The New Orleans Saints will face four AFC opponents in a five-game 2012 preseason schedule, including two contests that will be televised nationally in prime-time.
The Saints will kick off the 2012 preseason when they play the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, August 5 in the 2012 Hall of Fame Game at Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio. The game will be televised nationally on the NFL Network with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. CST.
This will be the fifth time that the Saints have been one of the featured teams in the Hall of Fame game. The Saints and the Cardinals will take the field the day after the class of 2012 is formally enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame during ceremonies. Among the enshrinees will be T William Roaf, who was a first round draft pick of the Saints in 1993. Roaf played for the Black and Gold for nine seasons and was an annual Pro Bowl selection at left tackle from 1994-2000, setting a franchise record with seven selections. New Orleans has a 1-3 record in their four previous Hall of Fame Game appearances and a 4-0 preseason record against the Cardinals.
In Week 1 of the NFL preseason slate, the Saints will travel to face the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. This will be the tenth time that the Saints and the Super Bowl XLVI finalists have faced off in the preseason, with the Patriots leading the series 5-4. The two teams last played in New England on August 12, 2010, a 27-24 Patriots win that was preceded by two days of joint practices. The last three preseason meetings between New Orleans and New England have taken place in Foxborough.
In Week 2, the Saints will host the Jacksonville Jaguars in the home opener at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. This will be the first preseason contest between the Saints and Jaguars, who began play in 1995. The Carolina Panthers are the only other team that the Saints have never played in the preseason. The Saints defeated the Jaguars, 23-10, last season, on October 2 at EverBank Field.
New Orleans will host the Houston Texans on Saturday, August 25 in a prime-time contest nationally televised on CBS. The Saints and Texans have played each other every preseason since 2008, with the clubs splitting the meetings, 2-2, and the Texans leading the series 3-2 overall. On September 25, 2011, the teams met in the Superdome, with the Saints coming out on top with a dramatic 40-33 fourth quarter come-from-behind victory.
The Saints will close out the preseason at LP Field against the Tennessee Titans. With 28 previous meetings, the Houston Oilers/Titans franchise is New Orleans' most common preseason opponent, with the Saints holding a 14-13-1 edge. The two teams have met for the preseason finales in 2010 and 2011 and the Saints pulled out 22-17 win in Nashville on December 11, 2011.
New Orleans went 2-2 in the 2011 preseason, having won at least two contests in every preseason since 2007.
The games that are not nationally televised will be regionally televised on CST and on WVUE FOX-8. All games can be heard on the New Orleans Saints Radio Network (WWL 870 AM and 105.3 FM locally). The dates and times for the New England, Jacksonville and Houston games will be announced at a future date.
