I don't have NFL Network but I will be following along on NFL.com if I'm not eating crawfish. If you do have the NFL Network perhaps you could share what's going on with all of us here in the open thread who don't have that luxury.
2009 Saints Schedule
Sept. 13 DETROIT LIONS Noon FOX
Sept. 20 at Philadelphia Eagles Noon FOX
Sept. 27 at Buffalo Bills 3:05 pm FOX
Oct. 4 NEW YORK JETS 3:05 pm CBS
Oct. 11 BYE
Oct. 18 NEW YORK GIANTS Noon FOX
Oct. 25 at Miami Dolphins 3:15 pm FOX
Nov. 2 ATLANTA FALCONS (Monday) 7:30 pm ESPN
Nov. 8 CAROLINA PANTHERS 3:05 pm FOX
Nov. 15 at St. Louis Rams Noon FOX
Nov. 22 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers Noon FOX
Nov. 30 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (Monday) 7:30 pm ESPN
Dec. 6 at Washington Redskins Noon FOX
Dec. 13 at Atlanta Falcons Noon FOX
Dec. 19 DALLAS COWBOYS (Saturday) 7:20 pm NFLN
Dec. 27 TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS Noon FOX
Jan. 3 at Carolina Panthers Noon FOX
You can read more about it here on the New Orleans Saints official website.
Also, check out the Saints schedule page on NFL.com. There is even a video with Sean Payton talking about the schedule.
Listen in to Bobby and Deke right now talking about the schedule. Bobby thinks the Detroit game is a nice way to start off with a win.
Here are some interesting facts I found on Pro Football Talk that I thought I would share.
The league approached the process with a goal of creating a "competitively fair and equitable schedule" for each team, emphasizing the spacing of home and away games, and club travel.
A computer program was used, generating more than 1.3 million partial or full schedules for consideration. The league office then reviewed more than 3,500 "playable" schedules, eventually narrowing the field to 60 schedules. From the final 60, a final schedule was recommended.
In the final schedule, only two clubs have a three-game road trip.
Also, no team with a bye during Week Four or Week Five in 2008 will have a bye during Week Four or Week Five of the 2009 season.
The league now monitors the number of games that West Coast teams play at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time, when traveling to other time zones.
The league also now tracks - and attempts to minimize - the number of road games following Monday night games played away from home.
For the third straight year, any team playing a Thursday game has a home game on the preceding Sunday.
Finally, no team will play more than two road games against a team coming off a bye week.
Roughly ninety minutes from now, we'll have a chance to scrutinize the extent to which these principles have been applied to the 2009 official schedule.
Keep it here to talk and share your thoughts about the Saints schedule. Does it look good? Does it look bad? Which games are you going to? What's your incredibly early record prediction?