Report: Saints will practice at Cowboys’ stadium

The New Orleans Saints are planning to practice at the home of the Dallas Cowboys for three days this week after evacuating because of Hurricane Ida, a person with knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Sunday.

The team is scheduled to hold workouts Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at AT&T Stadium before taking a break heading into the regular season, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the club wasn’t discussing its plans publicly. The Saints are supposed to open at home Sept. 12 against Green Bay.

Ida made landfall south of New Orleans on Sunday as a powerful Category 4 hurricane with winds of 150 mph, one of the most powerful storms ever to strike the U.S.

“Call the Jones family because no one does it better than they do,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said Sunday on behalf of owner Jerry Jones. “So yeah, having an opportunity to coach in New Orleans having gone through the hurricane challenge, I mean it’s a tremendous amount of stress on the families of the Saints and the whole region, the Gulf Coast region. My heart goes out to those guys. Just glad to be — from the Jones family — it’s just great to be in a position to help.”

Fears of the storm first led the Saints to push up the kickoff for their Saturday preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals from 8 p.m. ET to 1 p.m. ET before the game was ultimately canceled.

The arrival of Ida came 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. The Saints were forced to move for the entire 2005 season, setting up operations in San Antonio while playing home games there and in Baton Rouge at LSU. New Orleans also played one game at Giants Stadium.

Last year, the Saints stayed home when Hurricane Zeta hit New Orleans in late October, with coaches and other team officials riding out the storm under generator power at the team facility.

Information from ESPN staff writer Mike Triplett was used in this report.

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