The New Orleans Saints played a more extensive role than previously known in local church leaders’ damage control during a crisis brought on by clergy engaged in an alleged systemic campaign of sexual abuse,

"It doesn’t make any sense to me why the [team] would go to these lengths to protect grown men who raped children," a state lawmaker said.

Hundreds of newly disclosed emails between the New Orleans Saints and the Archdiocese of New Orleans detail the extent to which two of the team’s top executives helped to shape