NEW ORLEANS — Last week after destroying the Carolina Panthers, New Orleans Saints head coach Dennis Allen's message to his team was "Stay grounded."
And that makes sense.
The Panthers are terrible and are likely to remain terrible.
But this week, after the Saints took apart the Dallas Cowboys – on the road – I'm having to tell myself the same thing, "stay grounded."
You know the last time the Saints started 2-0?
It was last year.
Now, I'd argue that last year's two opening wins against two teams that turned out to be terrible do not compare to Sunday's win over Dallas.
I love to see the Cowboys lose as much as anyone, but they are a legitimate playoff team.
They had won an incredible 16 straight regular season home games and the Saints destroyed 'em.
"Stay grounded" is solid advice, but getting excited about this team also seems appropriate right now.
Let's start our four takeaways:
4. Alvin & the O-line
With Alvin Kamara and the offensive line, both were awesome on Sunday.
Last week against the Panthers, the Saints rushed 37 times for a 180 yards.
This week, against a much better defense they ran it 39 times for 190 yards.
Thirty-eight carries a game is tied for the second-most rushing attempts by a team this season.
Clearly, that's a Klint Kubiak signature, so run it a lot.
You know how many times the Saints rushed for 180 or 190 yards last season?
Zero.
And Kamara is making the most of every opportunity.
3. Mr. Kubiak's Wild Ride
Kubiak's offense is getting Kamara in space more often and he looks as quick as ever.
He leads the NFL in yards from scrimmage and he's sixth in most touches, meaning he's been really* efficient.
And here's the thing we're discovering about Kubiak's offense, it's not balanced.
Sunday in Dallas, the Saints ran the ball roughly 70 percent of the time.
In 1972, the Miami Dolphins went unbeaten with an old-school, grind-it-out offense led by Larry Csonka.
But here's the thing, the Dolphins averaged just 18-and-a-half passes a game. They had two thousand-yard rushers.
Sunday in Dallas, the Saints threw it 16 times and they're now averaging 19-and-a-half passes a game.
Kubiak's offense is modern and complicated and multi-faceted, and at this point extremely old school.
The start of the Kubiak era in New Orleans has been fascinating.
2. Muscle Carr
What Derek Carr is doing is grabbing national attention.
Two weeks in, he's the NFL's highest-rated passer and it's not close.
And he's not doing it by dinking and dunking.
There's a next-generation stat called "intended air yards" meaning how far you're throwing the ball upfield.
He's fourth in the NFL.
He's heaving it and while doing that, he's third in completion percentage.
He's the only NFL quarterback in the top five of both of those categories.
And again, it's more than the numbers. The bomb to Rashid Shaheed was exceptional.
Carr is seeing the field extremely well and he's been extremely accurate.
Again, I know it's only two games, but if you've actually watched those two games it's hard not to get excited.
Which brings me back to No. 1.
1. Stay Grounded
It is just two games, and Las Vegas isn't buying in yet. The Caesars Sportsbook set the Eagles as two-point favorites in the Superdome Sunday. The Saints are now one game into the hardest stretch of their schedule.
Four games in a row, all against potential Super Bowl contenders, and the Saints aced test No. 1.
But now all those teams have seen the Saints' new offense, and the element of surprise is dwindling.
"Stay grounded," but the start of the season has been really encouraging and just fun to watch.
WWL Louisiana's '4 Takeaways' sponsored by Rouse's Markets, the official supermarket of the New Orleans Saints.
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