Every year, one or two NFL teams play well beyond their means to start the season.
Be it due to a favorable schedule, a healthy injection of talent, or perhaps a well-schooled coach instituting his program, some random squad always sneaks up on the rest of the league for whatever reason. It’s uncanny.
This year, the team that most fits this definition is Dennis Allen’s New Orleans Saints. When you have a team quarterbacked by conservative check-down machine Derek Carr, everything you achieve feels fake, hollow, and untenable. It’s just not how the modern NFL is played anymore. It appears the 2-0 Saints have accounted for the Carr Factor, and we might not be able to lie to ourselves much longer about how good they actually are.
The Saints have effectively decided not to make Carr the fulcrum of their offense anymore. You know, the guy who threw 548 passes (10th-most in the NFL!) during an inspiring Saints debut season in 2023. Rather than lean on Carr, the Saints are having him thrive where he’s probably best — managing the game, never really pushing the envelope unless absolutely necessary, and most importantly, making few mistakes. Instead of letting Carr lose games for them, the Saints and first-year offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak have entrusted a resurgent Alvin Kamara — who has 290 yards from scrimmage and five touchdowns on 42 touches — to be the catalyst behind what sure looks like the NFL’s top offense through two weeks. (Psst, if the Saints’ new offensive philosophy holds up, then Carr is on pace for roughly 330 passes in a 17-game season. A tectonic shift in identity.)
Seriously, the Saints have over 90 points so far. No one else in the entire NFL has even eclipsed 70 yet. It’s mind-boggling to consider. This is nothing to say of Allen’s defense, which has predictably been brilliant, hemming in the hapless Carolina Panthers and the supposedly high-octane Dallas Cowboys.
We might live in the NFL Twilight Zone when it comes to these Saints, but our only boundaries are that of the imagination. And soon enough, if they can keep their early torrid play up, it might be high time to imagine these Saints becoming known as a genuine NFC superpower.
Needless to say, the Saints are rising fast in For The Win’s weekly NFL power rankings. Let’s see where New Orleans and other surprising teams stand as we get ready for Week 3.
