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Katherine Terrell
Multiple Authors
NEW ORLEANS — The Saints and Atlanta Falcons will carry the weight of history between them when they meet at the Caesars’ Superdome on Monday night (8:15 ET, ESPN).
Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, killing more than 1,300 people, decimating the region and impacting lives in the area forever.
The Superdome, which was used as a shelter of last resort during the storm, was inoperable for more than a year because of extreme roof damage.
The indoor stadium reopened to the public on Sept. 25, 2006 ahead of a Week 3 game featuring the Saints and Falcons on “Monday Night Football.” Former Saints quarterback Archie Manning and a group of first responders were among those who ceremonially ushered fans back into the Dome ahead of a performance by the Goo Goo Dolls. The pregame celebration continued inside with performances by Green Day and U2.
Pregame shots showed the building surrounded by water in the days after the storm before transitioning to a live shot showing fans counting down the seconds until reopening, clearly ready to move forward to a new chapter.
While the fanfare included former President George H.W. Bush, who oversaw the coin toss, the real star of the night was a 29-year-old Saints player named Steve Gleason. The core special-teamer blocked Michael Koenen’s punt less than 90 seconds into the game.
Gleason came rushing up the middle, stretched up his arms and hit the football with a solid thwack! Gleason’s teammate Curtis Deloatch ran down the ball and fell on it in the end zone for a touchdown.
The momentum never let up. When the game was over, ESPN analyst Stuart Scott noted “not a soul has left this building,” as the camera panned a stadium still packed with fans.
That block — in a game that snowballed into a 23-3 Saints rout — would make history, eventually being ranked No. 28 on the NFL’s “100 Greatest Plays” list. It symbolized a new beginning for New Orleans.
There have been 5,216 regular-season games, 45,983 punts and 247 punts blocked since that night. Perhaps none of those blocked punts have had as much of an impact on one city as the one by Gleason, whose moment is now commemorated in a statue outside the Superdome titled “Rebirth.”
It was the start of a run of success for the Saints, who made it to the NFC Championship Game that season and went on to win Super Bowl XLIV during the 2009 season.
For the Falcons, it was another chapter in a rivalry that burns bright 20 years after that game.
Gleason, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2011, became a hero in New Orleans and still considers the blocked punt a defining moment of his life.
“Here’s what the blocked punt means to me now. It means I’m alive,” Gleason told NFL Network’s Steve Wyche. “… If I don’t block that punt I’d be dead. Before the punt block I was just a pretty good special teams player, but I wasn’t Lou Gehrig or Stephen Hawking. I was just a dude. If I don’t block that punt, I’m just another has-been football player. The odds are high that I fade away and die anonymously. Instead, that play connected me permanently to New Orleans.”
Gleason is expected to be in attendance at Monday’s game, ready to remind everyone of one of his signature phrases: “Never punt.”
Though many of the current Saints and Falcons were too young to recall the anniversary of the game, they certainly understand what the rivalry means and its significance.
Here’s how “Rebirth” lives on, 20 years after that special night.
Jump to:
‘Last cool rivalry’ | ‘Greatest moment in Saints football’
‘Didn’t seem real to play’ | ‘Sound that belonged to city’
‘Got to stay up and watch the game’
‘To know a Steve Gleason’ | ‘It’s a sense of hope’
How players feel about the Falcons-Saints rivalry
It was no coincidence the league scheduled a primetime game around the 20th anniversary of the return to the Superdome. The 10th anniversary of the game was also aired on “Monday Night Football,” with the Falcons winning 35-32.
As the Saints (1-2) and Falcons (1-2) approach this season’s game, they have a chance to stake their claim in the NFC South. The Saints, who are slight favorites, are coming off a 35-27 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Falcons beat the Green Bay Packers 35-14 on Sept. 24.
The rivalry has only intensified since 2006. Since that day, there have been more blocked punts: (Michael Mauti blocked a punt against the Falcons with Gleason watching in 2014, and Taysom Hill had one in 2019). There have been broken goal posts, egged buses, a defensive tackle stiff arm, a touchdown out of victory formation, records broken and numerous jokes about each team’s respective failures.
Saints and Falcons players and coaches, including those who are experiencing the rivalry game for the first time, shared their thoughts.
Saints quarterback Tyler Shough: “Everybody talks about the Atlanta game. They don’t care if we win or lose any other game, depending on the fan you’re talking to. … I feel like it’s one of the last really cool rivalries in the NFL.”
Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr.: “It’s a nice dome. That’s probably like the only nice thing I can say about them.”
Falcons running back Bijan Robinson: “I expect it to be the loudest it’ll be, packed-out stadium, super hostile. … Not only is it the 20th anniversary of that [game], but it’s the Saints and the Falcons. It’s one of those rivalry games that you get geeked up for.”
Saints wide receiver Devaughn Vele: “Especially with the home opener that we lost, I think we owe it to the fans to win this game. And so I feel like guys have a chip on their shoulder this time around and there’s a lot of emotion in this game.”
Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan: “The city turns up after we win. … We got Atlanta coming in. You know what that means to us. Old ladies at Canseco’s [grocery stores] don’t care about nothing but … LSU beating Bama [and] New Orleans Saints beating Atlanta.”
Falcons defensive tackle Maason Smith: “I wasn’t ever really a Saints fan, but my mom was a Saints fan. [The Saints] was the only thing really the city had because you had the Hornets, but the Hornets was ass back then. So, it was kind of like the thing that unified the city, the state.”
Falcons linebacker Harold Perkins Jr: “S—, I ain’t like the Falcons [being from Louisiana]. Now it’s vice versa. I hate the Saints.”
Falcons tackle Jake Matthews: “The thing that always stands out with New Orleans is just the environment and the fan base. … I remember as a kid watching the first game back with Katrina. Obviously just a moment for the city. But nothing but respect for that scene of that stadium.”
Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich: “A lot of people talk about rivalries in the NFL, but I think a lot of that is just, it’s false. It’s just trying to build some hype — some fictitious hype — but this is a real rivalry. … Whether we’re playing here, whether we’re playing there, the fans have embraced it and I think the players have embraced it as well, which a lot of times you just don’t see in the NFL.”
Saints defensive tackle Davon Godchaux: “This is one of the biggest rivalries in football. Dirty Birds vs. the Saints. … A lot of smack-talking going on.”
Jordan: “New Orleanians are always going to be heavy with the Saints. And they carry it in their blood. … They’re like, ‘No, my granddaddy took me to my first game. My momma took me to this.’ And it’s a bloodline thing.” Falcons kicker Nick Folk: “It’ll be a night game in New Orleans and that anniversary, the stadium will be rocking, a great atmosphere. It’ll be a lot of fun.” Ulbrich: “It’s always that place where your ears hurt when you leave, but it’s extra special when it’s these two organizations.” Saints coach Kellen Moore made it a point last season to teach some of his younger players about the history of Hurricane Katrina. He took a similar approach leading up to Monday’s game. During a team meeting, Moore played a video of players and staff talking about their experiences from the 2006 game. Sean Payton, then a first-year coach for the Saints who is now the Denver Broncos coach, had done something similar 20 years before. Payton gathered the 2006 team in the Superdome a few days before the game to watch an advance copy of the video that would be played on the pregame broadcast. The video detailed the devastation and destruction of the storm. Moore: “We forget a lot of our players didn’t grow up here … a lot of these guys were 2 and 3 years old in 2006, 2005. And so they’re aware of a historical context to it, but they don’t really know it. So we’ve had a little video to kind of tie that together for these guys just to understand the meaning of this game and the historical reference. … It was good for our guys to just see that, understand it.” Shough: “It matters every single game that we get to play here. Kellen did a good job of kind of helping us and educating a lot of us.” Jordan: “I’m old, man [37]. … I’m sure there’s rookies in this league that don’t even remember Katrina. … If they were born, I’m sure there’s a 20-year-old out here like, ‘Huh?'” Saints center Erik McCoy: “Hell, some of them were 2! I was only 8, but we had guys that were born in ’05. [Moore] does a good job with stuff like that, getting people to know the history, the important moments.” Saints tight end Juwan Johnson: “Most of the guys weren’t here when Katrina happened, so us just knowing that, knowing the devastation because I think it gives guys more energy to know who they’re playing for and the city that they’re playing for.” Saints safety Justin Reid: “I think everyone’s seen the blocked punt.” Saints guard Cesar Ruiz: “I remember seeing Katrina on the news. I remember that was insane. … I guess I didn’t know really who Steve Gleason was before, but the second I got drafted, I educated myself quickly. I think there was a picture of him blocking a punt in the building I saw and I was like, ‘What’s the significance of this really?’ Now I understand it completely. I’ve seen the clip a billion times.” The Saints won their first two games on the road and entered the matchup as four-point underdogs after going 3-13 in 2005. The game against the Falcons marked the end of 19 straight regular-season games played away from home dating to the end of the 2004 season. The Saints had not played a regular-season game in the venue since Dec. 26, 2004 (a 26-13 win against the Falcons). 6:23 The Arthur Ashe Courage Award: Steve Gleason Assistant Brian Young (also a former Saints defensive tackle): “The training camp experience was brutal that year. I think when you got in the season, it was like, OK, we broke camp, because you were so glad to get it over with and all of a sudden we start winning some games and then you get to that game. That energy was like, ‘All right, we’re ready to go.'” Young: “When we first got back a year after Katrina … people were still in their cars or living in trailers. I mean, it was wild. … We just didn’t know what to expect going into that stadium that first game.” Payton: “I remember getting that video and deciding [at] the end of practice, we’d shut the lights off in the Dome and that came on, and it was more than the theme music, it was the devastation, all that had happened right there. And you could have heard a pin drop. I had just wanted them to go through all of that before the game and we could do it together.” Koenen: “You fly over and look at everything, you’re like, man we’re playing a football game and this is what everybody’s having to deal with, and just didn’t seem real to go and play that game with everything that was happening.” Former Falcons coach Jim Mora Jr.: “As I recall [the potential emotion of the game] wasn’t something we addressed more than just in passing. We were always kind of about sticking to the things that we could control. … But it became apparent pretty quickly that we were in for a heck of a night.” Former Saints coach Dennis Allen: “Most emotional game I’ve ever been a part of. It was a special moment being in that stadium on that night. There was no way that we were going to lose that game.” Mora: “Before you took the field and U2 and Green Day are out there singing, the Saints are coming and you can hear it in your locker room, you can just feel the Superdome trembling. There was a feeling in the air that it was us against the rest of the football world that night. Unless you’re a die-hard Falcons fan, you were pulling for the Saints and you could feel that.” Allen: “I’ve never heard a stadium like that before in my life.” Young: “The noise was unbelievable. And then we started off with that blocked freaking punt, man, everything snowballed in our direction after that.” The blocked punt itself was almost overshadowed by the play before it, when linebacker Scott Fujita sacked Falcons quarterback Michael Vick and attempted to recover a fumble that went out of bounds. Koenen came out to punt with 13:37 left in the first half instead. Former Saints quarterback Drew Brees: “‘Monday Night Football,’ we’re undefeated, we’re playing against the Falcons. They were the division winner the year before. … You’re just trying to block out a lot of what would be perceived as pressure and just focus on your job and focus on the moment. And I just kind of glanced down and just all of a sudden there’s this, what sounded like a shotgun blast as Gleason was blocking that punt and the ball hitting his hands.” Gleason: “They tried a bizarre slide scheme which I’d never seen. … So I actually didn’t hit the A-gap like the play was drawn up. Because they used the slide technique, I ended up unblocked, and the big gap opened for me. When I saw the opening, I knew I had a chance. Then everything seemed to move in slow motion, and everything was perfectly clear.” Koenen: “It’s a couple expletives in your brain real fast and then try to do what I can to minimize the damage … spin around try and get to it as fast as I can and it was just meant to be. They were on it in no time at all.” Mora: “When Steve blocked that punt, I mean they almost blew the top off of the Superdome.” Young: “Like, you’re standing next to a guy in the hallway and you’re having a scream at the top of your lungs just to hear each other.” Payton: “I was asked if it was [the] loudest that you’ve heard any stadium and I would say by far.” Gleason: “Drew has said … it sounded like a shotgun blast. Then came the sound of the Dome. The blast didn’t hang in the air. It detonated 70,000 voices that had been waiting more than a year to be heard again. That second sound, the sound that belonged to this city, is the one I still carry.” Those who were in attendance that night or watched it on TV haven’t forgotten their experiences. Almost 15 million people watched the game around the country as it aired, including Archie Manning’s son, former New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. On Monday night, Eli and his brother Peyton will broadcast the 20th anniversary game on their “ManningCast” (ESPN2), with both Gleason and Payton set to appear as guests. Eli Manning: “On TV, you could just hear that crowd just rocking and rolling. I’ve been in that stadium before, grew up going to games there and know how loud it can be and how fun it could be. … I know there was never a louder moment than that one right there. And so still remembering that and just being emotional and being excited and just what an unbelievable play and moment for the Saints and for the NFL.” Former Saints punter Thomas Morstead: “I remember watching the game because I actually played in the second game back in the Superdome against Tulane. We played five days later.” Current Saints assistant Will Clapp: “I would’ve been 10. I remember my parents went to the game. My best friend and his mom, I went to their house to watch the game and we watched it there. I remember Gleason blocking the punt. I went absolutely crazy. And then I remember I was so psyched because I got to stay up and watch the game and my little brothers all had to go to bed. I thought that was the coolest thing ever.” Moore: “I was a West Coast kid, so you’re getting done with football practice and you’re coming home and can’t wait to go to ‘Monday Night Football’ and watch it. … It’s kind of one of those remember-where-you’re-at-type moments as a kid.” Saints special teams coach Phil Galiano: “Saints fans kind of remind you of major college town fans, about how passionate they are. It was awesome to see, everything this community had been through and this fanbase had been through. I think there was a bigger power making that happen then just the guys that were on the field that day.” Gleason has made #neverpunt a cheeky motto of his over the years, especially when it comes to the Falcons. But if there were to be a blocked punt Monday, he’d embrace it (as long as it went the Saints’ way). Morstead: “It was honestly a little bit of one of his well-timed comedic jokes with me. So that’s why it was so funny when I did my ‘Punt for ALS’ campaign, I crossed out his never [on] his punt shirt that he was wearing to get him back, which was cool.” Clapp: “Pretty much every home game, he’s outside the locker room when we walk out and you get to tell him what’s up. The way Steve is, obviously everybody that knows him, he still goes to everything. He’s still just hilarious. I mean, I absolutely love that dude.” Ulbrich: “One of the great humans that has ever, ever been associated with this league is Steve Gleason. And what he was as a player and what he is now as an advocate, and just his story and the way he’s carried himself and all that he’s fought for, for people with the same diagnosis. And it makes you proud to be part of the NFL, to know a Steve Gleason.” 5 years ago today the @TeamGleason statue was revealed! #NoWhiteFlags https://t.co/prPmcCKrFw — New Orleans Saints (@Saints) July 28, 2017 Brees: “It was a message to the country, to the world, to everybody that New Orleans was going to come back stronger than ever and that we as a team were a representation of our city. And it was, I’d say next to the Super Bowl, the greatest moment in the history of Saints football.” Morstead: “When you come in and you see and feel what that meant to the team, just in my time when I came in as a Saint, and you realize that even after winning the Super Bowl and some of the plays that were part of that, that everybody still says the greatest play in Saints history is Gleason’s blocked punt.” Payton: “It was always going to be an important game, but it was only going to be special if we won. It was always going to be significant, but to win it, with Gleason — it used to be everybody talked about where they were when [John] Gilliam returned [a kickoff for] the first touchdown in Saints history, but this became the ‘we were there game.'” Young: “That’s our biggest rival or nemesis, whatever you want to call them. Winning that game, that started what progressed into the Super Bowl win and a lot of home victories and divisional championships and everything else.” Moore: “It allowed you to see the impact, how tied the community was and how important that game was to the community.” Mora: “I do remember after shaking hands at midfield and starting to run off the field, just being overcome with an interesting emotion, which was the disappointment of losing, but I guess the understanding of what it meant to the city of New Orleans for them to have that night. It’s something that here we are 20 years later still talking about it. And we didn’t know at that time what direction Steve’s life was going to take. And now that we all know that the battle that he’s fighting and just the moment that he had in the Superdome kind of makes it all the more special.” Ulbrich: “[Gleason is] the first person I think about when I think about the celebration of this game. It’s going to be an amazing atmosphere, environment.” Brees: “I’m going to have to get with the special teams coach and make sure we have something up, some sort of special punt block. And it better be called Gleason.” Galiano: “You can tell Drew we’ll have a block and it’ll be called Gleason dialed up.” 1:10 Falcons gearing up for ‘hate week’ vs. Saints Every Saints player has a unique story. Reid grew up in Louisiana, Jordan joined the team six years after the storm, when rebuilding was still in effect. Others such as Shough and Johnson came to New Orleans without firsthand experience with the storm. But every person who spoke to ESPN had similar thoughts: The Saints and the city will be forever tied together. Weathering the storm strengthened that bond. Former ESPN commentator Bob Ley had this to say on the broadcast hours before the game started 20 years ago: “The storm, the wind and then the water came 13 months ago to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. The recovery will take years but today the largest step back is being taken under a Dome that came to symbolize the suffering of Katrina. In this city, in this time, this is so much more than just a football game. So this Monday, in a city beginning to rebuild and recover for reasons unlike any ever before, New Orleans is ready for some football.” Shough: “Driving around the city, just imagining what it could have been like for all the people and the families and the lives lost, and even in the Dome and what it kind of means and what the Saints mean to the city. We wear that on our sleeve for sure.” Jordan: “You see the displacement, you see the effects, and it’s hard to make people understand what actually happened. I think about the city I came to in New Orleans in 2011 and how much we’ve grown since then.” Reid: “There was a lot of people in a lot of pain in that moment. … That was a moment that truly made people feel like things are going to come back and get back. You know what I mean? It’s a sense of hope. The greatest thing about sports is a sense of hope in the community. A lot of things can be going wrong, but the Saints are winning and people are in a lot better mood to deal with their problems. So I think that that was just a special moment.” NFL Network’s Steve Wyche and ESPN NFL reporters Marc Raimondi, Courtney Cronin and Jeff Legwold contributed to this report.
Remembering Hurricane Katrina and its impact
Return to the Superdome: ‘The most emotional game’
Looking back at Steve Gleason’s legendary blocked punt
Fans tune into the game: ‘I got to stay up and watch’
What Gleason means to so many
Marching on: 20 years ago, a ‘sense of hope’
