Hurricane season typically affects at least one NFL team every September. This year, that team is New Orleans. With the city in the path of Hurricane Francine, head coach Dennis Allen shuffled the Saints’ team schedule this week as they prepare for what could be the best game on the Week 2 docket.
Allen sent his players home early on Wednesday and kept his coaches overnight at the team’s Metairie, La., headquarters.
“We’ll probably find a corner of the room to lay down in at some point in time and get a little bit of sleep,” Allen said, per ESPN.com beat writer Katherine Terrell. “Because I think the most significant weather is gonna be this evening into the early morning hours. That’s kind of when we would be trying to wrap up. I don’t see anyone trying to get out of here in that type of weather.”
A Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of approximately 100 mph, Francine weakened as it moved inland overnight into Thursday, leaving flooding and widespread power outages. Barring any unexpected obstacles for players and coaches, Allen hoped to reunite his team for practice on Thursday.
If the product of the Saints’ coaching slumber party is discovering a Dallas deficiency New Orleans can exploit on Sunday at AT&T Stadium (1 p.m. ET, FOX), they’ll find a silver lining in Francine. After Micah Parsons and the Cowboys posted a league-high six sacks, New Orleans needs all the silver it can find.
But the Saints can find confidence in scoring on their first nine possessions under new coordinator Klint Kubiak last week in a 47-10 win over Carolina. Plus, rookie left tackle Taliese Fuaga, the Saints’ first-round selection, drew high grades from analysts in his debut.
Dallas also dominated one of the NFL’s top defenses last week. In a 33-17 win, the Cowboys scored more points than any Browns opponent at that stadium in nearly two years. Although this week, Dallas could be missing one of Dak Prescott’s top targets, tight end Jake Ferguson.
After doctors diagnosed him with a bone bruise and MCL sprain in his knee, Ferguson told Patrik Walker of DallasCowboys.com that he has no pain.
“If I go out there and I’m working with the trainers on stuff,” Ferguson said Wednesday, “and it doesn’t feel right or I can’t do one thing or the other that is going to lead to me not being able to do my job, then it’s going to probably be a no-go. But if it’s all good and I’m feeling great, then I’m not going to be the one who pulls back.”