Save the date.
Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos are coming to town on Oct. 17, 2024.
Payton’s first official visit to New Orleans since he left the Saints is a night you won’t want to miss. It’ll be must-see TV, the marquee event on the Saints’ nine-game home schedule in 2024.
The NFL certainly thinks so. League officials gave the game prime-time treatment, putting it on Amazon’s Thursday Night Football.
Depending on your perspective, it’ll either be the Sean Payton Revenge Game or the Saints’ Revenge Game.
Regardless, one thing is certain: This won’t be just another game. No way. Too many ties and too much emotion involved in this one.
Since Payton stepped down as Saints head coach in 2022 and took the Broncos head coaching job in 2023, he has unashamedly raided the New Orleans staff and roster, luring an armada of coaches, players and executives to join him in Denver and ruffling feathers among the Who Dat faithful who once worshipped him. Nine former Saints coaches, including Pete Carmichael, Zach Strief, Joe Lombardi and Joe Vitt, are on the Broncos coaching staff, along with former Saints player Chris Banjo. Seven former Saints players, including kicker Wil Lutz and tight end Adam Trautman, are on the roster. Former Saints trainer Beau Lowery has the same position in Denver. Former Saints scout Cody Rager was hired away to be Denver’s vice president of player personnel.
For better or worse, the Broncos have become Saints West. And New Orleans would love nothing more than to spoil Payton's homecoming with a prime-time loss.
The Broncos game will punctuate a challenging early season stretch that will see the Saints play three games in 11 days, including back-to-back contests against the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs and the defending NFC South champion Bucs.
With a brutal opening slate that includes road games to Dallas and Atlanta sandwiched around a dicey home date with the always formidable Philadelphia Eagles, the Saints will be fortunate to enter the Broncos game with a winning record.
It will be Payton’s first time taking the field against the organization that gave him his first head coaching job. He’ll walk the opposite sideline of the field he ruled for 16 years and in the stadium that will one day memorialize his name in the Ring of Honor.
Rest assured, Payton will have the Broncos ready. He might not sleep the week of the game. Knowing Payton, he might have already started game-planning for it.
No one relishes being the man in the arena more than Payton. He’d love nothing more than to strut into the dome and slap a loss on his former team and former boss (Mickey Loomis). In celebration, he’d order the charter flight to perform a couple of victory laps over downtown New Orleans before heading back to Denver. This is the kind of game he lives for.
Meanwhile, on the other sideline, Saints head coach Dennis Allen gets the opportunity to one-up his longtime mentor and put his stamp on the club's football operation.
It's going to be great theater.
I can’t wait to see how it plays out on Oct. 17.
Here's how I would rank the Saints’ schedule from most intriguing game to least:
1. Week 7, vs. Broncos: See above.
2. Week 5, at Chiefs: The defending champs in prime time at Arrowhead. ‘Nuff said.
3. Week 4, at Falcons: The Saints’ archrivals are sure to be salty after that ugly Week 18 rout last season.
4. Week 17, at Packers: Break out the neoprene jumpsuits. The average high temperature in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Dec. 23 is 29 degrees. The tundra figures to be frozen.
5. Week 2, at Cowboys: The Saints — gulp! — are 4-11 all-time in Big D.
6. Week 3, vs. Eagles: The second of back-to-back showdowns with NFC East powers.
7. Week 13, vs Rams: Rams head coach Sean McVay is 4-2 against the Saints since taking over in L.A. seven years ago.
8. Week 8, at Chargers: Tough task: West Coast trip on the heels of an emotional prime-time home game vs. Broncos.
9. Week 15, vs. Commanders: Former LSU star Jayden Daniels plays his first game in the Superdome since winning the Heisman.
10. Week 1, vs. Panthers: Can the Saints extend their winning streak in season openers to six?
11. Week 6, vs. Bucs: Things always get spicy when the defending NFC South champs visit.
12. Week 10, vs. Falcons: By this time, we should know if either team is a contender or pretender.
13. Week 11, vs. Browns: A rare visit from the Browns, who will be making just their second trip to NOLA in the past 14 years.
14. Week 17, vs. Raiders: It remains to be seen how relevant this one will be in late December, but it will definitely mean something to Derek Carr.
15. Week 18, at Bucs: Something about this venue brings out the best in the Saints. Some of their most dominant wins in recent years have come here.
16. Week 14, at Giants: No one will confuse Daniel Jones vs. Carr with Manning vs. Brees.
17. Week 9, at Panthers: Hey, at least Charlotte has some good barbecue joints.
