You can take the Saints out of New Orleans, but you can't take them out of awkward hurricane scenarios -- apparently.
As the Saints spent a couple extra days in Costa Mesa holding joint practices with the L.A. Chargers, Hurricane Hilary strengthened off the coast, posing a potential threat and casting the state of Sunday's Week 2 preseason matchup into question.
Saints head coach Dennis Allen said the NFL and SoFi Stadium had scheduled a call with both teams in order to establish a plan and possible contingencies for the game, which is scheduled for 6 p.m. central time.
“Obviously with the weather the most important thing is that everybody stays safe," Allen said. "So whatever it takes for everybody to stay safe, that’s what we’re going to do.”
The storm is expected to weaken back into a tropical storm before it makes landfall, but regardless would be the first tropical system to impact Southern California in 84 years. The storm was projected to make landfall on Monday. One option could be to move the start of the game earlier in the day, allowing more time for travel ahead of the storm once its completed.
The Saints are no stranger to hurricane-impacted preseason games, with the team just two season removed from Hurricane Ida, which struck New Orleans directly and forced the team to relocate for more than a month and open its season with a home game in Jacksonville. That storm forced the cancellation of a Week 3 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals.
"I guess we brought it with us," Allen said, jokingly.
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