LKelley67

Sports teams can have rebuilding years but this is ridiculous -- New Orleans is rebuilding an entire city. The Saints were 3-13 last season, playing a regular away slate plus games in San Antonio and Baton Rouge. Considering NFL teams were .410 on the road in 2005, New Orleans' all-away finish seems less bad. Meanwhile, Tuesday Morning Quarterback continues to be amazed by the New Orleans-Jersey/A link. Last season the Giants were, before Katrina, the first team scheduled to appear at the Saints. This game was held in the Meadowlands, making the Giants the sole club in NFL annals to play nine regular-season home games, and helping grant the Giants the standings edge that gave them the NFC East title over Washington. (Had the Giants played the Saints in New Orleans in 2005 and lost, the Redskins would have won the division by tiebreaker.) A schedule formula determined years ago called for New Orleans to play at the Meadowlands in 2006. I remain scandalized that this game has not been shifted to New Orleans, paying back the Saints for one aspect of their 2005 handicap and paying back the rest of the league for the standings gift Jersey/A was granted in 2005. The Giants are the sentimental-favorite club of most NFL staffers at league headquarters on Park Avenue. You've got to suspect that if any other team except the Giants had been involved in this pairing oddity, that team would be playing seven home dates in 2006 and traveling to New Orleans for the Saints' extra home game.

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http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...erbrook/060829