By John DeShazier | Senior Writer - NewOrleansSaints.com
The first month of the 2021 regular season for the New Orleans Saints has crammed in enough tumult to fill a couple of calendar seasons.
There's no debating that.
When the team returned to New Orleans – and players, coaches, and staff returned to their respective homes – after Sunday's 28-13 victory over New England at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., it ended a 28-day absence that began on August 28.
The separation included hurricane evacuation, Covid-19 infections, roster reduction, player injuries, homesickness, familial loss, absentee home reparations, and more.
And, not insignificantly, two victories in three games, not one of which was played at the Caesars Superdome. New Orleans (2-1) will play the Giants (0-3) in its first true home game this season, at noon Sunday at the Caesars Superdome.
From TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville, Fla., where the Saints played their "home" opener, to Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., to Gillette Stadium, the Saints managed to step through and/or around the chaos effectively enough to beat Green Bay and New England by a combined 50 points.
Coming home presents the team its first sense of normalcy – it lived in hotels in the Dallas/Fort Worth area during its evacuation period and practiced at AT&T Stadium in Arlington and TCU in Fort Worth – for this regular season.
"I think we probably got more into a routine after the first week-and-a-half or two weeks," Coach Sean Payton said Monday. "As coaches, you try to establish times that are consistent and practice schedules. I think it's easier to train when you're doing that and more effective.
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