Cardinals-Saints game cancelled as Hurricane Ida lurks

Saturday’s Saints vs. Cardinals game has been canceled due to the impending landfall of Hurricane Ida in New Orleans.

The storm has strengthened over the last day, and what once was a tropical storm has now been upgraded to a hurricane. Ida is expected to make contact with southern Louisiana on Saturday night.

Kickoff was originally set for the 28th at 8 p.m. ET, but the both teams and the league decided to start the game seven hours earlier to avoid any complications. The announcement from the Saints on Friday afternoon said the rescheduling was a way of "making proper and safe preparations regarding the potential landfall of Hurricane Ida and following consultation and agreement with City of New Orleans officials, the National Weather Service, Homeland Security and the NFL.”

The storm hit Cuba on Friday afternoon, as a category one hurricane with winds of 80 miles an hour sweeping through the western coast of the island. The rapidly intensifying winds suggest that Ida is growing in force and poses a dangerous threat for Saints fans and the rest of the state of Louisiana.

Saints are used to hurricane related schedule shifts

The Saints are no strangers to hurricanes shuffling their schedules, and displacing them temporarily. In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina the Saints were forced to play their home games in other stadiums as The Superdome sheltered those who lost their homes to the Hurricane. . LSU”s Tiger stadium hosted four games, the Alamo Dome in San Antonio hosted three, and one home game was played in Giants Stadium in East Rutherford.

This was the final preseason tune up before the start of the regular season in two weeks time. While Jameis Winston was named the starting quarterback for Week 1, there were still many decisions left to be make for Saints coach Sean Payton and Cardinal coach Kliff Kingsbury.

Tuesday is last call for cuts

The final cuts will be made on Tuesday as each NFL team has to narrow their roster down to 53 players.