Champion Saints to enjoy spoils in 2010 scheduling
By Bud L. Ellis
To the victor goes the spoils. For the Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints, winning the Vince Lombardi Trophy brings a lot of perks, including a home schedule in 2010 that isn’t very tough.
Fans coming to the Louisiana Superdome next season will see the Saints face just one playoff qualifier from a year ago, a rematch of a very memorable contest from late January.
The National Football League has released its schedule of home games and road games in 2010 for every team. Dates and times will be determined later this spring.
For the Saints, the slate is highlighted by a rematch in the Superdome of last year’s thrilling NFC championship game with Minnesota, a game that New Orleans won in overtime on a field goal to clinch its first Super Bowl berth. The rest of the home schedule includes games with NFC South division rivals Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Carolina, and contests against Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Seattle and St. Louis. Those final three teams combined to go 11-37 last season.
On the road, the slate is tougher. New Orleans faces four playoff teams: AFC North champion Cincinnati, NFC East champion Dallas, NFC West champion Arizona and AFC wild-card qualifier Baltimore. The other four road games are at Atlanta, at Carolina, at Tampa Bay and at San Francisco.
The Saints’ schedule ranks 27th out of the 32-team NFL, based on last season’s opponents’ winning percentage.
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Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 10:42 pm by bud
Tags: Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, Louisiana Superdome, Minnesota Vikings, National Football League, New Orleans Saints, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, St. Louis Rams, Super Bowl XLIV, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
