Surprise New Orleans Saints: Will the “Saints” sensationally make football dreams come true?

Surprise New Orleans Saints
Do the “Saints” make sensational football dreams come true?

By Heiko Oldörp
22.09.2024, 10:52 a.m.

The New Orleans Saints are one of the surprises of the young NFL season. Two landslide victories – that was not expected. There were a few problems in the summer. How long can the offensive fireworks last? And will it perhaps even lead to the Super Bowl at home?

Everyone in New Orleans knows the date. For a long time now. February 9, 2025. Super Bowl LIX. In the Caesars SuperDome. A day that everyone in the city on the Mississippi Delta is looking forward to. The football world will be looking at New Orleans – and maybe even get to see the Saints? The Saints on the field on America’s holiest sports day and not in front of the TV? What?

Admittedly, this NFL season is still so young. And therefore still so meaningless. And, yes, of course, no one has won the championship in mid-September. That’s all true. But we’re still allowed to dream, right? And why shouldn’t there be a few Super Bowl scenarios playing out in the minds of New Orleans Saints fans right now? Or at least a few fantasies? After this outstanding start.

Scored in 15 consecutive attacks

Two games, two wins. No, more: two offensive fireworks. The attack is like a twelve-cylinder engine at top speed. The Carolina Panthers were overrun 47:10 at the start of the season. Admittedly, one of the most harmless teams in the entire league. But the 44:19 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on the second day of play was an exclamation mark that was noticed nationwide and throughout the league.

ESPN spoke of a “historic start”. New Orleans successfully completed an incredible 15 attacks in a row. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, this hasn’t happened since 1978 – 46 years. Imagine if every shot in the Bundesliga at FC Bayern Munich was a goal.

Following in the footsteps of Brady’s 2007 Patriots

New Orleans has scored 4.33 points per offense so far. As mentioned, it is still early in the 2024/25 season. Nevertheless, it is worth taking a cautious look at the NFL annals. The best offense so far this century was the New England Patriots led by Tom Brady in 2007/08 with an average of 3.19 points.

So no, that the Saints would get off to a good start was not to be expected. There were simply a lot of issues to be addressed in the offseason. The biggest was the appointment of a new offensive coordinator. Pete Carmichael had held this job since 2009 – and he had done a good job. Carmichael created and developed plays, and star quarterback Drew Brees implemented them excellently. The high point of their collaboration was the 31:17 Super Bowl victory on February 7, 2010 in Miami against Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts.

During Carmichael’s 14-year tenure, New Orleans’ offense was always one of the league’s top ten offenses. But when the Saints missed the playoffs for the second year in a row in January, the 52-year-old had to go – and was replaced by Klint Kubiak. He is now Derek Carr’s fifth offensive coordinator in the last five years – but he seems to be the right one.

Kubiak has simplified the offense that has been played in New Orleans since 2006 and has recently become increasingly complex. Fewer plays, more clarity.

The result: Quarterback Derek Carr has been leading his Saints offense across the football field as confidently as a certain Samuel Langhorne Clemence, who later became world famous as Mark Twain with his book “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and who steered a paddle steamer from New Orleans along the Mississippi from 1859 to 1861. And who would have expected that after his mediocre performance last year?

Coach wobbled, running back star waited

The playmaker had signed a four-year contract ($150 million) in New Orleans in the spring of 2023. And he had gained more than 300 yards through the air in each of six games. He had also scored a total of 14 touchdowns in the last five games. But the Saints had still missed the playoffs and this Derek Dallas Carr had only managed a total of 3,878 passing yards over the entire season with its 17 games, which corresponds to an average of 228 yards per game. He had not managed so little gain in yards since his rookie year in 2014.

In addition, coach Dennis Allen was considered a shaky candidate. And then there was the Alvin Kamara case. The running back, who has been with the Saints since 2017 and holds several club records, had hoped for an early contract extension in the summer – in vain. In short: There was nothing, absolutely nothing, to suggest that all of this would lead to two dominant performances and two well-deserved victories.

Strong O-Line gives Carr time and space

When Carr is asked about the reasons for the current high, he points to the preseason. Knowing that he has to learn a new offense, the 33-year-old worked with an assistant for the first time in his career. He went through the plays with him before the actual training. “That way we got twice as many repetitions as usual,” says Carr.

One thing is clear: If the bodyguards of the O-Line give their quarterback enough protection and keep the opponents away from him long enough, the playmaker has the time to serve his targets. And the Saints O-Line is currently giving Carr these important seconds, despite rookie Taliesa Fuaga in the important position of left tackle. And he needs them, because in his career so far the Californian has been known as someone who has big problems when put under pressure. Against Dallas, the protection provided by his front men led, among other things, to a 70-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Rachid Shaheed.

“A damn good quarterback”

“When he’s protected and can throw, he’s a damn good quarterback,” says Dennis Allen. The coach has heard with favor how “comfortable” his playmaker feels with the tasks he’s been given. Carr has already thrown five touchdown passes (shared NFL record), gained 443 yards in the passing game and 76.9 percent of his throws have found their teammates. All strong numbers.

He and the Saints want to build on that in today’s home game against the Philadelphia Eagles. New Orleans could extend their opening record to 3-0. It would be the eighth time in the club’s history – and the first time since 2013 – that the club has won the first three games of the season. This is followed by a duel against the Atlanta Falcons, also doable. Then the champions Kansas City Chiefs await.

Current offensive output not possible in the long term

The more games these Saints play, the more the opposing defenses will be able to adapt to the attacks. On the other hand, everyone in New Orleans knows that such offensive fireworks are not possible in the long term. But who needs 47 or 44 points to win games? There will be games where 28 points are enough, or sometimes even 20. There will of course also be matches where the Saints will be behind. Then it will have to be seen whether this offense can deliver when it has to. And how it handles the pressure must be a success for an attack.

But they are looking forward to these tasks and challenges in New Orleans. For example, today against the Eagles. “The Advocate”, the largest daily newspaper in the state of Louisiana, describes the situation like this: “A win against Philadelphia and all of New Orleans would be completely convincing.” There are still 140 days until Super Bowl LIX.