The opponents aren't a mystery on schedule release day, but the weather can be. And the New Orleans Saints ended up on the wrong end of a pair of cold-weather surprises.
The Saints will have a cold December, with the 2024 schedule sending them up north to face the Giants in Week 14 (Dec. 8), then two weeks later they ship up to Wisconsin for a Week 16 showdown (Dec. 23) against the Green Bay Packers. The average temperature for Green Bat that time of year is below 30 degrees.
That didn't sit particularly well with one Saints defensive player.
"Whoever makes our schedule this yr! You're rude for Packers, Giants scheduling in December," veteran DE Cam Jordan posted after learning about the schedule. "I learned a couple years ago that ... cold games are in fact no real football."
The Saints will be making a trip to Lambeau Field for the second consecutive season, though that 2023 matchup came in September.
Jordan was, of course, referencing the 2022 season when the Saints went up to Cleveland for a game that was so cold the stadium made an announcement that any fans in the upper deck were welcome to go to the lower bowl, essentially to huddle together for warmth. Jordan and his family took a long vacation overseas that offseason, a trip he said he decided to make while standing miserable on the sidelines.
"Friends from Minnesota are like, ‘you haven’t played a real football game until you’ve played in the cold.’ They are liars. They are full blown egotistical maniacs that are just living this machismo life of embracing the cold," Jordan said at the time. "And I get that’s what they have to do for mental keepsakes. But that’s not real football. It hurt to hit people. It hurt to shed people. It hurt to lace them up. It hurt to try and get warm. It hurt to get ready to get cold. ... After that first half I ran into the locker room and I remember everybody was drinking soup and some guys were like, 'ah, this is football.' And I was like, they’re absurd."
The Saints did win that game, but the impression was made on Jordan, who added that there was no sum of money he could be paid to go play in a cold-weather city. The Saints rematch with the Browns this season, but that'll be in the climate-controlled Caesars Superdome.
The Saints lucked out one week later in the 2022 season when they went up to Philadelphia and played a game that was unseasonably warm. Jordan, certainly, will be hoping for the same fate in 2024. But he also has a suggestion in the meantime.
"All stadiums should have a dome if you have harsh elements," Jordan said.
Simple enough, right?
