The New Orleans Saints enter year two of the Dennis Allen era with plenty of expectations as well as unanswered questions.
Fans have been anxiously awaiting the start of the preseason with new quarterback Derek Carr in the fold, a healthy Michael Thomas trying to get back into All-Pro form, and a defense that has maintained a top ten ranking for three years running.
Who Dat Nation Got its first look at the 2023 edition of the Saints on Sunday afternoon.
The Black and Gold defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 26-24 in the Superdome, getting out to a 17-point lead behind impressive efforts from the starting offensive and defensive units.
New Orleans gave up 24 points to KC’s reserves before Jake Haener was able to put together a late TD drive that set up some defensive heroics by Kyle Phillips and a game-winning field goal by Blake Grupe.
Carr led the Saints into the end zone on his only drive of the game. He took the offense on a 12-play, 80-yard march that was capped by a beautiful, four-yard touchdown pass to Keith Kirkwood.
Carr was 6-for-8 for 70 yards on the drive, completing passes to four different receivers.
After the defense forced a turnover on downs with an impressive stop on Fourth and one by linebackers Pete Wener and Zach Baun, Jameis Winston took over where Carr left off.
Winston, perhaps the most overqualified backup in the NFL, led scoring drives on each of the next two possessions.
On the first, Jameis started and finished the drive with passes to rookie sixth-rounder A.T. Perry out of Wake Forest. Perry’s second grab was a 29-yard touchdown reception that Winston dropped right over the head of the defender.
Perry led all New Orleans receivers with six catches (on six targets) for 70 yards and a score.
Winston was 11-of-13 passing over five total drives. The Saints’ attack was only slowed once Dennis Allen sent in the second unit on the offensive line.
The defensive starters shut down Patrick Mahomes, though the Chiefs were without All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce.
Mahomes only completed two passes, none to receivers, for 15 yards.
However, the backups mixed some very good plays with inconsistent tackling, penalties, and an inability to get off the field on third downs.
Each of the three Chiefs’ backup quarterbacks led at least one scoring drive. The final being with just over six minutes remaining in the game and the Saints trailing 24-17.
And that’s when Haener went to work. The rookie got his first NFL TD pass prior to the two-minute warning, connecting on a two-yard score with Ellis Merriweather.
The two-point conversion failed, seemingly sealing the loss.
Fate intervened when KC’s Chris Oladokun decided to pass and Phillips was there to take it away, returning it for five yards and setting up the offense at the 22-yard line.
After running down the clock, Grupe trotted out and nailed the 31-yard field goal to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
The Saints hit all of the beats in the opener. They saw what they wanted from their new quarterback as Allen praised Carr’s command and poise. The offense is as deep and talented as advertised. So much so, that the returns of Michael Thomas and Jimmy Graham were almost superfluous to the total team effort shown by the starters.
The rest of the team looked like backups playing in the preseason. Some good. Some bad. But nothing that would win or lose anyone a spot on the roster.
That is, except for A.T. Perry. With Tre’Quon Smith and Rashid Shaheed out, he made the most of his opportunity to shine. He showed speed, hands, and route running ability. It will be hard not to overreact to his performance.
New Orleans will now head back to the practice field to prepare for their first road test, when they face the Los Angeles Chargers and Justin Herbert. The Chargers are expected to contend for a playoff spot in the AFC and Herbert is another Pro Bowl-caliber starter to test the defense.
Based on what we saw on Sunday, there’s plenty of reason to look forward to the next exam.