Tonight’s game will be the 82nd prime-time game in franchise history. Some highlights:
Overall — The Patriots are 41-40 overall in prime-time contests.
ESPN — New England has never lost a Monday Night Football game on ESPN. They’re 5-0, including Week 1’s 25-24 win over Buffalo.
Last loss — The Pats last lost a Monday nighter on Nov. 7, 2005, when they dropped a 40-21 decision to the Colts.
Things went pretty well the last time the Patriots played in the Louisiana Superdome.
That was Super Bowl XXXVI, when New England stunned the St. Louis Rams 20-17 for the first NFL title in franchise history.
“You never forget that day,” Tom Brady told reporters Wednesday. “That was pretty unbelievable for all of us.”
U2 won’t be playing at halftime tonight, and there won’t be a championship on the line. But the Pats need a win over the undefeated New Orleans Saints to regain some of the glory that came along with that historic victory back in 2002.
New England (7-3) is playing an unbeaten foe for the second time in three weeks — the last was Indianapolis, and you know how that went.
With plenty of question marks remaining on the defensive side of the ball, a strong showing in front of a national television audience would secure the Pats’ spot in the Super Bowl XLIV conversation.
New Orleans (10-0), meanwhile, is looking a lot like the 2007 Pats — the only team to run the table in a 16-game regular season. They’re leading the league in scoring average (36.9 per game), and quarterback Drew Brees has a 105.8 passer rating.