nola.com Thoughts on the Schedule

• The Saints will start the season 1-0. The Saints have played 30 home openers in their 42-year history but never one as easy as this. The Detroit Lions didn't win a game last season and will visit New Orleans while trying to master new systems on both sides of the ball with, in all likelihood, a rookie quarterback under center.

• No cold-weather games. For the first time in Sean Payton's tenure, the Saints won't have to play a regular-season game north of the Mason-Dixon Line in December or January.The Saints' three late-season road games are at Washington, Atlanta and Carolina. The Falcons game is obviously in a dome, while Washington D.C. usually experiences decent weather in early December. And the mean temperate in Charlotte in January is a managebale 41 degrees.

• Some good quarterbacks are coming to town. In addition to the annual visits from Matt Ryan and Jake Delhomme, Eli Manning, Tom Brady and Tony Romo will visit. It'll be Brady's first game in the Superdome since he led the Patriots to a 20-17 win against St. Louis in Super Bowl XXXVI. For Manning, it will be the first time in his NFL career that he's played in his hometown. Brother Payton is 1-1 in the Superdome with the Colts.

• Speaking of quarterbacks, the Saints' revamped pass defense will receive a major break in the early going as it breaks in new coordinator Gregg Williams' scheme. Obviously this could change after the draft, but the opposing starting quarterbacks in the Saints' first four games are, in order, Daunte Culpepper, Donovan McNabb, Kellen Clemens and Trent Edwards. And don't forget, the Saints might have to play this group without starting defensive ends Charles Grant and Will Smith, who are facing possible four-game suspensions for violating the league's drug policy.

• The season finale at Carolina is a strong candidate to be picked up for national broadcast. The final seven weeks of the NFL season are subject to flex scheduling and starting times for those games are subject to change. A quick perusal of Week 17 shows the Saints-Panthers contest -- a potential showdown for the NFC South division title -- as one of the sexiest draws, along with the Eagles-Cowboys, Packers-Cardinals, Steelers-Dolphins and Giants-Vikings.

•The Saints will play five games against rookie head coaches: Jim Schwartz (Detroit), Rex Ryan (Jets), Steve Spagnuolo (St. Louis) and Raheem Morris (Tampa Bay, twice).


•Former Saints coach Wade Phillips will bring his Cowboys to the Superdome for a prime-time game Dec. 19 on NFL Network. It will mark the Saints' first prime-time regular-season game played on a Saturday night.
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I'm still imagining how rocking the Dome will be on a Saturday night, against the cowgirls no less!