Looking to build on the momentum of a 17-10 win over the Arizona Cardinals in the Hall of Fame Game, the New Orleans Saints (1-0) will travel to Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass to face the New England Patriots on Thursday, August 9. Kickoff is at 6:30 CT for a contest that will be regionally televised by Cox Sports Television, as well as locally on WVUE-FOX8
Thursday night's matchup will feature two of the NFL's most dominant teams over the last three seasons. The Saints have won 41 games over the last three seasons, while New England is coming off their fifth Super Bowl appearance in a decade. The clubs will hold joint practices on Tuesday and Wednesday before facing off on Thursday evening.
Thursday's game will be New Orleans' tenth preseason meeting with New England. The last three preseason meetings have taken place in Foxborough. New England leads the overall preseason series 5-4. In 2010, the two clubs also held joint practices and then played an exhibition at Gillette Stadium, a 27-24 win for the Patriots on August 12, 2010. The two clubs last met in the regular season on Monday, November 30, 2009 at the Superdome. The Saints captured a 38-17 win to improve to 11-0. The teams have played 12 times in the regular season and New England leads the series 8-4.
The Saints captured their preseason opener based on solid play on offense, defense and special teams.
The New Orleans starting offense opened the contest and QB Drew Breeswas crisp, where he drove New Orleans to a touchdown, ending with a one-yard run by RB Mark Ingram. Brees completed four-of-five passes for 41 yards with a 100.8 passer rating.
After Brees left the game, QB Chase Danielmaintained the tempo for the New Orleans offense as he played into the third quarter and completed 15 of 20 passes for 203 yards with one touchdown and a passer rating of 102.7. Rookie RB Travaris Cadetled the team in all receiving categories with eight receptions for 80 yards with one touchdown, including a four-yard scoring grab from Daniel.
Defensively New Orleans, surrendered only ten points to Arizona including only 48 yards on the ground, allowing them to score a touchdown only once in three trips inside the ten-yard line in a performance that featured several big plays. S Malcolm Jenkinsgot the New Orleans defense started immediately on Arizona's first drive, when he picked off a pass by QB Kevin Kolb. Martez Wilsonrecorded two tackles (one solo) and led the team with 1.5 sacks. Late in the fourth quarter LB Lawrence Wilsonpreserved the victory with an interception at the Saints one-yard line.
The game will be regionally televised on Cox Sports Television (and WVUE-FOX8 in the New Orleans area) with Tim Brando handling the play-by-play, Solomon Wilcots serving as the color analyst and Mike Nabors patrolling the Saints sidelines. The game can be heard throughout the Gulf Coast on the New Orleans Saints Radio Network (870 AM and 105.3 FM serve as the flagship stations in the New Orleans metropolitan area) with Jim Henderson handling play-by-play duties, Hokie Gajan serving as color analyst and Kristian Garic reporting from the Saints sidelines.
