Saints players wore earplugs during game against Seahawks

It didn’t work. The Seattle Seahawks destroyed the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football, jumping out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter and never turning back en route to a 34-7 win. The 68,000-plus in attendance at CenturyLink Field, also known as the game’s best 12th man, regained the Guinness World Record for crowd noise during the victory. But did the Saints players hear it?

Prior to the game, ESPN’s Lisa Salters reported that several Saints players were wearing custom earplugs that head coach Sean Payton ordered to help block out the sound. Payton told Salters that he remembered Brett Favre wearing them when the Minnesota Vikings traveled to New Orleans during the 2009 playoffs.

The players were fitted before Thanksgiving and Payton said they loved the ear plugs because they allowed them to hear calls at the line of scrimmage and block out fan noise. But there’s no possible way noise wasn’t a factor. The Saints never look that lost. At this point, it seems doubtful that any team in the NFC is going to be able to travel to Seattle and beat the Seahawks in cold weather with that kind of crowd noise.

Photo via For the Win