When the New Orleans Saints defeated the Carolina Panthers, it didn’t take long for many to write off the performance. Even I questioned how consistent this team might be. After all, they defeated one of the worst teams in the league, so in the back of everybody’s minds, the question was if they could do it against a playoff contender. Well, I can safely say that they can.
The New Orleans Saints Look VERY Different
In Week 2, the Saints traveled to face the Dallas Cowboys, in Dallas. The Cowboys had won 16 straight games at home up until this matchup, and they were coming off a beatdown of the Cleveland Browns (another playoff hopeful this season). If you looked at any sports talk show across the globe, the Cowboys were the overwhelming favorites to win this matchup. That didn’t end up happening. New Orleans won this game by a score of 44-19, taking an early lead and quite literally never letting go of it from that point onwards. I’ll be getting deeper into the stats in a moment, but the last thing that should be pointed out is the fact that this Saints offense scored points on their first 15 possessions of the season. Whatever Klint Kubiak is doing as the offensive coordinator is working out in spades.
The Offense Couldn’t Be Stopped
The offense was the focal point of the game from the beginning. The Saints were rolling into this matchup with their star rookie Taliese Fuaga being hit with the questionable tag due to an injury. Fuaga wound up playing, though it raised concerns about the entirety of the offensive line. They were going up against a defensive line that consisted of Micah Parsons and DeMarcus Lawrence as well. And, to my surprise, this offensive line was unbelievable. They were very rarely beaten in pass protection and were just as stellar as they were a week ago in run blocking. Alvin Kamara rushed 20 times and turned it into 115 yards and THREE rushing touchdowns. Jamaal Williams had eight carries for 39 yards, Taysom Hill took three for 18, and Rashid Shaheed had three for 13. Everybody was getting involved, and there were big openings all over the place.
This really opened up the offense, because Derek Carr was feeling himself the whole night. He completed 11 of his 16 pass attempts, and you might not think he threw it that much, because he didn’t. However, he didn’t need to. He still wound up with 243 passing yards, three total touchdowns, and one interception on a wide-open pass that just went a little too high. He was tearing this Dallas secondary up left and right. Shaheed had four receptions for 96 yards and a touchdown, Chris Olave had four catches for 81 yards, and Kamara had two catches for 65 yards, which includes a 57-yard touchdown. Wherever the Saints looked on offense, there was someone open and picking up huge plays down the field.
The Defense Made Plays When It Mattered
Flipping over to the defense, there were little negatives. The team had three sacks on the afternoon, with Carl Granderson getting 1.5, Bryan Bresee having one, and Chase Young getting that extra half. They should have had a couple of other sacks as well and would have had them if it weren’t for a few great plays from Dak Prescott in the pocket. And looking past the defensive line into the secondary, they came away with two big interceptions. The first came from Paulson Adebo, and the second was from Tyrann Mathieu, the Honey Badger himself. All in all, the defense continued to play outstanding football against a very talented offense. The only negative was that they gave up a long CeeDee Lamb touchdown on a play that was defended well. Two players simply missed the tackle and Lamb split it forward for a long score. That would be the last touchdown that the Cowboys scored though.
What Happened To Dallas?
This brings me to the final section here, talking about the Cowboys. They just got whooped, that’s all there is to it. Dak Prescott had 27 completions on 39 pass attempts for 293 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions. He was also strip-sacked, but Dallas recovered that. In the backfield, Rico Dowdle had seven rushes for 30 yards, Ezekiel Elliott had six for 16, and Deuce Vaughn had four for 11. They couldn’t run the ball and had to stray away from it due to the score. Then through the air, Lamb had four receptions for 90 yards and a touchdown, with almost all of that yardage coming on the long touchdown. The only other true impact player was Jalen Tolbert, who had six catches for 82 yards. As for the Cowboys’ defense, they were nowhere to be found. Trevon Diggs was trash-talking during the week about Chris Olave and was nowhere to be found, Micah Parsons disappeared the entire night, and the rest of that unit had no answer.
If you’re a Saints fan, you’re thinking this team is for real. With Kubiak dialing up new plays, the defense flying around the field like it is, and the offense having this level of confidence, it’s hard to see who can compete with them this season. Then again, it’s still so early. New Orleans has another stiff test next week when they face the Philadelphia Eagles. Another win there and oh my, this season could be a fun one.