The New Orleans Saints are scheduled to hit the road for eight away games during the 2019 NFL season, taking fans out of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome to the West Coast and the East Coast, and everywhere in-between. While New Orleans is a top travel destination for fans from around the NFL (and around the country), Saints fans themselves should enjoy the opportunity to hit the road. Great experiences on each game day and in host city are ahead of us, so here’s the ranking of the best Saints road games to grab tickets for.
8. Tennessee Titans, Week 16, Dec. 22, Noon
The Titans are based in Nashville, Tennessee, which will also be the location of the 2019 NFL Draft. Nashville has a reputation as a city on the rise, home to regional foods like its famous hot chicken (fried and glazed with a cayenne pepper sauce, then served over white bread with pickles), a dozen smoked barbecue joints, and a handful of local breweries (we recommend Yazoo Brewing Company). It also features several parks for those looking to get out and enjoy nature, and museums celebrating the city’s rich music history.
With the trip from New Orleans to Nashville requiring a brief flight (an hour and a half nonstop, or three to four hours with a connection) or an eight-hour drive, it’s one of the easier trips for Saints fans to make. The Saints will play the Titans in Nissan Stadium for the first time since 2011, a game they won 22-17 (we still maintain that Jimmy Graham should have been ruled inside the field of play; instead, the officials took another Saints touchdown off the board. That tracks.). Nissan Stadium is an outdoor venue sitting on the east bank of the Cumberland River, and the weather in Nashville in December isn’t great (averaging around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and dry), which is what keeps it low on our list.
As for the game itself: the Titans are a year removed from a playoff victory, having upset the Kansas City Chiefs back in the 2017 wild card round. They followed that up by regressing to a 9-7 finish in 2018, missing the postseason tournament altogether. It’s a make-or-break year for quarterback Marcus Mariota as second-year head coach Mike Vrabel looks for his team to get back in the playoffs. This game should be plenty competitive; depending on how well Mariota performs in 2019, its result could effect postseason seeding in each conference.
7. Carolina Panthers, Week 17, Dec. 29, Noon
The Panthers prowl Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, an outdoor venue built just 23 years ago that seats more than 75,000 fans. Sitting in the heart of bustling Uptown, the stadium is just minutes away from a dozen hotels. It also offers easy access to local restaurants offering familiar dishes like shrimp and grits and fried green tomatoes, or the unique Carolina-style barbecue built around a thin vinegar-and-pepper sauce, shunning tomatoes altogether. If all you’re familiar with is red barbecue sauce, put it on your list.
Traveling to Charlotte from New Orleans might be a hassle. Flying can take just two hours if nonstop tickets are available, but most trips require connecting flights and last as much as five hours. Driving could mean more than 10 hours on the road, with an adventure through Atlanta’s highway connections (more on those later) on schedule. There’s longer trips for fans to make, but if the end result puts them outdoors in 30-degree winds in what may be a tough divisional game, this could be one to watch from home.
Divisional games on the road can be hit or miss. If the Saints win, the feeling walking out of an enemy stadium is tremendous. If they don’t, well, you invested a lot in a trip that ultimately came up short. The good news is that the Saints have won three consecutive games in Charlotte during this NFC South rivalry series. The Panthers have made puzzling personnel decisions all offseason, bleeding a ton of defensive talent (names like Thomas Davis and Julius Peppers among them). If Cam Newton isn’t able to play a full season, they could very well be deep in the tank by the time the Saints visit to close out the season.
6. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Week 11, Nov. 17, Noon
Saints fans looking for some warmer weather would be wise to head out to Tampa, come mid-November. Open-air Raymond James Stadium will allow them to enjoy the full benefit of Tampa’s fall climate, which sits around the high 70’s on average that time of the year. Even if last year’s sloppy game began with a torrential downpour, it’s usually a sunny atmosphere. With most nonstop flights lasting just an hour and a half (and those with connections running up to four hours) Tampa is a solid option for a weekend trip. If you’re bringing the kids (or just happen to like zoos) then ZooTampa at Lowry Park is a top-notch visit.
Anyway, back to what’s important: the weather and the food. Tampa neighbors the same Gulf of Mexico as New Orleans, so many of the seafood options will look familiar to native Saints fans. But there are some variants: December is in the middle of stone crab season, so crab claws are plentiful. You can also find a great Cuban sandwich at any of many beachfront restaurants, the Tampa City Council having adopted the dish back in 2012 and establishing an official recipe: thinly-sliced layers of salted pork with Swiss cheese, a citrus mojo sauce, pickles, and yellow mustard all pressed on a griddle until crispy.
What’s going on with the Buccaneers this year? They’ve got next to no salary cap space without many stars on the roster. The hope has to be that new head coach Bruce Arians gets troubled quarterback Jameis Winston to play the best football of his life, but we’ll know by mid-November whether that pairing worked out. While the Bucs won two of the last three games in Raymond James Stadium, the Saints were dominant before; they won six of the previous seven when Tampa Bay played host.
5. Atlanta Falcons, Week 13, Nov. 28, 7:20 p.m.
So, this is the big divisional game. And it’s controversial whether it’s worth the trip. Any time the Saints and Falcons square up, there’s fireworks. It’s the closest thing the NFL has to an SEC rivalry. But is braving the Atlanta traffic system around Thanksgiving really wise? The highways are congested as it is, and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is a city in itself. That’s a challenge many Saints fans may rather not face, especially when they could be home enjoying the holiday with their families.
But if you are interested in making the trip, there’s plenty to do. Atlanta boasts the finest soccer venue in America in the Merecedes-Benz Stadium; the Falcons also play home games there. It’s a remarkable facility on the cutting edge of game-day experience. But for fans looking to try foods outside the game, the conversation has to start with lemon pepper chicken wings — wet, not dry. Actively seek them out. Otherwise, Southern staples like biscuits and gravy mix well within the diverse Atlanta metro. Visitors won’t have trouble finding seats between the busy ramen spots, family pizza shops, Korean grills, and Southern kitchens throughout the city.
But, back to the game: the Falcons are battling for relevance after blowing a 28-3 lead in Super LI. Head coach Dan Quinn has seen his squad spiral since that historic loss, going 18-16 in the two years since (including the postseason). If their recent history is any indication, Quinn and his staff could be in hot water by the time the Saints come to town. If that’s the case, Saints fans in attendance just might get a view to a nail getting pounded into Atlanta’s coffin.
4. Jacksonville Jaguars, Week 6, October 13, Noon
The Jaguars play at TIAA Bank Field, an open-air stadium that enjoys all the comforts of Florida’s Atlantic Coast. Temperatures in mid-October generally top out around the low 80’s, which would be perfect for a day on Jacksonville’s expansive beach. A short drive south puts you in St. Augustine, one of the most historic cities in America and home to a colonial fortress, Revolution-era hotel, and iconic lighthouse. But back to Jacksonville; flights from New Orleans can take three and a half to nearly seven hours depending on the airline, and if you’re pressed to find good airline tickets it’s basically an eight hour drive on I-10 .
Any Saints fan knows their way around seafood, thanks to the bounty pulled up from the Gulf of Mexico every day. But Jacksonville offers an opportunity to try fare from the Atlantic Ocean: grilled octopus, lobster rolls (and stuffed pasta), tuna (bluefin and yellowfin), and a host of other fish. And of course, shrimp. The minor-league Jumbo Shrimp play minor league baseball in Jacksonville, and their name pays tribute to the shrimp hauled in from offshore. The timing of this Saints game puts fans in the area at the end of shrimping season, so be sure to try them any way you can find them.
Alright, back to the game: the Jaguars have been trying to return to the AFC playoffs race after making a heroic effort in 2017, which fell apart against typical New England Patriots superiority. Nick Foles has replaced Blake Bortles at quarterback, and probably isn’t looking forward to a rematch with the Saints after his last performance. Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore intercepted him twice, and Foles won’t have nearly as much options to throw to in Jacksonville as he did with the Philadelphia Eagles. This should be a fun one.
3. Chicago Bears, Week 7, October 20, Noon
Behold: the dreaded cold weather road game. Temperatures in Chicago have an average high of 62 and low of 50 in October, which is frigid by the Saints’ standards. But the bigger cold front of early winter won’t have arrived yet, so the Saints could expect clear skies and something of a breeze coming up off of Lake Michigan. The historic Soldier Field is one of the smallest stadiums in the NFL, seating just 61,500, so tickets can be hard to come by — especially when the Bears are good.
Chicago is famous for its deep dish pizza, but don’t sleep on the steaks and sausages. The Windy City has a long history as a meatpacking hub, hustling cattle in from the Great Plains and distributing beef products to cities throughout the East Coast. So take advantage of that and grab a great steak while you’re in town. If you’d rather have something less heavy, the iconic Chicago hot dog is something to put on the to-do list: dressed with mustard, relish, onions, peppers, and pickles in a poppyseed bun — with no ketchup. That’s sacrilegious. While you’re in town, do the tourist thing and have your picture taken with the big Chicago bean (its formal name: the Cloud Gate) in Millennium Park.
Last year, they had a great defense and a promising offense handcuffed to quarterback Mitchell Trubisky. Without visionary defensive coordinator Vic Fangio on hand, it’s valid to wonder how far they may regress. The Saints have left Chicago victorious in each of their two recent outings, winning in 2013 and 2014. They’ve won the last four games in a row against the Bears, in fact, and handed them a 20-12 loss in the Superdome (Lattimore ended that game by intercepting an errant Trubisky pass at the end of regulation. Funny how he keeps coming up.). This game will be a great litmus test of where each team stands around the midpoint of a long 2019 NFL season.
2. Seattle Seahawks, Week 2, September 22, 3:25 p.m.
Recent history has not been kind to the Saints in Seattle. The black and gold have not won at CenturyLink Field since 2007, going 0-for-3 in every trip back since (including the playoffs). Whether it’s the hostile crowd, the weather, or the Seahawks’ style of play, the Saints simply haven’t been able to get their feet set and compete. Fortunately, this early-season road trip should be pleasant enough: temperatures average out around the mid-60’s, and the city typically sees just six days of heavy rain — most months, twice that. The timing couldn’t be better for the Saints, if only they didn’t have to make a trip to Los Angeles the week before.
Any conversation around food in Seattle starts with seafood. That’s welcome news to Saints fans, to be sure. But this is a chance to try a fish unique to the Pacific Northwest: salmon. This coldwater fish is a signature dish in the Seattle area, and you should look for it any way it’s served: sliced sashimi with wasabi and lemon, grilled and blackened with seasoning, or best of all, smoked over applewood on cedar planks. If you’re looking for a break from seafood, stop at Pho 99, Pho Ba, or Pho Bac for a bowl of (you guessed it) pho. Seattle is also home to an exceptional craft beer scene, and be sure to grab a cup of local coffee on your way into the game.
This is a very different Seahawks team from what we’re used to. All the stars that punished the Saints in the past are gone: Marshawn Lynch left for his hometown Oakland Raiders. Richard Sherman plays for the San Francisco 49ers. Superstar safeties Kam Chancellor (medical retirement) and Earl Thomas (signed with the Baltimore Ravens) have split. The only holdover is Russell Wilson, the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history. Are the Seahawks really going to pay him $35 million per year to continue handing the ball off so someone else can run with it? There’s a lot of uncertainty surrounding this team, and the Saints will get to put them through an early test.
1. Los Angeles Rams, Week 1, September 15, 3:25 p.m.
Ugh. Let’s just not dwell on how things turned out the last time these two teams met, okay?
So we’ll start with the city. There aren’t many better places to visit than Los Angeles. There’s so much to do (and so many great things to eat) that it’s tough to pin down just a few. So we suggest making a stop at Grand Central Market for a little bit of everything. The 112-year old landmark brings the best L.A. has to offer into one grand, central location. You can find it all: falafel on flatbread, Filipino chicken and ribs (and coconut custard), Thai sticky rice and curry, pastrami sandwiches and bagels and lox, and an assortment of tacos and burgers. It’s a spectacle. After that, make the trip to Bottega Louie for the finest pastries and desserts in town. And of course you’d better do the tourist thing and visit the Hollywood Walk of Fame, gawk at the venerable Chinese theater, and top it all off with a tour of the Griffith Observatory.
It feels like the Rams just moved back to Los Angeles yesterday, but it’s already been four years. The Saints have already played them in Los Angeles once, losing 26-20 in the 2017 regular season. The energy at Rams home games is a bit manufactured — though not as badly as the cross-town Chargers have it — but they’re still formidable. Their offense is lethal in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and it will be interesting to see how it transfers to the new digs at Hollywood Park in 2020. But let’s refocus: the Saints are on a revenge tour in 2019, and the Rams just happen to be in the way. Again, without dwelling on how things worked out last season, this should be one of the most-exciting games of the year.
