The picture of the New Orleans Saints arriving in France on Monday and rolling through the streets of Paris amid looting and fires is not an accurate portrayal of what happened. There was none of that drama on the teams’ first day in the country.
The Saints arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport and are staying on the verdant outskirts of Versailles, about 12–15 miles and 40 minutes from central Paris.
But the events that have caused turmoil in Paris and other towns around the country are indeed on the minds of coaches, players, and staff as they prepare to play the NFL’s first game in France on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Saints got a chance to walk around the vicinity of Stade de France in Saint-Denis upon arriving, according to coach Kellen Moore. They’re scheduled to go back on Saturday for a walk-through inside the facility.
Moore said there are no planned team-bonding events to tour Paris or any other area. But neither have players been told to abstain from having dinner together or taking in some local fare.
All of that comes with an understanding: Stay alert and safe.
“Us as outsiders,” tight end Juwan Johnson told NOLA.com, “we just want to be as safe as possible.”
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Johnson said that even though his wife is on the trip, as are the families of many players and staff, she is still “very undecided” about attending Sunday’s game.
Safety Justin Reid said he plans to take in a soccer game on his day off Tuesday between Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona at the Parc des Princes in the southwest section of Paris. Other players also showed interest in attending.
But, again, it all comes with the requirement that everyone keeps their head on the proverbial swivel.
“It’ll just be, ‘keep it low-key, keep it fun,’ do things as a group, do things as a team,” Reid said. “And above all else, stay out of the mix and don’t find any way to be a distraction to what our ultimate goal here is …
“We want to enjoy being in Paris and seeing things, but I don’t think many of us are very interested in getting into the mix that deeply.”
Moore seems confident that will be the case.
“Our guys are smart,” the coach told reporters on a Monday Zoom call. “They understand, you know, this is a still a business trip …”
The Saints as an organization have shown no compunction about being on this trip. When the NFL released a statement about moving ahead with the game as scheduled, the Saints concurred.
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But, the statement from Saints senior vice president of communications Greg Bensel also makes the point that the team has stayed in the loop about security.
“We concur with the NFL’s statement and are planning to play the game,” Bensel said in a statement provided to OutKick and Fox News Digital. “In addition to working closely with the NFL, we have also maintained daily security updates with our security partners in France.
“Members of our football operations staff and internal security team have been on the ground in France for the past few days and there has been no disruption or impact at any of our team sites.”