NEW ORLEANS SAINTS WEEKLY MEDIA INFORMATION GUIDE NEW ORLEANS SAINTS AT NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS OCTOBER 13, 2013 @ GILLETTE STADIUM GAME INFORMATION • ROSTERS • DEPTH CHART STATISTICS 1 NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (5-0) AT NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (4-1) SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2013 – 3:25 PM (CST) GILLETTE STADIUM -– FOXBOROUGH, MA. TV: FOX Regional Coverage (WVUE-8 locally) – Thom Brennaman, Troy Aikman and Pam Oliver. NATIONAL RADIO: Sports USA Radio – Larry Kahn, Ross Tucker and Troy West. LOCAL RADIO: WWL (870 AM and 105.3 FM) – Jim Henderson, Hokie Gajan and Kristian Garic. SPANISH LANGUAGE RADIO: KXMG (107.5 FM) – Marco Garcia and Victor Quinonez. THE MATCHUP The Saints scored on their first possession for the fourth consecutive contest, K Garrett Hartley kicked a 47-yard The New Orleans Saints (5-0) travel to New England field goal, his first of four on the day. Midway through the this weekend to face the New England Patriots (4-1) at second quarter, New Orleans extended the lead to 13-0 Gillette Stadium in a key interconference matchup. when Thomas, a Chicago native, caught a two-yard screen The Saints are 5-0 for the second time in four years af- pass in his hometown. ter defeating the Chicago Bears 26-18, last Sunday at Sol- The Saints, who have not trailed in a contest since early dier Field. The only other two times the Saints have won in their third contest this season, jumped out to a com- their first six contests are 2009 (13-0) and 1991 (7-0). The manding 20-7 halftime lead when Thomas eluded several Saints are now one of only three unbeaten teams remain- defenders for 25 yards on a screen pass that ended in the ing on the eve of week six in the NFL. A win at Gillette Sta- end zone. dium, where the Patriots have posted a 44-6 record since Sunday’s matchup will feature two clubs that have post- 2007, would send New Orleans off to their week seven bye ed a combined 8-1 record through success on all three on a good note. sides of the ball. The Patriots’ 53 victories since 2009 lead The Saints put together one of their most balanced vic- the NFL, while New Orleans’ 49 wins are tied for second in tories of the season on Sunday at the Bears, as they con- the league. trolled the line of scrimmage by holding onto the ball for 36 The Saints are currently ranked fourth in the NFL in total minutes and were fueled by their first turnover-free perfor- offense, second passing the ball. They rank ninth in the mance of the season, against a team that went into the league in scoring with 26.8 points per game. The club game leading the NFL in takeaways. Displaying that effi- ranks sixth in the NFL in third down conversion rate ciency through the season, the Saints are now tied for (43.5%). The defense is currently tied for 11th in the NFL. fourth in the league in turnover ratio (+6). Keeping opponents out of the end zone has been a QB Drew Brees helped engineer a balanced approach strength, as they are ranked fourth in the NFL (14.6 ppg.) for the Saints, as he completed 29 of 35 passes for 288 in scoring defense and have not yet surrendered 20 points yards with two touchdown passes to RB Pierre Thomas in a contest. Success has also come on third down for the and a 120.0 passer rating. At one point in the first half, defense, as they currently rank ninth in the league, holding Brees completed 11 consecutive passes. opponents to a 35.7 conversion rate. Saints-Patriots: Regular Season Game 6 2 NEW ORLEANS –NEW ENGLAND 1997-98…Patriots strength and conditioning coach Harold Nash is a New Orleans native who prepped at St. Augus- STATISTICAL COMPARISON tine High School before walking on at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now Louisiana-Lafayette)…New League Rankings England RB Stevan Ridley is a Natchez, Mississippi na- Saints Patriots tive who starred at LSU where he became the 13th Tiger to Record 5-0 4-1 rush for 1,000 yards in a single season…New England P Scoring Avg. (NFL Rank) 26.8 (9) 19.0 (16) Ryan Allen spent his college career at Louisiana Tech… Opp. Scoring Avg. (NFL Rank) 14.6 (4) 14.0 (2) Saints RB Mark Ingram and Patriots LB Dont’a Hightow- Total Off. (NFL Rank) 405.0 (4) 343.4(18) er were teammates at Alabama…WR Robert Meachem Rushing Off. (NFL Rank) 78.2 (26) 116.4 (14) and OLB Parys Haralson were teammates at Tennessee Passing Off. (NFL Rank) 326.8 (2) 227.0(21) with Patriots LB Jerod Mayo…ILB Jonathan Vilma Total Def. (NFL Rank) 330.4 (11t) 345.0 (16) starred with New England DL Vince Wilfork at the Univer- Rushing Def. (NFL Rank) 108.6 (18) 116.4 (23) sity of Miami…NT Broderick Bunkley and Patriots RB Passing Def. (NFL Rank) 221.8 (13) 228.6 (14) Leon Washington were teammates for the Florida State Kickoff Return Avg. (NFL Rank) 20.0 (28t) 22.1 (23t) Seminoles…OLB Martez Wilson and DE Glenn Foster Punt Return Avg. (NFL Rank) 8.7 (17t) 11.7 (7) were college teammates with Patriots DL Michael Bu- Turnover Margin (NFL Rank) +6 (4t) +4(6t) chanan , TE Michael Hoomanawanui, and DB Tavon Penalties 23 22 Wilson. Penalty Yards 177 209 Opp. Penalties 26 35 Opp. Penalty Yards 223 303 THE COACHES Sean Payton has posted a 67-34 regular season SAINTS-PATRIOTS CONNECTIONS record and a 5-3 postseason mark, guiding the team to the Super Bowl XLIV Championship. He’s the club’s lone head Offensive Coordinator Pete Carmichael prepped at Med- coach to open a season with 13 straight wins and post a way (Mass.) High School in football and baseball and went 13-game win streak and has the franchise’s top winning on to a collegiate baseball career at Boston College where percentage (.660). Payton’s 35-16 (.686) home record and he was a four-year letterman and team captain in 1994. 32-18 (.640) road mark are the club’s top winning percent- Carmichael started his coaching career as an assistant at ages. In 2006, he took the Saints to the NFC Champion- the University of New Hampshire in 1994…Defensive Co- ship and was named NFL Coach of the Year by most ma- ordinator Rob Ryan spent four seasons (2000-03) as the jor outlets. The Saints are one of only two teams to finish linebackers coach under Bill Belichick in New England, in the top 10 in net yards per game each season since winning two Super Bowls…Wide receivers coach Henry 2006. Payton was hired as New Orleans’ 14th head coach Ellard played for the Patriots in 1998...New England area on Jan. 18, 2006, after serving on the Dallas Cowboys scout Tim Heffelfinger served in the same position with staff from 2003-05. Prior to joining the Cowboys, Payton New Orleans from 1998-2005...Saints Tight ends coach served on the New York Giants staff from 1999-2002, in- Terry Malone attended the College of the Holy Cross and cluding the final three seasons as offensive coordinator. was a four-year starter at tight end for the Crusaders. His tenure was highlighted by a Super Bowl berth in his Malone coached the Crusaders tight ends in 1985 and first full season as coordinator. Payton’s prior NFL coach- served as offensive line coach at Boston College in 2006... ing experience came as quarterbacks coach for Philadel- New England DE/LB Rob Ninkovich was a fifth round phia from 1997-98. draft choice of the Saints in 2006 and spent the 2006 cam- paign and part of the 2008 season with the club…New Or- New England head coach Bill Belichick is in his leans WR Marques Colston and Patriots DB Kyle Arring- tenth season as the head coach of the Patriots. He is the ton were teammates at Hofstra...New England K Stephen only head coach in NFL history to win three Super Bowls in Gostkowski is a Baton Rouge native who prepped at four years, and has also delivered five conference titles, 10 Madison (Miss.) Central High School...Saints defensive divisions crowns and 17 playoff victories to the Patriots line coach Bill Johnson and New England special teams while delivering an overall record of 168-65. He is in his coach Scott O’Brien served on the same staff in Denver 39th season as an NFL coach and was hired by New Eng- from 2007- 08…New England wide receivers coach Chad land on January 27, 2000. In 2007, Belichick led the Patri- O’Shea served as special teams/recruiting coordinator at ots to the NFL’s first 16-0 regular season and is the only the University of Southern Mississippi from 2000-02. Assis- head coach in NFL history to win at least 13 regular- tant head coach Joe Vitt and O’Shea served on the same season games in five separate seasons. Belichick has led Kansas City staff in 2003...Patriots director of college the Patriots to a winning record in each of the last 12 sea- scouting Jonathan Robinson served as an assistant sons, the second longest stretch by a coach with one fran- coach at Nicholls State from 1999-2001... Director of foot- chise (Tom Landry, 16 years, Cowboys, 1970-85).