The Saints HC took great care of his players' safety on Wednesday.
After a delightful streak of days celebrating a 1-0 record, the New Orleans Saints are having a disruptive week of practice amid Hurricane Francine. Head coach Dennis Allen and Saints staff received word from the call of city officials “to be off the roads by midafternoon” on Wednesday. The players were sent home promptly in the morning before any rain hit. Allen added that he and his staff are remaining at the facility overnight, hoping to proceed with their preparations for their Week 2 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys.
It was reported that Hurricane Francine “made landfall” in southern Louisiana, the first to do so since Hurricane Ida in 2021, per CNN Weather. There have also been flash flood alerts due to the heavy rainfall. It's unclear how long it will last, though Allen previously stated that it should only be 24 hours.
“We'll stay here this evening. 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's 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.”
The Saints will look to practice on Thursday, before attempting to travel for their Week 2 matchup. They also plan to revisit their options based on the information that they receive over the next couple of days. For now, the priority is everybody from the players to staff and their families' well-being as they work to get through this experience.
Will Saints be ready for Sunday's game?
Most likely, the Saints will travel to play the Cowboys with not much issue. They seem to have the proper protocols in place as they wait out the storm. Their practice field is also indoors which will help matters in such a tumultuous week. A daunting matchup awaits the Saints in a powerful Dallas team.
Quarterback Derek Carr is coming off one of the strongest performances of his career in Week 1, and he mentioned just how he plans to move forward with the situation as a new citizen of New Orleans.
“We also understand that we do have a job to do, even when circumstances aren't perfect. We still have to focus,” Carr said.
“I'll be home studying tonight but I'll be doing it with all my kids sitting right next to me because this is their first time going through something like this. So they have a lot of questions, and those are real things we have to answer. When I come to work, I owe it to my teammates to be locked in and be ready to go for tomorrow. We're human but we also recognize that we have a job to do, and we also recognize that our city has been through a lot.”
