When the New Orleans Saints take the field Sunday in Atlanta, it’ll be a familiar, but different, face calling the shots.
Longtime head coach Sean Payton retired in the offseason, with his defensive coordinator, Dennis Allen, taking over. The Saints, like any team, had their share of personnel changes over the offseason, but key pieces from the Payton era remain.
That should help provide some stability, and the amount of holdovers on the coaching staff who worked under Payton should help provide some consistency.
So, at least early on, Falcons head coach Arthur Smith isn’t expecting a ton of changes from what he's seen in the past.
“They’ve had pretty good success on defense the last couple of years,” Smith said during his appearance on “Dukes & Bell”. “Obviously, Dennis taking over as head coach, and certainly philosophically on defense I don’t think you’ll see a big change. They've added a couple vets over there to help them on that side of the ball.
"Offensively, I think terminology, schematically – (with) Doug Marrone back in there as the O-line coach, Pete Carmichael has been there forever – I don’t think schematically it will change, but there are certainly personalities that come out. And so I’m sure as the season goes on there will be a big difference from Pete to Sean as the play-caller with the offense. I think (on) special teams, Darren Rizzi does a terrific job.
“So, they’re going to look very familiar, but I think as the season goes on there’s a natural evolution that happens, and I think that’s where you’ll see the biggest difference.”
The Saints and Falcons split their season series in 2021. Kickoff for matchup No. 1 this season is set for 1 p.m. ET on Sunday.
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