The tone in the locker room after a resounding 34-0 victory over the Patriots made it clear: This offense needed a day like it had in Week 5.
Players said the right things, they supported their teammates and coaches even after 7 quarters without finding the end zone. Even so, this team knew it had to turn things around quickly.
"[The performance was] a relief from everybody on offense," said guard James Hurst. "Relief from people on defense, relief from the whole team, because we know the type of players that we have in the locker room and we know the type of team we can be and it’s great to finally see it.”
The numbers won't jump off the page, in part because they didn't have to. The game was well in hand early in the third quarter. The only way the Patriots were getting back into it was through Saints mistakes, and they made sure those didn't happen.
QB Derek Carr had a solid day with 18-26 for 183 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Saints stayed committed to the run with 136 yards on 35 carries split between Alvin Kamara, Kendre Miller and Taysom Hill. The defense had its best day of the season.
But within the numbers there were clear signs of growth. The Saints incorporated a lot more motion in the first half before simplifying things as they salted away the clock. They also went 3-for-3 on touchdowns in the red zone, excluding the final possession where they ran out the clock at the New England 20. After a week of loud and pointed criticism directed squarely at Pete Carmichael's offense and play-calling, it was a much needed day.
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"We knew what we have in Pete and we believe in him," Carr said. "I never lie to y’all, we think the world of Pete. I just know that I’ve been in tough times, and when you go out and have a good day, it’s always a relief. It’s always like, let’s at least get 7 days at least answering nice questions about some things. But that’s this business and he knows that."
One of the more interesting notes of the day came from running back Alvin Kamara, who has clearly taken on an increased leadership role with this group and spoke in depth about the collaborative effort that went into the Week 5 offense. He took it upon himself to nudge his OC in certain situations, and there was a concerted effort to run plays that fit the eye of play-makers, particularly Carr and WR Mike Thomas. The product was an offense that had its struggles early on, but took control of the game with a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter.
"I think it was good to see Pete out there having fun," Kamara said. "It was like he took a deep breath and just exhaled."
AK also noted that there will still plays in their back pocket that they liked and never got to, that's just what happens when you're dominating.
“When guys are out there hungry and we’re hitting on all accords and just collaborating and having fun, you see what the result is,” he continued.
It's not unusual for a team to run plays that the play-makers like, but when things are going poorly, nothing seems to work. The growth shown in Week 5 isn't the end of the road, but a jumping off point for an offense that showed few signs of being close during a scuffling loss to the Bucs a week earlier.
Again, as Hurst said, it's a sigh of relief. But the next challenge is more difficult: Make sure that wasn't a one-off.
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“You can think about it and you can wish it and dream about it all you want, but until you do it on Sunday it really doesn’t matter," Hurst continued. "Do it in training camp, do it in preseason, do it in practice, those are all great, but the only thing that actually matters is doing it on Sunday. It was a huge confidence boost for us, and it’s something that we have to understand why we were able to do it, why we were able to be successful and imitate that week to week.”
The next chance will come on the road in Week 5 against the Texans (2-3) and rookie QB CJ Stroud.