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Derek Carr and the Saints put the NFL on notice with blowout of the Cowboys
One of the more fascinating results from Week 1 of the 2024 NFL season came from New Orleans. The New Orleans Saints hosted their NFC South rivals the Carolina Panthers, but the game seemed over shortly after kickoff. New Orleans went right down the first on the opening possession of the game for a touchdown, and following an interception of Bryce Young on Carolina’s first drive of the year, the Saints tacked on a field goal for the early 10-0 lead.
They never looked back, racing to a 47-10 rout of Carolina.
But Week 1 of any NFL season can be the ultimate smokescreen. While the results of the opening week of any NFL season make for incredible overreactions, you often need a game or two to truly make sense of a team. With the Saints traveling to Dallas to take on the 1-0 Dallas Cowboys, we were certain to learn more about both teams on Sunday.
Indeed we did.
For the second straight week — and the third if you go back to the end of the 2023 season — the Saints blew out an opponent. New Orleans opened the scoring against Dallas on Sunday and never looked back, on their way to a 44-19 win over the Cowboys. And while they fell three points short of becoming just the third team in NFL history to score 47 or more points in three-straight games, they accomplished something bigger.
They put the rest of the league on notice.
New Orleans opened the scoring on Sunday, driving right down the field on the game’s first possession. Carr went three-for-three on the drive, and following that third completion, a connection with Chris Olave for 39 yards, Alvin Kamara capped off the drive with this five-yard touchdown run:
A critical component of this touchdown? The lead block from fullback Adam Prentice, who takes on linebacker Damone Clark in the hole. Kamara cuts to the inside off that block, and the Saints are in the end zone.
Following a Dallas field goal, the Saints were quickly back on the scoreboard. While their opening drive required seven plays for New Orleans to reach the end zone, their second possession needed just one play.
This 70-yard strike to Rashid Shaheed from Carr:
As you can see from this end zone angle, Carr does a tremendous job of sliding around in the pocket to avoid late pressure. While the Cowboys have a pair of safeties deep, Shaheed can get over the top of the coverage, and as Tom Brady explains, Carr just drops in a dime:
Dallas settled for another field goal on their next possession, and if you are starting to sense a theme, New Orleans responded.
With their third touchdown of the afternoon.
This passing touchdown was not a deep shot downfield, despite it covering 57 yards, but rather a perfectly executed screen pass to Kamara. With the Saints facing a 2nd and 7, Carr carries a play-action fake to Kamara before setting up in the pocket, looking deep downfield. But the design is a screen to Kamara, who takes the short throw from Carr with blockers in front of him. The Saints running back picks up a block from Lucas Patrick on Eric Kendricks, and heads off to the races:
Kamara added his third touchdown of the afternoon on the Saints’ next possession, this 12-yard touchdown run:
The big block on this play? Again it comes from Patrick, as the left guard climbs to the second level and takes on DeMarvion Overshown, knocking the Dallas linebacker out of the way as Kamara follows him into the Dallas secondary, slicing into the end zone with the 28-13 lead for the Saints.
Dak Prescott threw an interception on the Cowboys’ next possession, and Carr plunged in from one yard out on the quarterback sneak for the touchdown on the Saints’ ensuing drive, and the rout was on.
By the time the game was over Carr had a pair of touchdown passes, Kamara had over 100 rushing yards and four total touchdowns, and the Saints — excluding the final drive of the game when the backups ran out the clock — had scored points on seven-of-nine possessions in the game, and now on 16-of-20 possessions this season.
And perhaps most notably, the Saints were 2-0.
Coming into the season, New Orleans was one of the teams we found the most confusing in the NFL, and we ranked them 26th coming into the year. Here is what I wrote about the Saints in that piece ahead of the season:
A year ago many — myself included — looked at the New Orleans Saints and immediately crowned them as the winners of the NFC South. While the other three teams in the division faced some intriguing quarterback situations, such as Atlanta riding with Desmond Ridder, Tampa Bay picking Baker Mayfield, and Carolina turning to Bryce Young, New Orleans seemed in the most stable position at the game’s most important position, with the addition of Derek Carr.
So much for that.
Now Carr is back hoping to reclaim the promise of 2023. Thanks to a fairly favorable schedule, which includes some teams that are also confusing, such as the Los Angeles Chargers and the Las Vegas Raiders, the Saints could indeed live up to that promise.
But would we bet on that? Absolutely not. This is a roster that still poses many questions, mainly along the offensive line where injuries are an issue. Plus, after last year are any of us truly convinced that Carr is the answer at QB?
Through two weeks, we might just have our answers.
