2011 New Orleans Saints

The 2011 New Orleans Saints season is the franchise's 45th season in the National Football League, the 36th to host home games at the Louisiana Superdome and the sixth under head coach Sean Payton. During Week 16, Drew Brees broke the single season passing yardage record set by Dan Marino.

2011 draft board

 * undefined The Saints acquired this first-round selection in exchange for its second-round selection (#56 overall) and a 2012 first-round selection.
 * undefined The Saints acquired this third-round selection and a conditional 2012 sixth-round selection in a trade that sent OT Jammal Brown and a 2011 fifth-round selection (#155 overall) to the Washington Redskins.
 * undefined The Saints traded its fourth-round selection (#121 overall) to the Jacksonville Jaguars in exchange for a 2010 fifth-round selection.
 * undefined The Saints traded its sixth-round selection (#189 overall) to the New England Patriots in exchange for TE David Thomas.
 * undefined Compensatory selection.

Schedule
The Saints' preseason schedule was announced on April 12, 2011.

Week 1: at Green Bay Packers
The Saints (champions of Super Bowl XLIV) began their 2011 campaign at Lambeau Field, taking on the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers in the annual NFL Kickoff Game. New Orleans trailed early in the first quarter as Packers QB Aaron Rodgers completed a 7-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Greg Jennings. The Saints answered with quarterback Drew Brees finding wide receiver Robert Meachem on a 31-yard touchdown pass, but Green Bay struck back with Rodgers completing a 32-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Randall Cobb. New Orleans clawed their way back into the game in the second quarter with a 30-yard field goal from kicker John Kasay, followed by running back Darren Sproles returning a punt 72 yards for a touchdown. However, the Packers came right back with running back James Starks getting a 17-yard touchdown run.

The Saints led off the third quarter with Kasay's 38-yard field goal, but Green Bay replied with Cobb returning a kickoff 108 yards for a touchdown. Afterwards, New Orleans kept fighting as Brees connected with wide receiver Devery Henderson on a 29-yard touchdown pass. In the fourth quarter, the Packers replied with fullback John Kuhn getting a 1-yard touchdown run. New Orleans tried to rally as Brees found tight end Jimmy Graham on a 5-yard touchdown pass, but Green Bay's defense held stuffing a potentially game tying Ingram run on the 1 yard line on the last play of the game to preserve the win.

With the loss, the Saints began their season at 0-1.

Schedule
By virtue of winning the NFC South division title, the Saints will host a playoff game in either the Wild Card round or the Divisional round.