This Week
The New England Patriots host the New Orleans Saints at Gillette Stadium on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
The Saints (2011) The Patriots (2011)
Overall 13-3 Overall 13-3
Road record 5-3 Home record 7-1
AFC East 0-0 NFC South 0-0
AFC Conf 4-0 NFC Conf 3-1
The Saints are 1-0 in the preseason having beat Arizona 17-10 on Sunday in the Hall of Fame Game.
The Line/Prediction
As of Tuesday the line on the game from Yahoo! Sports has the Patriots at MINUS 3. The OVER/UNDER is 38.5.
My Prediction is Patriots 21, Saints, 17. Give the points (Patriots) and take the under.
Tickets
The Patriots are reporting the game as a sell out. It is the 194th consecutive sell out dating back to the 1994 season opener. The record includes preseason, regular season and playoff games.
Tickets to the game, if available, can be purchased through Ticketmaster. You can check the availability here.
After market tickets are available through the Official Patriots Ticket Exchange where season ticket holders can sell their unused seats to fans on the season ticket waiting list.
Getting to the Game
If you’re lucky enough to be going to the game in Foxboro make sure you check out the links.
Here is the up to date weather forecast from the Weather Channel for Foxboro, MA.
Click for all the game day information including stadium directions, parking information and map and a Gillette Stadium seating chart.
Tailgating
Here’s a bunch of different tailgating recipes from Tailgating.com. There’s something there for everyone and every type of meal or snack. I’ve tried some of the recipes and they’re very good.
And with tailgating many people enjoy some adult beverages. With that in mind check out Drink Nation for how to make all sorts of great drinks. You can look things up by name, ingredient(s) or theme.
Whether it’s at the game, a bar or a friend’s house moderation is always the key to a great time. Please don’t drink and drive and designate a sober driver. Remember You Drink, You Drive, You Lose.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Television
The Patriots Preseason Television Network is televising three of the Patriots four preseason games through out New England and Hawaii.
Longtime national play-by-play announcer Don Criqui and former NFL Pro Bowl offensive lineman Randy Cross will call the games.
Stations in the Patriots Preseason TV Network include:
- WBZ-TV Channel 4 in Boston MA
- WNAC-TV Channel 64 in Providence RI
- WMUR-TV Channel 9 in Manchester NH
- WMTW-TV Channel 8 in Portland ME
- WCTX-TV Channel 9 in Hartford/New Haven CT
- WWLP-TV Channel 22 in Springfield MA
- WVII-TV Channel 7 or WFVX-TV Channel 22 in Bangor ME
- WVNY-TV Channel 22 in Burlington VT
- KFVE-TV Channel 5 in Honolulu HI
Check your local listings for your station.
DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket is not allowed to carry preseason games per the NFL Broadcast Rules.
Preseason television rights belong to the teams and not to the league, hence no DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket until Week 1 of the regular season.
Radio
The Patriots Radio Network broadcasts the game from flagship station WBZ-FM, 98.5 the Sports Hub in Boston. Gil Santos handles the play-by-play, former Patriot Scott Zolak does the color. It all starts with Gary Tanguay and Andy Gresh with the pregame show at 4:30 p.m. along the network. The post game starts after the final gun and continues for three hours along the network.
The Patriots radio network call is available on Sirius Channel 85 and XM Channel 230. You can listen on line with SiriusXM Internet Channel 818.
To continue reading, please click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.
History
- The teams have met nine previous times in the preseason, the last time was in 2010.
- New England leads the preseason series, 5-4.
- The Patriots won that last preseason meeting at Gillette 27-24.
- This is the fifth time the Patriots have opened their preseason against New Orleans. The others being 1968, 1985, 1994 and 2010.
- The 1994 meeting was Robert Kraft’s first game as owner of the Patriots and was the start of the consecutive sell out streak by the team.
Game Notes
While this is the Patriots first preseason game, it’s the second for the Saints who played in the Hall of Fame Game in Canton on Sunday night. The HOF Game isn’t looked at as a preseason game by the NFL so those two teams end up with five preseason games, while everyone else has the standard four.
Saints QB Drew Brees signed the largest contract in NFL history in July when he got a five-year, $100 million deal with $60 million guaranteed and $40 million payable in the first year.
The two teams held joint practices on Tuesday and Wednesday. It’s the second time in three years the teams have done this.
This is the fourth consecutive time these teams have had a preseason game in Foxboro.
The Patriots are 97-125-1 all-time in the preseason, 41-33 since Kraft bought the team.
Bill Belichick is 27-22 as the Patriots head coach in the preseason.
Both teams finished 13-3 and won their divisions in 2011.
They were the #2 (Saints) and #3 (Patriots) scoring offenses in 2011.
They were the #1 (Saints) and #2 (Patriots) offenses in total yardage and passing yard per game in 2011.
Saints TE David Thomas is a former Patriot, drafted in the 3rd round of the 2006 NFL Draft.
Patriots LB Rob Ninkovich was originally drafted by the Saints in the 5th round of the 2006 NFL Draft.
Patriots WR Donte Stallworth was a 1st round draft pick in 2002 by the Saints. The 13th overall selection played with New Orleans from 2002-05 before being traded to Philadelphia in 2006.
Members of both staffs attended the funeral of Garret Reid, son of Eagles coach Andy Reid, on Tuesday.
Next Game
The Patriots host the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday August 20th at Gillette Stadium. Kick off is at 8 p.m. on ESPN.
Follow Steve on Twitter @SteveMichaelsII
