It’s been since the 2024 season since the New Orleans Saints were featured in a Monday Night Football matchup, but this year’s Week 4 prime time game against the Atlanta Falcons is about much more than a return to playing under the national spotlight.
The game is the 20th anniversary commemoration of the team’s famed “Domecoming” contest from the 2006 season.
The original game, played on September 25, 2006, was a 23-3 victory in the team’s first home action following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
The game remains immortalized outside of the Caesars Superdome, the Saints’ home stadium since 1975. There’s a statue placed at the southwest plaza level depicting not just a player, but a moment that represents the rejuvenation of more than a football franchise.
It represents instead the revitalization of a community.
The aptly named “Rebirth” moment, a punt block by safety Steve Gleason, recovered by cornerback Curtis Deloach was the team’s first touchdown back in New Orleans after having been displaced, like so many residents of the city, for more than a year.
The impact of that single play, and the ensuing win, was one that, for a moment, provided hope under a rebuilt roof for a rebuilding city.
Now, 20 years later, the Saints and Falcons square off again. The bitter rivalry between the two teams is always elevated. But this week, it’s something special and all the more meaningful to the players, coaches and staff that will don the Fleur de Lis logo on Monday Night.
Though many players were too young to comprehend the Domecoming game, let alone Hurricane Katrina, each has an understanding of the significance of this matchup for the fans in attendance, and those watching at home that may have remained away from the city since its evacuation in 2005.
The Saints’ head coach Kellen Moore and staff members spent Wednesday sharing a video and stories about the game, similar to what they did back in August when educating the players on the impacts of Katrina on its 20th anniversary of making landfall.
Players are now equipped with the knowledge to understand why the lights will be a little brighter, why the game will be a little bigger and why their home will be a lot louder on Monday night.
