Darren Rizzi is returning to New Jersey, looking to keep Saints coaching job and extend Giants' woes

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Darren Rizzi is returning home to New Jersey, looking to avoid too many distractions, trying to extend the losing streak of a New York Giants team he grew up cheering for and hoping to spark the New Orleans Saints to a late run so he can take the interim label off his title as head coach.

Rizzi and the Saints (4-8) will try to hand the Giants (2-10) their eighth straight loss when the teams meet Sunday at MetLife Stadium, where New York is winless in six games this season.

“I grew up just about 15 minutes from the stadium there rooting for the Giants, going to watch a lot of playoff games back when Bill Parcells was the coach,” Rizzi said. “So it’s certainly something in the back of my mind but just trying to have the blinders on like everybody else, and just trying to coach the game.”

The Saints still have a chance to win the weak NFC South. They are two games behind the Falcons and Buccaneers, who are both 6-6. New Orleans split its games with Atlanta and has a game left against Tampa Bay.

Since replacing Dennis Allen in November, Rizzi has a 2-1 record. The loss came last weekend against the Rams. New Orleans hasn't responded well after setbacks, losing seven straight at one point. If the longtime special teams coach can turn things around, he might have a case for keeping the top job.

“We still got things to play for. We’ve still got opportunities ahead of us,” quarterback Derek Carr said.

The Giants are just looking to win, which they haven't done since Oct. 6 at Seattle. The franchise record for consecutive losses is nine. That's been done three times, most recently in 2019.

“You can’t really do anything about it now,” said rookie Malik Nabers, who leads the Giants with 75 receptions. “The record is the record. But you can still focus on moving forward.”

Saints running back Kendre Miller is hoping for a strong finish to a frustrating season that started with a hamstring injury on the first day of training camp.

Miller, who also was criticized by Allen for his inability to stay healthy and his knowledge of the playbook, made his season debut in Week 7, only to pull his other hamstring in his second game and go on injured reserve.

Rizzi said it’ll be a “clean slate” for the second-year player.

“He’s explosive when he’s had the ball in his hand. He’s obviously a playmaker,” Rizzi said. “Kendre’s deal is going to be getting himself locked into the game plan, the mental part, making sure he’s physically ready to go and let the rest take care of itself.”

The middle of the Giants' defense will be different this week. Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence (elbow) is on injured reserve, and tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches (neck, shoulder) and inside linebacker Bobby Okereke (back) are unlikely to play this weekend.

That means a combination of either rookie free agent Elijah Chatman, D.J. Davidson (shoulder) and Jordon Riley (knee) will start at the tackles and rookie Darius Muasau will start at inside linebacker.

The Saints have had to spend part of this week figuring out the best way to adjust to losing dynamic, do-it-all tight end Taysom Hill.

“He fills so many roles,” Rizzi said of Hill, who suffered a season-ending knee injury last Sunday. “So, there’s going to be a lot of different guys that are going to have to be a part of the solution.”

Although Hill was listed as a tight end, he also took snaps at running back, quarterback, receiver and fullback. He also served as the upback on punts and returned kickoffs.

In eight games, he rushed for 278 yards and six touchdowns on 39 carries, caught 23 passes for 187 yards and completed two passes for 21 yards.

When the Saints beat the Giants 24-6 last December, the sacked Tommy DeVito seven times.

Drew Lock is starting this week behind a banged-up offensive line. Left tackle Jermaine Eluemunor (quad) missed the Dallas game last Thursday and right tackle Evan Neal (hip) was iffy on Wednesday. Both practiced on a limited basis Thursday.

If they can't play, Chris Hubbard and Josh Ezeudu probably would replace them.

The Giants started the season with five captains — Lawrence, quarterback Daniel Jones, left tackle Andrew Thomas, inside linebacker Bobby Okereke and long snapper Casey Kreiter.

Kreiter may be the only one to suit up Sunday. Jones was released. Thomas and Lawrence are on injured reserve and Okereke has a back problem that is week to week.

“Injuries happen every year,” Kreiter said. “I think it’s unfortunate that a lot of them have happened to captains on the team. But the good thing about this locker room here is there’s a lot of leaders on this team.”

AP Sports Writer Brett Martel contributed to this report.

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New Orleans Saints wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling (10) celebrates his touchdown catch with wide receiver Dante Pettis (17) during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

New York Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers (1) is tackled by Dallas Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland (26) during the first half of an NFL football game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Miron)

New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara (41) smiles during warm ups before an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

New York Giants quarterback Drew Lock (2) celebrates after running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. (29) scored a touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys during the first half of an NFL football game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, Nov. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr speaks during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns in New Orleans, Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

New Orleans Saints interim head coach Darren Rizzi answers questions after an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Rams, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The Native American Church is considered the most widespread religious movement among the Indigenous people of North America. It holds sacred the peyote cactus, which grows naturally only in some parts of southern Texas and northern Mexico. Peyote has been used spiritually in ceremonies, and as a medicine by Native American people for millennia.

It contains several psychoactive compounds, primarily mescaline, which is a hallucinogen. Different tribes of peyote people have their own name for the cactus. While it is still a controlled substance, U.S. laws passed in 1978 and 1994 allow Native Americans to use, harvest and transport peyote. However, these laws only allow federally recognized Native American tribes to use the substance and don't apply to the broader group of Indigenous people in the US.

The Native American Church developed into a distinct way of life around 1885 among the Kiowa and Comanche of Oklahoma. After 1891, it began to spread as far north as Canada. Now, more than 50 tribes and 400,000 people practice it. In general, the peyotist doctrine espouses belief in one supreme God who deals with humans through various spirits that then carry prayers to God. In many tribes, the peyote plant itself is a deity, personified as Peyote Spirit.

The Native American Church is not one unified entity like, say, the Catholic Church. It contains a diversity of tribes, beliefs and practices. Peyote is what unifies them. After peyote was banned by U.S. government agents in 1888 and later by 15 states, Native American tribes began incorporating as individual Native American Churches in 1918. In order to preserve the peyote ceremony, the federal and state governments encouraged Native American people to organize as a church, said Darrell Red Cloud, the great-great grandson of Chief Red Cloud of the Lakota Nation and vice president of the Native American Church of North America.

In the following decades, the religion grew significantly, with several churches bringing Jesus Christ’s name and image into the church so their congregations and worship would be accepted, said Steve Moore, who is non-Native and is an attorney with the Native American Rights Fund.

“Local religious leaders in communities would see the image of Jesus, a Bible or cross on the wall of the meeting house or tipi and they would hear references to Jesus in the prayers or songs,” he said. “That probably helped persuade the authorities that the Native people were in the process of transformation to Christianity.”

This persecution of peyote people continued even after the formation of the Native American Church, said Frank Dayish Jr. a former Navajo Nation vice president and chairperson for the Council of the Peyote Way of Life Coalition.

In the 1960s, there were laws prohibiting peyote in the Navajo Nation, he said. Dayish remembers a time during that period when police confiscated peyote from his church, poured gasoline on the plants and set them on fire.

“I remember my dad and other relatives went over and saved the green peyote that didn’t burn,” he said, adding that it took decades of lobbying until an amendment to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1994 permitted members of federally recognized Native American tribes to use peyote for religious purposes.

Peyote is the central part of a ceremony that takes place in a tipi around a crescent-shaped earthen altar mound and a sacred fire. The ceremony typically lasts all night and includes prayer, singing, the sacramental eating of peyote, water rites and spiritual contemplation.

Morgan Tosee, a member of the Comanche Nation who leads ceremonies within the Comanche Native American Church, said peyote is utilized in the context of prayer — not smoked — as many tend to imagine.

“When we use it, we either eat it dry or grind it up,” he said. “Sometimes, we make tea out of it. But, we don’t drink it like regular tea. You pray with it and take little sips, like you would take medicine."

Tosee echoes the belief that pervades the church: "If you take care of the peyote, it will take care of you.”

“And if you believe in it, it will heal you,” he said, adding that he has seen the medicine work, healing people with various ailments.

People treat the trip to harvest peyote as a pilgrimage, said Red Cloud. Typically, prayers and ceremonies take place before the pilgrimage to seek blessings for a good journey. Once they get to the peyote gardens, they would touch the ground and thank the Creator before harvesting the medicine. The partaking of peyote is also accompanied by prayer and ceremony. The mescaline in the peyote plant is viewed as God's spirit, Red Cloud said.

“Once we eat it, the sacredness of the medicine is inside of us and it opens the spiritual eye,” he said. “From there, we start to see where the medicine is growing. It shows itself to us. Once we complete the harvest, we bring it back home and have another ceremony to the medicine and give thanks to the Creator.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

The property of the late Amada Cardenas, who was one of the first federally licensed peyote dealers, alongside her husband, to harvest and sell the sacramental plant to followers of the Native American Church, in Mirando City, Texas, Monday, March 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Jessie Wardarski)