As the news of a terror attack began to sink in for Darren Rizzi on New Year's Day in New Orleans, he was struck in a few different ways.
The first was to check that his children were safe, including a son who wasn't home when the Saints head coach left for work. Rizzi learned the news of the past night's attack about 6 a.m. as he sat in the parking lot of the Saints facility. Rizzi immediately began checking on his son's location, whom he learned had slept over at a friend's house on New Year's Eve. It was equal parts relief and a somber reminder of the very different scenario that was encountered by many other parents that same morning.
"I’m blessed and I’m lucky and I’m fortunate," Rizzi said, "because there’s other kids that didn’t go home to their families last night, and that’s just the cold, true reality of the situation. ... It hits home."
Once that worry was cleared, the larger reality of the situation sunk in. The New Jersey native admitted during an extensive Wednesday press conference that he can't hear the word terrorism without being transported back to September 11, 2001. Rizzi was a head coach at the University of New Haven at the time and recalled that the smoke from the World Trade Center could be seen from his home.
Two of Rizzi's high school teammates died in the attacks. There were similar feelings and emotions then, as well as a host of memorials and funerals. A number of players on his New Haven team were from New York and lost family members or friends. It is and was, sadly, an all too relatable moment in American history that was evoked by a man driving his truck over a sidewalk onto Bourbon Street just after 3 a.m. on New Year's Day and running down holiday revelers. The attack killed at least 10 and injured dozens more. The man, identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, stepped out of his vehicle in body armor and opened fire, wounding multiple police officers before being killed in the shootout. He had an ISIS flag on his truck and identified as a member of the Islamic State, according to reports. The FBI has taken over the investigation, which is being described as an act of terror.
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"It goes without saying this is senseless," Rizzi said. "It’s hard to understand and it’s really hard to comprehend why these things keep happening in our country."
It was a somber day at the Saints facility all around. The team opened its meeting with a prayer and conversations that had little to do with football. As far as anyone was aware no member of the Saints roster or organization had been immediately affected, but it was still too early to say for certain.
Victim identities had begun to filter into the news throughout the day, and it's all too likely that connections begin to ripple out as those names and faces become public knowledge.
That's particularly likely for the New Orleans natives on the roster such as Tyrann Mathieu, who said he wasn't aware of any family or friends that had been impacted, but that he planned to speak with his mother later in the day.
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“New Orleans is a small city, man, and I think that in some way, shape or form, you know, like, somebody who is affected by it," Mathieu said. "We all know somebody that knows somebody and so yea ... just send my prayers out and, you know, my condolences and hopefully we can push past this.”
The conversation in the team meeting was largely about perspective. The conversation after practice was about the need to support this city and community in whatever way the team can. That includes players being visible and understanding their importance as role models and leaders, helping emotionally and physically and even financially those who need it.
One of those team leaders is Demario Davis, who so often knows the exact words to inspire his teammates. That was more difficult today than possibly ever before.
"When something of this magnitude, on this scale happens, there are literally no words that are going to provide any solace for this," Davis said. "Moments like this ... it humanizes us all and shows you just how fast life can change."
In the end the conversation does have to shift to football, because there's a game to be played this week. The Saints held their typical Wednesday practice. It wasn't until practice ended that reality set in again, but it's a reality that the franchise understands its place in all too well.
Whether through tragedy or attack or naturally occurring disaster, New Orleans has fallen down more than its fair share of times. Where it excels is getting back up again, and Rizzi made sure to emphasize to his team that they have a role to play in that. Not unlike the team's return after Hurricane Katrina, the records and state of the season ceases to matter, at least for now. A Week 18 matchup with the Bucs is about more than wins and losses, it's about giving a city hope.
"The community needs us right now," Rizzi said, detailing his messaging to the team this week. "They need support, and everybody is hurting. ... We’re out here, we’re playing for the community, we’re playing for the city of New Orleans, we’re playing for the state of Louisiana. We’re playing for our fanbase and at times like this, sometimes, you can uplift people."
No one knows that better than Mathieu, who can still remember running with his friends down to Bourbon Street after the Saints won the Super Bowl in early 2010.
"I know a lot of people look to us to kind of make their day, you know, make their week a little better," he said, "and so I definitely think it’s part of our responsibility to go out there this week and really represent New Orleans.”