A few quick observations from Coach Sean Payton's Friday news conference with local media:
- Sunday's game against the Giants at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., will be the first NFL road game for several Saints, including cornerbacks P.J. Williams, De'Vante Harris and Ken Crawley and kicker Wil Lutz. That's a fact that is taken into consideration during game preparations. Said Payton: "We spent a lot of time, all week, on the environment, the weather forecast – there's a great chance there's going to be rain on Sunday. Understanding this stadium outside, getting quickly accustomed to the wind – there's generally wind in this area. Offensively, dealing with the noise. There's certain elements that you want to prep them for prior to the game."
- And specifically speaking of rain, there's a high probability of it on Sunday (the forecast calls for an 80 percent chance, isolated thunderstorms in the morning becoming more widespread in the afternoon). "The initial thought is, what kind of rain, what's the temperature like?" Payton said. "They're calling for high-70s, low-80s. Ball security, wet-ball drills. A lot of that, you pay attention to the day of the game. But certainly it appears that we're going to have rain, so I think getting used to it is one of the reasons we were outside today (for practice). It was a little bit warmer but nonetheless, we had some rain when we came out here and the balls were wet. Getting the sleeves off, making sure if you're wearing gloves they're the right kind of gloves, all of those things."
