When the Caesars Superdome is rocking with the Who Dat Nation at full throat, few buildings in the word are more intimidating to their opponents.
That's the type of atmosphere Saints head coach Dennis Allen is hoping his team can generate throughout the 2023 season, starting with a Week 1 matchup against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
“I think it’s important. I think it’s really important," Allen said. "And I think I’ve been around here a long time and played a lot of big games in the Dome and I know what it sounds like when we’re playing good football."
That last part is where things haven't gone quite to plan the last few seasons. The Saints are 6-9 in home games played at the Superdome over the past two seasons, excluding a pair of "home" games in Jacksonville and London. It was particularly disheartening in 2021 with an overall record of 2-5 including a blowout loss to the Bills on Thanksgiving.
Things got slightly better in 2022 with a 4-4 record, but the home slate was bookended by frustrating losses in winnable games to the Bucs in Week 2 and the Panthers in Week 18, though that game had no standings implications for either team.
[shortcode-inline-related expand="1" link="/wwl/local-sports/saints/saints-qb-derek-carr-ready-to-cut-is-loose" headline="Saints QB Derek Carr ready to "cut is loose" week one" image="/media-library/image.jpg?id=64217387"]If the Saints want a level of crowd noise at the Dome that can give them the distinct advantage they've enjoyed over the years, it'll have to be earned on the field. The head coach understands that.
"I think that’s our responsibility to make sure that the Dome is rocking and it’ll be rocking if we play the type of football that we’re capable of playing," he said.
If the noise is there, it makes life difficult on opposing offenses in ways that are impossible to replicate in practice. In the playoffs against the Rams in 2018, the crowd noise was so intense that it forced then L.A. quarterback Jared Goff to tape his ear holes shut.
This time around it'll be an offense led by Ryan Tannehill, Derrick Henry and DeAndre Hopkins that the Who Dat Nation has the job of disrupting.
