Dennis Allen set out in January to reimagine the New Orleans Saints’ offensive foundation for the first time in a generation. And where the team’s head coach landed, after a full-on coordinator search, was on a plan to take the whole thing down to the studs.
There was logic to it.
Sean Payton, the greatest coach in franchise history, arrived in Louisiana in 2006. He spent 16 seasons building and running a historically great system. In ’09, Pete Carmichael Jr. was promoted to become his top offensive lieutenant, and coordinator, after Doug Marrone left for the top job at Syracuse. Carmichael stayed in the role for 15 years, becoming the play-caller in ’22 when Payton left and Allen was promoted to replace him.
No one’s arguing about what that scheme did. But coming out of two playoff-less seasons, Allen felt a need to turn the page. One issue, definitively, was how complex the offense had become. There was no limit to the volume that Payton, Carmichael and Drew Brees could handle, so for years and years and years—and as offensive football became simpler, faster and easier on players elsewhere—the Saints’ playbook got heavier and more tangled up.
What worked for Brees & Co. for all those years didn’t work the same for younger guys.
Simply put, Allen wanted someone who could untangle the Saints’ offense.
Safe to say, two games into 2024, he found him.
On Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys didn’t stand a chance. It was 35–16 at halftime. New Orleans scored touchdowns on all six of its possessions in the first three quarters, didn’t punt until there was 9:43 left in the game and didn’t have a single three-and-out in its 44–19 win. This was on the heels of a 47–10 opening-day rout of the Carolina Panthers that, evidently, was about more than just the opponent.
At the controls of it all, Klint Kubiak—the 37-year-old son of Gary Kubiak whom Allen picked to simplify and jet-power the offense—was empowering his guys to play faster and freer with less on their minds. And the interesting thing is that perhaps no one is benefitting more than the one player who could handle the volume of the old system. Derek Carr, at 33, is balling and the Saints are rolling.
“He’s in a great spot,” Allen told me an hour after the game. “He’s really comfortable with what he’s being asked to do. He knows he doesn’t have to do everything. There’s been so many times in his career where it’s all been on his shoulders, how he plays, getting everybody in the right play call, the right checks, the right protections, the right everything. We’ve put a little bit more of the pressure on us as coaches to put the proper game plan together and free him up to play the game.
“I think you see when he’s protected and he’s got clean pockets to throw from, he’s pretty f—ing good.”
You could say that about a lot of the Saints right now.
