If you were scanning the sidelines in Week 1 of the preseason to try to find the New Orleans Saints' new offensive coordinator, you would've walked away wondering where he was hiding.
In a shift from what Saints fans would be used to, Klint Kubiak was up in the booth, getting a bird's eye view of the action as he called his first game in New Orleans. Dennis Allen said after the game the goal is to have their new play-caller wherever he feels the most comfortable.
"We’ll get back and talk about it and what we liked, what did we not like and kind of go from there," he said.
The head coach also noted that defensive coordinator Joe Woods started last season up in the booth, but during the year it was decided they'd be better off with him on the sidelines and the change was made. Allen is the play-caller for the defense, but it allowed Woods to better work with the players on the sideline.
In this new setup that role falls to Andrew Janocko, who serves as a go-between for offensive players -- the quarterbacks, most importantly -- and Kubiak up in the booth. Kubiak's voice will be pumped directly into Carr's helmet throughout the game, but he can't talk back without a headset. It's likely, if the setup continues, that you'll see QBs on headsets or a phone throughout the season in between series.
One of the biggest things the Saints QBs needed to work on in the preseason was that communication with the play-caller. Carr said hearing the new voice in his helmet, getting plays in and run effectively was one of the biggest learning curves with the offensive change. The scenario is one that Carr says he's comfortable with, having done it earlier in his career with the Raiders, though he admits it's been a while.
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"I just thought [Kubiak] did a great job communicating with us," Carr said. "Even when I came out, I was listening and just hearing what he was saying and the reminders, all those kind of things, that are gonna come up only in game situations and so all those things were pretty cool and, you see why he’s such a good coach, you know, not just what we thought about him, but during a game, the reminders and the things that he can remember for the quarterback is pretty cool.”
One of the more important elements in this setup is Janocko, who has to serve as an extension of the OC.
"I don’t know if he’s gonna be up or down every time, I don’t know, but I just – it’s different, but it’s also, at the same time you just come over, do your thing and there’s one voice talking to you and it’s coach Janocko," Carr said. "So, you know, I don’t know if one way is better than the other, but I thought it was good today.”
No one would point to communication as an issue that held back the first team offense on Saturday in Arizona, with just one first down on two series. Carr went 2-6 for 12 yards. Allen wouldn't commit to whether the setup would continue throughout the season, but if there are offensive struggles early in the year, it's likely going to come up again.
The second and third team offenses, led by Jake Haener and Spencer Rattler, respectively, moved the ball more effectively. Each player in the backup QB battle led a pair of scoring drives and executed in a 2-minute scenario. Rattler's final drive set up a game-winning field goal by UDFA Charlie Smyth in the final seconds for the 16-14 win. Off-field play-callers are a common occurrence in college, with the biggest change is the ability to have play calls communicated directly into the helmet.
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"I think that’s always something that you’re looking at and evaluating, and in particular when you’ve got new pieces," Allen said. "So we’ll look at it and see what we think and, you know, look, whatever we do next week may not be what we do the following week. I think we’ve just got to keep evaluating that."
The Saints' next chance to run the offense against a live opponent will come in Week 2 of the preseason when they travel to face the San Francisco 49ers. The two teams were scheduled to have a set of joint practices at the end of this week, but those were called off due to mounting injuries on San Franisco's side. The lack of those sessions likely means we'll see at least some of the starters for a second consecutive week.