretty good job of handling every situation with four buildings, four complexes in four weeks. All the little inadequacies and hardships we've had really don't mean anything compared to what is going on in the Gulf and what happened in the city."
With all the attention given to the Saints' saga and the various relief efforts, the Giants were practically relegated to a footnote leading up to the game. Giants quarterback Eli Manning, a New Orleans native whose house was spared major damage in the storm, was one of several Giants who cautioned against allowing the emotions surrounding the game to affect the team's focus.
"We have to go into the game expecting them to have a lot of motivation and be emotional and play hard for the whole 60 minutes," he said. "That's what we have to expect and that's how we have to play. We have to go in there and play hard and compete every play. We can't have mental mistakes. We have to execute our game plan to have a chance to win."