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Katherine Terrell, ESPN Staff Writer
METAIRIE, La. — New Orleans Saints interim coach Darren Rizzi said all members of the organization are safe following an attack in the French Quarter that killed 15 people and injured dozens more early Wednesday morning.
A man drove a rented pickup truck down Bourbon Street into a crowd of people, hitting dozens before engaging in a shootout with police officers that left him dead.
The attack led to the postponement of the College Football Playoff quarterfinal at the Allstate Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Notre Dame. Former Princeton football player Tiger Bech was among those killed.
“Today’s obviously a very somber day in our community,” Rizzi said. “I want to send out my personal heartfelt condolences, thoughts, prayers, to all the victims in this senseless shooting and attack early this morning in the French Quarter. It goes without saying this is senseless. It’s hard to understand and it’s really hard to comprehend why these things keep happening in our country.”
Rizzi said the Saints spent the beginning of Wednesday’s team meeting with a prayer and a moment of silence for the victims.
“We talked for about 10 minutes this morning at the beginning of our team meeting and nothing had to do with football,” Rizzi said. “It all had to do with keeping things in perspective and how blessed and fortunate we all are at the start of a new year. What we do here is obviously important to all the individuals that are here, but there’s much more important things going on around the world and right here in our community and at home.”
Rizzi described the mood in the room as “somber” and said veterans urged the team to take leadership during this time.
“When something of this magnitude, on this scale happens, there are literally no words that are going to provide any solace for this. Moments like this … humanizes us all and shows us how fast life can change,” team captain Demario Davis said. “When you’re a part of this game, you’re always trying to keep things in perspective and it’s always front and center, this game and all that’s going on. It’s moments like this that make you stop and put things in perspective. Many lives were impacted last night, this morning. I think it hit us all with a ton of shock. … It’s just truly tragic, truly horrific.”
Rizzi said he learned of the attack around 6 a.m. Wednesday and immediately called his son to make sure he was safe before accounting for all of his players.
“When I pulled in this morning into the parking lot, and I got the alert on my phone that it happened, the first thing I was doing was checking where my children were,” Rizzi said. “And there’s some people that woke up this morning and unfortunately lost loved ones that were victims of these attacks. Lost sons, lost daughters, lost brothers, lost sisters.”
Rizzi said the news felt personal to him after losing two former high school teammates in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. He said some of his former players also lost loved ones that day.
“At the time I was the head coach at the University of New Haven. I had a lot of players from the New York City area. I had players that lost family members, firefighters. One of my coach’s friends lost a brother who was a firefighter. I went to a lot of memorials and funerals,” Rizzi said. “You could see the smoke from the World Trade Center at my home, where I lived. When I tell you that it hits home, it hits home. Any time something like this happens and you hear the phrase ‘terrorism’ or ‘mass killings,’ it immediately sparks some memories and some thoughts. Those are always going to be with you. No matter how long I’m going to be on this earth, that stuff is going to stay with you.”
The Saints will finish the season Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Saints safety Tyrann Mathieu, a New Orleans native, said the team is always playing for the family and community but that will probably resonate more this week.
“I know a lot of people look to us to kind of make their day, make their week a little better. I definitely think it’s part of our responsibility to go out there this week and really represent New Orleans,” Mathieu said.
That message was echoed by Rizzi, who said he feels like the team will be playing the final game of the season for the community. He said he didn’t know if “there was a more motivating factor” than playing to uplift the spirits of those going through tough times.
“The community needs us right now, they need support. And everybody’s hurting,” Rizzi said. “We’re playing for the community, for New Orleans, for the state of Louisiana. We’re playing for our fan base. In times like these sometimes, you can uplift people and shed a positive light in any way you can in a moment of disaster. Because that’s what this is, it’s a disaster.”