For the second consecutive week I’m being forced to consider a format change, because it’s going to be difficult to find basically anything to criticize in one of the most dominant Saints performances you’ll ever see.
New Orleans walked into AT&T Stadium, a building where the Cowboys had won 16 consecutive regular season games and won 44-19. The game wasn’t even as close as that score seems to indicate, with backup QBs finishing out things for the second time in as many weeks.
So, needless to say we’ll focus on the positive side of this equation a lot more than the negatives.
THREE UP
AK is still AK
Alvin Kamara … washed? Just ask Mike ZImmer how he feels about that idea.
On a day that gave some flashbacks to the Christmas day banger that saw Alvin Kamara plow in for an NFL record 6 touchdowns againts the Vikings (and then head coach Mike Zimmer), he was only a few play calls away from doing it again.
The amazing thing about Alvin is how effortless he makes everything look, and that’s been the case even when the Pete Carmichael offense of the past two years did him no favors. Alvin’s 57-yard catch-and-run touchdown on a screen gave flashbacks to the long score he had against the Packers in 2020. In that game it was Erik McCoy getting out to plow the road. This time it was Cesar Ruiz. In both instances Alvin never really looked like he got out of third gear.
He’ll be the first to give credit to Klint Kubiak, and it’s a good point. As AK said, it was a perfect call at the perfect time.
“It felt like a practice rep,” he said after the game.
This first two weeks has felt like a lot of practice reps. Perhaps that’s because the Saints’ practices are at an intensity that other teams can’t match — at least not right now.
Kamara finished with 180 total yards (115 rushing and 65 receiving). He had three rushing TDs and the aforementioned jaunt into the end zone on a screen. He’s now got 198 rushing yards through two weeks and became just the third running back in Saints history to break the 6,000-yard mark in the rushing column.
He’s currently on pace for a 1,683-yard rushing season. Currently Kamara's top rushing season is 932 yards in 2020. He’s now just 473 yards away from becoming the Saints’ all-time rushing leader and that dreaded age plateau really doesn’t seem to mean much in AK’s world. I don’t know about the Saints, but giving him another guaranteed year or two on his contract feels like a no-brainer based on what we saw in this game.
Shaheed … Shaspeed
It’s long past time that Rashid Shaheed gets his due: The guy isn’t just a deep threat, he’s as elite as deep threat as exists in the current NFL. I’ve asked several players in the Saints locker room whether they feel he compares favorably with Tyreek Hill down in Miami. They say yes, without hesitation. He’s that dynamic. A former teammate of Tyreek’s in Cedrick Wilson would also agree.
Who would win in a footrace? I don’t know (probably Tyreek), but that’s really not the point. There are a lot of folks with world-class speed in the NFL. If that’s all it took, they’d all be dominating. What sets Shaheed apart is his play speed. His ability to not just go faster than anyone else around him, but to do complex things at top speed. He can track, adjust, cut, all without slowing down, and he has a quarterback who can get the ball out there.
We saw that on the Saints’ second drive of the day, a 1-play, 70-yard touchdown and the second long touchdown in as many weeks. What made the play so impressive was that it really shouldn’t have worked, at least not for what happened. Carr said after the game that his initial thought based on the coverage was that Shahed wouldn’t be an option and he’d be going to Chris Olave underneath.
"It was cloud to his side, which is insane that he outran that. ... I don't even know," Carr said. "God blessed him to run really fast and I just prayed that that ball got there."
Shaheed fnished the day with 4 catches for 96 yards. He’s currently on pace for 60 catches and 1,436 yards (and 17 touchdowns but that’s a bit extreme). They even used him out of the backfield on a 2nd down because, why not?
It’s an element of this Saints offense that you can’t overstate. The Saints want to run the ball, and to this point they’ve been able to do that with great success. Any defense will want to combat that by bringing a safety down into the box or playing more base personnel. Well, when you can show run and have a player like Shaheed there to take the top off, good freaking luck. Oh, and then you have an elite route-runner underneath in Chris Olave to keep DBs honest on crossers and routes into open space.
It’s really not hard to understand why this attack is working, it’s just remarkable how quickly it’s all come together — and how quickly Shaheed is opening eyes around the NFL in that process.
The DBs are gonna be all right
There was no Marshon Lattimore in this game, and if you believe Dennis Allen, that was fully Dennis Allen's decision.
DA said it was about making sure a short-term injury for Marshon didn't become a long-term injury, but I think that was only part of the equation. It becomes a lot easier to sit your star CB with an injury he wants to play through when you've invested premium draft assets at the position and trust those guys implicitly.
Paulson Adebo, Alontae Taylor and rookie Kool-Aid McKinstry delivered on that confidence, and it's one of the most intriguing elements of this Saints team that suddenly has all the attention trained on its rejuvenated offense. In league where attrition seems to make it inevitable that passing games will take over, the Saints have a legitimate stable of cornerbacks that can get the job done when needed -- oh, and a top flight option they can play things safe with.
There won't be many matchups this season more imposing than trying to stop Ceedee Lamb, and outside of a blown play where Adebo missed a tackle and Lamb scampered downfield for a 65-yard TD, his fingerprints were limited on this matchup. Outside of that one catch, he was held to 3 catches for 25 yards the rest of the way. Obviously still a game his fantasy owners will be satisfied with, but when you consider that this passing game is now built around him, that's a win for the Saints.
Jalen Tolbert had a solid day with 5 catches for 82 yards, and tight end Luke Schoonmaker added 43 yards on 6 catches. The Cowboys moved the ball a good bit and rolled up 353 yards, but they only got into the end zone once.
Adebo had a pair of passes defensed to go with 4 tackles. McKinstry broke up a pass and had five tackles. Taylor led the team in tackles (9) for a second consecutive game and had a pair of TFLs.
When you invest a pair of 2nd round picks and a 3rd rounder at a specific position it's got to be a strength, and that certainly seems to be the case thus far.
HONORABLE MENTION
Carl Granderson hasn't gotten the headlines like Chase Young this offseason, but it's not for lack of production. In this game he rolled up 1.5 sacks, two QB hits and and a TFL. The best defenses have star pass rushers, but can also create havoc from both sides of the line. This defense just seems to have all the right ingredients and Carl is really coming into his own. ... Tyrann Mathieu is another player that we shouldn't take for granted. He's still playing at an incredibly high level and laying the wood while he does it. In this game he pulled down yet another interception and also laid a huge hit on a Cowboys receiver to force an incompletion. Secretly I'm sure he's a little annoyed he didn't wait long enough for it to be counted as a forced fumble. ... Chris Olave just continues to quietly do his job. He was a bit more involved in the passing game today and had a nice line of 4 catches for 81 yards. At some point the Saints will actually have to stress the 4th quarter of a game and we'll see the clutch Olave. As long as the Saints can win games with Carr throwing just 16 passes there won't be any gaudy receiving lines. ... Matt Hayball only got one chance to punt in this game, but unlike in Week 1 he can say this was an opportunity he took full advantage of, with his punt from the Saints' 39 going out of bounds at the Dallas 12 for a net of 49. At some point Hayball will have to punt prior to the 4th quarter, so at least he's got a few non-pressure situations to get the butterflies out. ... Can we talk about the front office for a second? They've gotten a lot of grief the last few years, but they've maintained that patience is the approach they trust. There were boos, there was frustration, but they felt like this was where we could land once everything got dialed in. Give Mickey Loomis and Co. some credit in all this. It's a heck of a lot easier to hit the eject button over and over and over and over, but that's how you end up like the Panthers.
THREE DOWN
Paulson’s penalties
Let me start by saying I thought Paulson Adebo had a really solid game overall. He was in the CB1 role and rose to the occasion, but his biggest issue has always been a tendency to get too handsy at the top of routes and draw some tough holding calls. That happened a couple times in this game.
There was also that ugly-looking tackle attempt on what turned out to be the Cowboys’ lone touchdown on the day, but if you own Ceedee Lamb in fantasy it was a win for both sides.
Adebo also made sure to put his fingerprints on the game in a positive way with an interception and long runback that set up a touchdown just before halftime. The Saints have the luxury of a CB2 they trust in big-time matchups even if Marshon Lattimore isn’t on the field. It’s a massive advantage, he’s just got to cut down on the penalties.
Just fall on it!
Another reach here, but that’s what you’ve got to do when eveything goes right. Bryan Bresee got a strip sack of Dak Prescott in the third quarter and at least three different players had a chance at it. Chase Young had the best look, but instead of falling on the ball to ensure the turnover, he went for the scoop and score.
Look, I would’ve loved to see Chase galloping to the end zone for an 80-yard touchdown as much as the next guy, but there’s a reason the rule is for big guys fall on the ball. The Cowboys managed to recover and salvage a field goal. In a closer game that might’ve been a lot more significant. Details matter.
Stop pulling people off the pile, please (and dumb penalties in general)
For the second consectuive week the Saints offensive lineman drew a 15-yard penalty for pulling someone off a pile (at least that was my understandning). Last week it was Erik McCoy, and this week it was Trevor Penning after a touchdown in the third quarter.
There was also a Foster Moreau touchdown that was negated by a foolish penalty on Cesar Ruiz, with the Saints RG getting too far downfield. Again, we’re splitting hairs in a 25-point win, but these are all things the coaches will be sure to want to clean up this week (or at least harp on them excessively because coaches always want to have some criticism).
