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Advocate staff photo by MATTHEW HINTON — New Orleans Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan (94) signs the arm of Antoine Landry,10, at Winn-Dixie where fans got a chance to meet and greet Saints players, Saintsations, and mascots to support Second Harvest Food Bank in Metairie, La. Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2014.
By the time he arrived at a charity appearance Tuesday in Mid-City New Orleans on Tuesday afternoon, Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan had heard the reports in the media.
Wide receiver Joseph Morgan had been told he was being waived, the NFL Network reported. More roster changes were apparently coming, too, the NFL Network added.
Such changes affecting teammates’ lives were a hard NFL reality. But one thing prevented the Saints’ mood as a team from plummeting: though they were 5-8 on Tuesday, they depended on nobody but themselves to make the playoffs.
The Saints would qualify for the postseason without depending on tiebreakers if they win the three games left on their schedule: in Chicago next Monday night, versus Atlanta (also 5-8) at home on Dec. 21 and at Tampa Bay (2-11) on Dec. 28. In the race to win the NFC South, the victor of which will host a first-round playoff game, the Saints and the Falcons (who beat New Orleans on Sept. 7) are ahead of Carolina (4-8-1) and Tampa Bay for now.
“Morale is high,” said Jordan, who is in his fourth year with the Saints as well as in the NFL and is second on his team in quarterback sacks (six) this season. Turning his remarks to coach Sean Payton, who has led the Saints to the playoffs in each of the last four seasons he’s been on the sidelines, the player added, “(He) will get us back on the right track. I mean he’s done it year in and year out, and we just have to have faith in our organization.”
Jordan spoke while he was meeting employees of a Verizon store on North Carrollton Avenue as part of a “random acts of kindness” tour. He and other Saints including defensive lineman Akiem Hicks, punter Thomas Morstead and long snapper Justin Drescher also handed out fuel cards at a Chevron gasoline station in Metairie; chatted with students of Warren Easton Charter High School on Canal Street about the importance of being charitable, giving them “buy one get one free” coupons for Raising Cane’s chicken fingers; and planned to pay for people’s meals at a local McDonald’s.
The whole event was billed as #PassItForward, and it was done as a partnership between the Saints and Verizon.
Jordan said fans he and his teammates had interacted with expressed support for the team as it prepared for the final, crucial regular-season stretch. Two days earlier, fans in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome watching the Saints lose by 31 points to Carolina booed the home team bitterly and repeatedly, and one person threw a beer bottle on the field.
Nonetheless, Tuesday was a different story, and Jordan said his being able to perhaps brighten up the days of community members temporarily alleviated some of the pressure he and his teammates realize they are now under.
“We’re supporting each other,” Jordan said. “We’re a part of the community, and the community is part of us.”
